Michał Olszewski (priest)

Broma atwerta ing wiecznastį... (The Gate Open to Eternity; modern Lithuanian: Vartai, atverti į amžinybę) was first published in 1753. It was not a liturgical text, but a collection of various religious readings for the commoners. It combines abstract theoretical texts (with some elements of medieval Scholasticism) with lively examples and illustrations laden with Christian mysticism.[5] It contains various readings (sermons, didactic stories, prayers, scenes from the lives of saints, etc.) related to death, heaven and hell, and the eternal life.[6] Many episodes and scenes were borrowed from various medieval Spanish and Italian authors.[5] Overall, the text promotes asceticism – earthly desires are sinful and life is but a short period to prepare for the eternal life. For example, the book presents Francis Xavier as a role model because he prepared to die every hour.[5] Various texts blend reality with the spiritual realm. People, both dead and alive, are as real as devils and angels and can interact with each other and visit earth, heaven, and hell. Fictionalized stories had dialogues, scenes from everyday life, deals with the devil, often unexpected conclusions. These elements made the stories similar to fables or fairy tales and made the book very popular among the readers.[5]

It is an example of Baroque literature and as such features complex style (extensive use of various figures of speech, including comparisons, contrasts, antithesis, metaphors, hyperboles, paradoxs, etc.).[6] The title itself is a metaphor of death (i.e. death is the gate that leads to eternity).[5] The language blends Lithuanian with numerous Latin quotes from the Bible (which are then paraphrased in Lithuanian) and numerous loanwords and barbarisms mainly from Polish, but also other Slavic languages and German. Such macaronic language was likely impressive and astonishing to the poorly educated average reader,[5] and was common in other Baroque literature.[2] About half of the lexicon are loanwords and barbarisms,[7] or about 27% if disregarding Latin words and loanwords that are still widely used in standard Lithuanian.[2] The first edition tried to maintain the middle literary language, i.e. a blend of Aukštaitian and Samogitian dialects. Later editions became increasingly more Samogitian.[7]

Broma became very popular and was frequently reprinted. In total, seventeen editions are known from 1753, 1759, 1764, 1766, 1777, 1779, 1785, 1789, 1793, 1795, 1799, 1806, 1811, 1824, 1846, 1847, and 1851.[6] The first edition was published by the Franciscan press in Vilnius. Most later editions were printed by the press of Vilnius University. The 1777 edition was edited and shortened; it served as the basis for further reprints.[1] Another edition was planned in 1864, but Bishop of Samogitia Motiejus Valančius did not give it the approbation as it contained "invented stories" that "encouraged superstition". Despite the Lithuanian press ban which prohibited the publication of Lithuanian-language texts in the Russian Empire, Valančius undertook to revise and correct Broma.[6] He corrected the language, made didactic stories more earthly and relevant (e.g. by providing a date and time when they took place), etc. Valančius revised it in 1874–1875, but he died before the revised work could published. There were aborted plans to publish the revised Broma by priest Juozas Tumas in 1904.[6] Broma was republished in 2015 – priest Edmundas Naujokaitis modernized its language and added commentaries and intended it for the general public.[8]

The book was criticized for its content. The first known criticism is by Lutheran priests from East Prussia, Christian Gottlieb Mielcke in 1800 and August Gotthilf Krause in 1834. In an unpublished manuscript from 1841, Catholic priest Ludwik Adam Jucewicz expressed the oft-quoted opinion that the book should have been burned long ago due to its "meaningless ramblings". In the 20th century, linguists focused on the impurities of language.[6] Zigmas Zinkevičius cited it as the best example of the decline of the printed Lithuanian under the pressure of Polonization in the 18th century.[7] Due to the ideology of the anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union, Soviet literary historians attacked Broma and its religious content which "inflicted considerable harm to Lithuanian culture, folklore and the development of the Lithuanian language."[6] Researcher Mikas Vaicekauskas proposed to reconsider the book as a valuable example of late Baroque literature which reflected worldview, culture, and language of the era.[2]