Summary

In the years 1852-1863, in the abandoned buildings of the former Benedictine monastery at Św. Krzyż, were placed zdrożni (blameworthy) priests from the area of the Kingdom of Poland. The Institute of Demeryci Priests, as it was referred to, was moved there from Liszków (Augustów diocese).
There were ca. 20 priests deported for misdemeanour against morality and the rules of canonical law. The objective of the Institute was resocialisation of the condemned through expiation, isolation from milieus where degeneration occurred, contemplation, prayer, etc. Reading of pious books, sermons, amnd lives of saints played there a particularly important role. The library which served this purpose contained in 1863 736 volumes in the area of theology and ethics.