Bernardyni kresowi w XX wieku

After many years of the degradation of communal life, the turn of the 20th century brought a reform to Bernardines that was meant to heal their conventual life in all monasteries of the province. The province encompassed conventual houses of the former Rutinian province in the East of Austro-Hungarian Lodomeria (so-called ‘Galicja’): Brzeżany, Fraga, Gwoździec, Krystynopol, Leszniów, Lwów, Sambor, Sokal and Zbaraż. The work of the renewal was taken upon by the province minister, Fr. Norbert Golichowski, and subsequently by his successors: Łukasz Dankiewicz and Apolinary Garguliński. The carrying out of the reforms coincided with an unprecedented event of the joining the Bernardine province with the province of Reformed Franciscans. Until that time, the two provinces were not in contact due to their mutual animosity. The union was doomed to fail from the start, especially seeing the vexation of the Franciscans, who were eff ectively absorbed by the Bernardines. The displeased Franciscans made eff orts to separate the provinces again, in which they succeeded in 1911. From the perspective of Bernardine monasteries in the Eastern part of Galicja, the union was symbolized by the rebuilding of the monastery in Fraga. This also meant the image of Our Lady of Fraga returning to its original home after nearly a hundred years of absence on August 14, 1904. In this period, many Eastern monasteries underwent modernization, such as in Brzeżany, Sambor, Sokal, and Leszniów. Substantial work was also done in the Zbaraż parish, particularly around filial chapels. The development of the Bernardine province was halted by the World War I. The greatest losses were sustained by the Eastern monasteries in Gwoździec, Leszniów, Sokal, and Zbaraż. Bells from several monasteries and copper from church rooftops were seized. Many fathers and brethren got conscripted.