Roman catholic parish in Zlatoust at the turn of the 19-th and 20-th centuries: population and territory

The article presents the first comprehensive study of the quantitative indicators that characterize the development of the Roman Catholic parish in Zlatoust in the late 19 - early 20-th centuries. Studying Church registration documents of 1899-1916, the author reveals the statistics of the rites performed in the Zlatoust parish, analyzes the dynamics of baptisms, weddings and burials, and estimates the intensity of religious life during this period. The article states that at the turn of the 19-20-th centuries there was a significant transformation of the Catholic parish in Zlatoust, associated with the separation of independent Ufa and Chelyabinsk communities. The author defines the consequences of such a transformation as well as the approximate number of Catholics remaining in the Zlatoust Church, and separately studies the impact of migration processes (including forced migration) on the development of the Zlatoust parish. The article proves that the resettlement boom in the early of 20-th century had relatively little effect on the development of the Zlatoust Catholic community in comparison with the Catholic community of Chelyabinsk. Based on the information about the place of the rites, the article establishes the territorial and administrative boundaries of this parish and the geography of the settlement of Catholics in 1899-1902 (before the separation of the parishes of Zlatoust and Chelyabinsk) and in 1903-1916 (after separation).