Michał Olszewski (priest)

In 1753, he published a Lithuanian language collection of religious readings Broma atwerta ing wiecznastį... (The Gate Open to Eternity) which became very popular and over the next hundred years was reprinted at least sixteen more times.

[1] He was likely born around 1712 in the district of Raseiniai[2] and joined the Canons Regular of the Penitence of the Blessed Martyrs, an Augustinian order, as a young man.

[4] Broma atwerta ing wiecznastį... (The Gate Open to Eternity; modern Lithuanian: Vartai, atverti į amžinybę) was first published in 1753.

It combines abstract theoretical texts (with some elements of medieval Scholasticism) with lively examples and illustrations laden with Christian mysticism.

[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, paradoxes, etc.).

[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] Broma was republished in 2015 – priest Edmundas Naujokaitis modernized its language and added commentaries and intended it for the general public.

In an unpublished manuscript from 1841, Catholic priest Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius [lt; pl] expressed the oft-quoted opinion that the book should have been burned long ago due to its "meaningless ramblings".

"[6] Researcher Mikas Vaicekauskas proposed to reconsider the book as a valuable example of late Baroque literature which reflected the era's worldview, culture, and language.

It is a 16-page (octavo) booklet[4] in honor of Aleksander Andrzej Rymowicz (Aleksandras Andrius Rymavičius) who became the new superior of the Canons Regular of the Penitence and who supported Olszewski's works and helped with their publication.