Info request: Treatment of Catholics in the 19th century Russian Empire

Thande

Donor
I'm not using Wiki for this because I just know Molobo will have vandalised that page...but what was the treatment of Catholics like in the early 19th century Russian Empire? I don't mean in Catholic-majority regions like Poland or Lithuania, but individual Catholics living as a minority in other parts of the Empire.
 

Susano

Banned
I'm not using Wiki for this because I just know Molobo will have vandalised that page...but what was the treatment of Catholics like in the early 19th century Russian Empire? I don't mean in Catholic-majority regions like Poland or Lithuania, but individual Catholics living as a minority in other parts of the Empire.

Which would be...? Did Russia even have enough catholics to have a coherent policy vis a vis them?
 
Which would be...? Did Russia even have enough catholics to have a coherent policy vis a vis them?

Probably not. Outside of Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus there weren't many. There may have been some persecution of Eastern-rite Catholics in the Ukraine, but I'm not sure about that. Also, I think some of the Volga Germans were Catholic (not very many though), but they weren't persecuted during the empire.
 
Probably not. Outside of Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus there weren't many. There may have been some persecution of Eastern-rite Catholics in the Ukraine, but I'm not sure about that. Also, I think some of the Volga Germans were Catholic (not very many though), but they weren't persecuted during the empire.

A little more than half the population, actually. Though I'm not aware of any religious persecution directed against them or the Protestents. From what I understand, the Russians didn't have problems with people who followed the "appropriate" religion for their ethnic group, with, of course, notable exceptions.
 
At least they didn't seem to have a problem with having Catholic soldiers. There was some 3000 Catholic Russian soldiers in Helsinki in 1857.
 
Outside of Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus there weren't many.
Generally born Catholics were left to live as they please, but any proselythic activity was strongly discouraged, to say the least. One of very few limitations was ban on highest positions within Table of Ranks (I to IV class, IIRC, and this ban was frequently violated). It could be even more lax pre-1830, as one of few areas Polish Uprising succeeded in was increase of government's suspicion toward Catholics.
 
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