Visitationists

Visitationists arrived in Poland following the invitation of Queen Louise Gonzaga; however, their trip was very long and was not initially successful. During their trip from France to Poland, they were attacked at sea and their ship had to change course and finally landed in England. When they came back to France, they headed to Poland again and arrived in Gdansk. When the noviciate of the Visitationists was established in Poland, the Lithuanian Visitationists also travelled there.

The first six Visitationists were invited to Vilnius and their convent was generously financed by the rich widow Ona Varškėtaitė-Karosienė-Dezelštienė, whose daughter studied at a novitiate in Warsaw. When selecting new members, the Visitationists were not choosy like other popular monasteries of the time – they accepted the elderly, women with diseases and widows. Although they first engaged in nursing the sick when they arrived in Vilnius, in the long run, they became one of the main institutions for the education of noble girls, where up to 40 girls could live at a time. They were taught religion-related subjects and good manners, as well as geography, arithmetic, history, French, German, painting and music.