Biography
She was brought up with her cousins Mikhail and Peter Chaadaev. A. Griboedov was in love with her, in 1817, her brother's colleagues in the Semyonovsky regiment, Ivan Dmitrievich Yakushkin and Dmitry Vasilyevich Naryshkin (1792-1831), wooed her at the same time. Both were rejected. Yakushkin was the first to receive it, unrequited love led him to thoughts of suicide. Natalya Dmitrievna herself kept him from a rash act, who deeply respected Yakushkin, but did not want to marry him.
D. V. Naryshkin stubbornly wooed Natalya Dmitrievna for more than a year. She refused him so as not to offend Yakushkin, but her father really wanted this marriage, because Naryshkin was rich, through him Prince Shcherbatov hoped to improve his financial situation. Natalya Dmitrievna had a low opinion of her fiancé:
but the dream of a "brilliant future" won out. A wedding was scheduled, which was postponed several times. Having no inclination towards Naryshkin, knowing that with this marriage she would "kill" Yakushkin, Natalya Dmitrievna was relieved to learn that Naryshkin had married in Paris the daughter of Count F. V. Rostopchin.Children
- Dmitry (10.5.1821 - 29.10.1897, Serpukhov) was buried in Moscow on Vagankovsky cemetery, Guard Lieutenant Commander, Serpukhov District Marshal of the Nobility, married to Princess Natalya Borisovna Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya.
- Ivan (10/20/1826 - 7/3/1894), lieutenant general, commander of the guards corps, married to c. Ekaterina Svyatoslavovna Berzhinskaya, father of D. I. Shakhovsky.
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Literature
- Lubkova E. Ya. The life and fate of Prince Fyodor Petrovich Shakhovsky. - M .: Prometheus, 2005.
- Moleva N. M. Legends of merchant Moscow. - M .: Algorithm, 2008.
- Chernov G.I. Heroes 14 (fourteenth) December: Notes on the Decembrists-Vladimir. - Upper Volga book publishing house, 1973.
An excerpt characterizing Shakhovskaya, Natalya Dmitrievna
“Oh, I’m so happy,” she answered, smiled through her tears, leaned closer to him, thought for a second, as if asking herself if it was possible, and kissed him.Prince Andrei held her hands, looked into her eyes, and did not find in his soul the former love for her. Something suddenly turned in his soul: there was no former poetic and mysterious charm of desire, but there was pity for her feminine and childish weakness, there was fear of her devotion and gullibility, a heavy and at the same time joyful consciousness of the duty that forever connected him with her. The real feeling, although it was not as light and poetic as the former, was more serious and stronger.
– Did maman tell you that it couldn’t be before a year? - said Prince Andrei, continuing to look into her eyes. “Is it really me, that child girl (everyone said so about me) thought Natasha, is it possible that from now on I am a wife, equal to this stranger, dear, smart person respected even by my father. Is that really true! Is it really true that now it is no longer possible to joke with life, now I am big, now responsibility for all my deeds and words lies on me? Yes, what did he ask me?
“No,” she answered, but she did not understand what he was asking.
“Forgive me,” said Prince Andrei, “but you are so young, and I have already experienced so much life. I'm scared for you. You don't know yourself.
Natasha listened with concentrated attention, trying to understand the meaning of his words, but did not understand.
“No matter how hard this year will be for me, postponing my happiness,” continued Prince Andrei, “during this period you will believe yourself. I ask you to make my happiness in a year; but you are free: our engagement will remain a secret, and if you are convinced that you do not love me, or would love ... - said Prince Andrei with an unnatural smile.
Why are you saying this? Natasha interrupted him. “You know that from the very day you first came to Otradnoye, I fell in love with you,” she said, firmly convinced that she was telling the truth.
- In a year you will recognize yourself ...
- A whole year! - Natasha suddenly said, now only realizing that the wedding was postponed for a year. - Why is it a year? Why a year? ... - Prince Andrei began to explain to her the reasons for this delay. Natasha didn't listen to him.
- And it can not be otherwise? she asked. Prince Andrei did not answer, but his face expressed the impossibility of changing this decision.
- It's horrible! No, it's terrible, terrible! Natasha suddenly spoke up and sobbed again. “I’ll die waiting for a year: it’s impossible, it’s terrible. - She looked into the face of her fiancé and saw on him an expression of compassion and bewilderment.
“No, no, I’ll do everything,” she said, suddenly stopping her tears, “I’m so happy!” The father and mother entered the room and blessed the bride and groom.
From that day on, Prince Andrei began to go to the Rostovs as a groom.
There was no betrothal, and no one was announced about Bolkonsky's engagement to Natasha; Prince Andrew insisted on this. He said that since he was the cause of the delay, he must bear the full burden of it. He said that he had forever bound himself with his word, but that he did not want to bind Natasha and gave her complete freedom. If in six months she feels that she does not love him, she will be in her own right if she refuses him. It goes without saying that neither the parents nor Natasha wanted to hear about it; but Prince Andrei insisted on his own. Prince Andrei visited the Rostovs every day, but not like a groom treated Natasha: he told her you and only kissed her hand. Between Prince Andrei and Natasha, after the day of the proposal, completely different than before, close, simple relations were established. They didn't seem to know each other until now. Both he and she loved to remember how they looked at each other when they were still nothing, now they both felt like completely different beings: then pretended, now simple and sincere. At first, the family felt awkward in dealing with Prince Andrei; he seemed like a man from an alien world, and Natasha for a long time accustomed her family to Prince Andrei and proudly assured everyone that he only seemed so special, and that he was the same as everyone else, and that she was not afraid of him and that no one should be afraid his. After a few days, the family got used to him and did not hesitate to lead the old way of life with him, in which he took part. He knew how to talk about housekeeping with the count, and about outfits with the countess and Natasha, and about albums and canvases with Sonya. Sometimes the household Rostovs among themselves and under Prince Andrei were surprised at how all this happened and how obvious the omens of this were: both the arrival of Prince Andrei in Otradnoye, and their arrival in Petersburg, and the similarity between Natasha and Prince Andrei, which the nanny noticed on the first visit Prince Andrei, and the clash in 1805 between Andrei and Nikolai, and many other omens of what happened, were noticed at home.
Princess Natalya Shakhovskaya, the head of the famous community of sisters of mercy "Satisfy my sorrows", built a hospital, an orphanage, a medical assistant's school and an almshouse in Lefortovo. Why did a wealthy noblewoman choose the life of a cross sister? Why did the community build three temples at once on one patch? How did the sisters of mercy deal with professional burnout? Historian Nikita Brusilovsky answers these questions
Gate of the memorial building of the hospital
Merciful Sisters
Hospital square, house 2. City Clinical Hospital N29. Today it is known rather because one of the best maternity hospitals in Moscow is located on its territory. But even at the beginning of the 20th century, the famous community of sisters of mercy in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Satisfy my sorrows” was located here. The territory of the hospital (large, with a park adjacent to it and a whole complex of outbuildings) seems to be the brainchild of the twentieth century. But among the typical hospital buildings of the seventies, several old buildings were lost - however, also typical for their time, as well as a small manor house and a temple. This part of the Lefortovo district was bought out for the community of sisters of mercy by Princess Natalya Borisovna Shakhovskaya.
This act of the princess in 1871 was not just an act of charity, but rather a necessity. Shakhovskaya, as the head of a large community of sisters of mercy, decided to expand her activities, which required an urgent move from Pokrovka Street - where the community had at its disposal a small mansion, once bought from the merchant Grigory Novichenkov. However, in order to appreciate the scale of the move, it is worth going back a little and saying a few words about the Russian sisters of mercy.
There are at least two opinions regarding the origins of the sisterhood in Russia. One argues that the sisterhood is a purely Russian phenomenon that appeared during the Crimean War, when there was a shortage of proper medical personnel. Women, wanting to prove themselves and contribute to the defense of the Crimea from the enemy, began to work on the battlefields as nurses, in fact, nurses. Subsequently, the idea was perceived and borrowed by the British.
According to the second opinion, the idea of sisterhood, on the contrary, was borrowed from Europe, where it was popular among the Lutheran environment (communities of deaconesses), among Catholics (“daughters of mercy”). Slightly rethought, adapted to Russian reality, she quickly took root in Russia, and the number of merciful sisters began to grow sharply. But the truth is still in the middle.
The ideas of the sisterhood arose and developed autonomously. Long before the Crimean War, in the 1840s, several communities of sisters of mercy appeared first in St. Petersburg (the most famous Holy Trinity), then in Moscow (under the patronage of Dr. Haaz). In full force, they began to function precisely during the Crimean campaign, so until now the sisters of mercy evoke a strong association with caring for the wounded.
A distinctive feature of the Russian sisterhood was that the idea of creating such communities was a purely private initiative, in contrast to Europe, where women were united within the church community. As a result, in Russia the sisters of mercy did not take monastic vows.
The main thing is that the idea of the sisterhood came from the nobility. Also in mid-nineteenth century in Russia, women begin to actively manifest themselves in social service, in works of mercy. Even the Ladies' Guardianship of the Poor was created. It saw its task in attracting women to care for those in need. The ladies' society, the ladies' committee formed the backbone of the future communities of sisters of mercy.
A rare portrait of Princess Natalya Borisovna Shakhovskaya in the form of a sister of mercy Image from pravmir.ru
Resentment, loneliness or personal example?
Princess Shakhovskaya. A brilliantly educated noblewoman who owns several foreign languages writing poetry and music. In her youth, she was the maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. And suddenly - a sister of mercy. Of course, as in many other cases, personal history played a significant role here.
Natalya Borisovna Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya married Prince Dmitry Shakhovsky for love. But their marriage was "almost childless", for those times, for sure. The couple had only one daughter, who, having matured a little, married a foreigner and left for Rome. There was no connection with her. Obviously, parting with her daughter was quite painful for Princess Shakhovskaya. Soon the marriage itself broke up. Formally, the princess and the prince remained husband and wife, but they lived separately, although they were not officially divorced. The princess was widowed in 1863, at the age of forty-three.
The unfortunate fate of women, loneliness - it is possible that this is the desire of the princess to actively express herself in the social field. Shakhovskaya was religious, by the way, her confessor was an outstanding Moscow preacher, Archpriest Valentin Amfiteatrov. She thought a lot about what to devote her life to. And the decision to devote himself to charity lay on the surface.
There was also a personal example. Her own sister, Nadezhda Borisovna Trubetskaya, created the Brotherly-loving Society for the Supply of Poor Apartments (built in Lefortovo), the Komissarov vocational school in Blagoveshchensky Lane (named after Osip Komissarov, who saved Emperor Alexander II during the assassination attempt by Karakozov in 1866), Kseninsky Children's shelter, and the Ladies' Committee for the Care of the Wounded (the future Russian Red Cross Society).
In a word, before the eyes of Natalya Borisovna there was a wonderful example of a woman in charity, which was possible to focus on.
An old friend, a family doctor, and most importantly, a mentor for Shakhovskaya was the “holy doctor” Haaz. The ideas of caring for the needy, which the doctor preached with his own life, could not help touching Shakhovskaya. Haaz was the very person who was not only actively involved in charity work (he created the Police Hospital, where he received everyone), but also stood at the origins of the sisterhood in Russia.
When, in 1808, Empress Maria Feodorovna demanded an improvement in the quality of patient care at the Pavlovsk hospital, it was Haaz, the chief physician of the hospital, who replaced retired soldiers in the hospital staff with female medical personnel. In his opinion, women not only take better care of the sick, but are also able to provide moral support to recovering patients. And when in 1848 a cholera epidemic raged in Moscow, Haaz created the Nikolskaya community of sisters of mercy. In 1863, the widowed princess joined it.
The princess worked hard at the Yauza hospital for laborers, lived and worked at the Police Hospital, and eventually led a group of thirty sisters in the Nikolsky community. At some point, she realized that it was time to act independently, especially since the means allowed.
In 1866, Shakhovskaya bought an outbuilding on Pokrovka, where the first branch of the community of sisters of mercy "Satisfy my sorrows" was opened, designed to work at hospitals: Yauzskaya, Policeskaya, Ekaterininskaya, as well as at the Military Hospital in Lefortovo. All expenses of the community were covered by the princess.
Charity Center
In 1871, a new cholera epidemic raged in Moscow. She became a test of the strength of the sisters of mercy. The scale of the epidemic was monstrous - after all, as a result of the reforms carried out in the 60s, a huge number of liberated peasants flocked to Moscow in search of work.
The medical staff stopped coping with the situation, some even fled, but the merciful sisters were not afraid of the epidemic. This not only strengthened the position of the Satisfy My Sorrows community, but also attracted new members, as well as private philanthropists. One of them was Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov.
In 1871, Shakhovskaya sold her estate near Serpukhov. With the proceeds (150 thousand rubles) he buys from the merchant Matveev a large plot with a house in Lefortovo.
Lefortovo, for Moscow late XIX century - not the center of the city at all, so the land there is inexpensive. In addition, the oldest military hospital in Russia, created by Emperor Peter I, was located in Lefortovo.
If we recall that one of the goals of the sisterhood is to help the wounded on the battlefield, it becomes clear why Shakhovskaya chose to focus her activities in this particular area of Moscow. Many sisters worked in parallel in two hospitals, many transferred to the community from the Military Hospital.
Initially, the purchased plot was small. On it in 1872-75 according to the project of architects M.D. Bykovsky and P.I. Ivanov, a rather modest, brick, three-story building was erected in pseudo-Russian style. In many ways, the building was typical, comfortable and functional, with a two-tier house church that divided the building into two wings - male and female sections.
Entrance to the hospital. Dove flies through the arch
Mosaic icon "Assuage my sorrows" above the entrance
The hospital was designed for 200 patients, partially paid. It had a psychiatric department (on the third floor), which was headed by the famous doctor Korsakov. I must say that the psychiatric department was a fairly new phenomenon for Moscow. There were also therapeutic, surgical and gynecological departments. Severe patients were placed on the second floor; the sisters lived on the first floor and there was a day hospital. The conditions in the hospital were very good, and, as the newspapers of those years wrote, "the situation is close to home."
The main house church was consecrated in honor of the icon “Assuage My Sorrows”, and was richly decorated: an oak iconostasis, marble, carpets embroidered by sisters, stucco, and paintings. The wards for seriously ill patients adjoined the temple directly. Sliding glass partitions allowed them to listen to divine services without leaving their bed. The same idea was subsequently accepted in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of the Sisters of Mercy.
The death rate in the hospital was quite high, so the issue of organizing an orphanage at the community was acute and immediate. The first shelter for the children of dead women and foundlings for 36 people was located in the building of the community on Pokrovka in 1872.
In 1873, 62 children were already kept in the orphanage at the personal expense of Princess Natalya Borisovna. different ages. Their upbringing was done by the Frenchman Movillon, who converted to Orthodoxy, and one of the sisters of mercy. Over time, an elementary school was organized in the orphanage, allowing children to arrange their lives in the future.
True, the department for boys did not last long, only nine years, because the princess decided to make the orphanage purely for women. In 1879, a four-year women's school was opened at the orphanage, where teachers were trained for urban and rural schools. Education, depending on the conditions, was paid and ranged from 50 to 200 rubles a year. In 1883, exactly half of the students (25 people) were already studying at the expense of the community. True, the orphanage and the school were merged due to financial difficulties.
In 1895, Shakhovskaya initiated the construction of a detached three-story building for an orphanage, where orphans' bedrooms, playrooms, and classrooms were located in spacious rooms. The children stayed here until they came of age. In the same building, a paramedic school was opened, in which junior medical staff and nurses were trained.
The courses worked for the whole city. Having finished them, the graduate could get a job in any of the medical institutions in Moscow, and not just in the community. Although, of course, many graduates of the orphanage and women's courses subsequently became members of the community of sisters of mercy "Satisfy my sorrows." In the same year, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna took the orphanage under her patronage.
Three churches for one community
In general, the community had many difficulties. It has developed, covering with its activities more and more people in need of help. So, for example, during the Serbian-Turkish war of 1876, the sisters were seconded to Russian Society Red Cross, where up to 500 wounded received daily assistance from them.
During the Russian-Turkish war in 1877-78, Shakhovskaya built a temporary wooden hospital on the territory of the community, which allowed additional care for 200 wounded (later it was dismantled).
But the sisters helped not only on the battlefields, in peacetime their activities spread far beyond Moscow. The community quickly gained nationwide fame and had its offices in other cities of Russia, and the sisters of mercy traveled to establish activities even in the Asian part of Russia. In Yakutia, for example, in 1892 the community “Satisfy my Sorrows” opened a leper colony, which can be compared to a modern hospice.
Natalya Borisovna Shakhovskaya continually took out loans, mortgaged buildings so that the normal work of the community could be organized. In 1881, shortly before his death, Emperor Alexander II, as a token of the high merits of the princess, took the community under his personal protection. This partly helped to improve the situation. In the future, in all official documents, the community was called the Alexander Community of Sisters of Mercy.
I must say that the next ruler, Alexander III, did not bypass the attention of the sisters of mercy. When in 1883 Shakhovskaya was unable to repay the debts on loans taken for development, the emperor covered all the expenses, outlining the way for state funding of the sisters of mercy.
Already after the tragic death of Alexander II, the lower tier of the house church was consecrated in honor of his heavenly patron, the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky. The consecration of the temple was not only a tribute to the memory of the emperor, but also an urgent need. It began to be used as a "mourning temple", where deceased patients were buried. Alas, the number of deaths only grew. And therefore, in 1902, in order to separate the relatives of the deceased and the patients being treated, it was decided to build a separate church in the courtyard of the community.
The second building of the hospital. Now the premises of the former temple are adapted for medical needs.
It was erected according to the project of the architect I.I. Pozdeev at the expense of the merchant I.A. Menshikov. The church is very simple, with brickwork, harmoniously fit into the hospital complex. It was distinguished only by an eight-pitched roof, as in the Novgorod temple tradition, and a bell tower adjoining on one side, and on the other, a hall for coffins with the dead. The temple was consecrated on October 10, 1903 in honor of the Resurrection of the Word and became the third temple of the community.
Church of the Resurrection of the Word was built in 1874. Refurbished from 2000 to 2005. AT Soviet time was occupied by third parties
Shelter for sisters
In the first years of the community's existence, Natalya Borisovna wrote the charter with her own hand. He was pretty harsh. The sisters made a whole series of vows, which, of course, were not monastic. A sister of mercy could leave the community at any time and start her own family.
Princess Natalya Shakhovskaya, head of the community of sisters of mercy in the name of the icon of the Mother of God "Assuage my sorrows" Photo from histcenter.mephi.ru
But these conditions cannot be called easy either. Obedience, non-acquisitiveness, chastity, renunciation of worldly temptations “for the sake of the afflicted” - a vow given by applicants for the title of sister of mercy. But first, the subjects were sent to the most difficult sanitary work, and only if the women knew how to cope with them and did not lose heart, they were transferred to the category of sisters of mercy.
The sisters of mercy received medical education here in the community and could later become cross sisters - this was already the third category in the hierarchy of the sisterhood. Princess Shakhovskaya herself was ordained a sister of the cross in 1871. She received a pectoral cross in the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery from the hands of Patriarch Hierofei of Antioch. The cross sisters took a more strict vow. In all respects, their life can be called a real asceticism.
In general, according to Shakhovskaya, a woman who is ready to devote every minute of her life to the cause of mercy can be called a sister of mercy. The sisters worked without days off and for free, daily consoling and caring for people suffering from illnesses. The charter stipulated that in order to exclude idleness and for the benefit of the community, the sisters needed to do needlework. Shakhovskaya did not like laziness and believed that idleness was the mother of all vices. That is why the sisters of mercy had no leisure.
In order to switch and take a break from caring for the sick, in order to restore their physical and mental strength, the sisters embroidered icons and carpets, which contributed to the prosperity of the community. The icon of the Mother of God “Satisfy my Sorrows”, embroidered by the princess herself, has been preserved and is currently in the church of Peter and Paul on Soldatskaya Street.
Church of St. Ap. Peter and Paul across the street from the hospital
“The boss's house” was a building that was preserved from the previous owners and bought along with a piece of land. This small Empire mansion, according to legend, belonged to Count Orlov and was built either by Gilardi or Beauvais, but most likely by one of their students.
House of Princess Shakhovskaya; fragment of an ornamental frieze and architraves
The princess herself lived in this house, meetings of the board of trustees were held here and ceremonial meetings were held. But over time, it became obvious that the sisters themselves might need help, their life was very stressful, and the number only increased every day. If in 1872 there were 75 people in the community, then by the end of the century their number exceeded 400.
The princess gave one of the wings of her own house as an almshouse for the sisters of mercy. But already in 1895, the same architect Pozdeev built a separate hospital-orphanage, which, like an orphanage, was taken under her wing by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
Charity empire
Many experts, not without reason, call the Alexander community of sisters of mercy a charitable empire. This term does not quite correspond to reality, however, it allows us to emphasize the scope of the community's activities and the role that it played in the domestic system of charity.
There was a hospital, an orphanage, an almshouse for sisters of mercy, paramedic courses, departments throughout Russia, and even an ambulance train equipped with everything necessary for conducting operations in the field, which traveled all over the front during the First World War. And all this was initiated by one woman who managed to rally like-minded people around her. When the princess died in 1906, probably half of Moscow came to bury her.
Among others, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna came to say goodbye and pay her debt to the memory of Shakhovskaya. Shakhovskaya was buried in a crypt under the temple of Alexander Nevsky. She did not leave a legacy that could provide the community in the future, so in 1907 the community was taken over by the city.
Some more time after the revolution, during civil war When typhus was raging in Moscow, the community functioned as a typhoid hospital. But the temples were liquidated, bricked up, the bell tower was demolished, the crypt was walled up and, apparently, ruined. When the community was officially disbanded in 1920, a hospital named after Bauman was organized on its territory. The temples were given over to the library and administrative premises. During the years of the Great Patriotic War an evacuation hospital was located here, later the territory became the City Clinical Hospital N 29. For historical memory, it is probably important that the leitmotif remained the same, the territory retained its original purpose, and even the nursing school, the first Soviet nursing school, was located here for a long time , on Hospital Square.
On the territory of the hospital
Memorial plaque
In 1999, through the efforts of the parish of Peter and Paul, the Church of the Resurrection was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and again began to function as a house church at the hospital. Historical Buildings restored, and still remind us of the once prosperous charitable empire. However, the original temple in the name of the icon of the Mother of God "Satisfy my sorrows" has not been restored. It remains to wait…
