The Berdichevsky monastery (monastery-fortress) of the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1627 was founded by the voivode and general elder of the Kiev region Janusz Tishkevich as a vow for liberation from Tatar captivity. In 1630, Tishkevich transferred his Berdichevsky castle-estate with several nearby villages under the monastery and as the basis of the monastic economy and allocated other local and monetary funds. In 1634, the Carmelites of Berdichev laid the "dolny" (underground) Mariinsky church, built trading crypts, shops and other outbuildings, lengthened the walls of the fortress. The construction took eight years. The solemn opening of the monastery and the consecration of the lower church took place on July 22, 1642. At this celebration, the founder brought a sacrificial gift for the new church - the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, long known in the Tiszkiewicz family for its grace. (According to information disseminated in Soviet times, in order to increase the profitability of the church, the Carmelites forcibly took away the icon of the Mother of God, known as miraculous, from the Orthodox St. Michael's Church, and transferred it to the church). Soon the klyashtor becomes a great economic center and a class factor for the whole region. In this regard, the city of Berdichev is growing, flooded with artisans and merchants, lavas of pilgrims stretch to Berdichev. The Polish royal power takes into account the colonization role and weight of the monastery and attaches great importance to it as an advanced outpost of Polish statehood in Ukraine. The state also helps to strengthen the military power of the monastery: it repairs the fortress and strengthens the monastery with cannons and a permanent garrison. As a large unit of economic and ideological influence, the monastery is drawn into the cycle of class contradictions and social movements of the 17th century. Back in the forties of the XVII century between the Carmelites and the owners of the city of Berdichev - the patrons of the monastery (Tishkevich) began a long fierce struggle for economic positions and hegemony.
The struggle of the Carmelites with Orthodoxy, the forcible spread of the union, the economic and legal exploitation of the population turned the monastery into an object of social hatred of the entire local population. Therefore, when, due to complex social contradictions, the “Cossack” revolution exploded in Ukraine in 1648, the monastery was almost completely destroyed by the rebels. The fortress of barefoot Carmelites, together with the military forces of the governor Tishkevich, tried to resist the Cossacks, but in the battle near Makhnovka, the Polish forces were defeated, and the monastery and estates of Tishkevich were taken by Khmelnitsky's detachments heading to Zborov. The Carmelites, fleeing from Berdichev, took the image of the Mother of God to Lvov. For 73 years, the icon was in the monastery of the Barefoot Carmelite Sisters, until 1721. In 1663 the monks returned to Berdichev. When they rebuilt the destroyed monastery, in 1684 they were expelled by force by the heirs of Janusz Tiszkiewicz. And only by a decree in 1717 of the Lublin Tribunal was it ordered to the owners of Berdichev to give the monks the seized property and compensate for the damage. In the same period, the Carmelites rebuilt the monastery again and returned the icon of the Mother of God to Berdichev.
At the same time, the struggle between the Carmelites and the owners of Berdichev, the Zavivsha family, who were the heirs of the Tishkeviches, resumed. The struggle for economic hegemony was so heated that in 1684 the Zawiszy forced the Carmelites out of Berdichev. The Carmelites stubbornly fought for their rights and privileges, sued in the tribunal, and, finally, the monastery, the church, the castle-fortress, the village of Skraglivka, the estate, bread, cattle, were sued in their favor, and a lot of money was taken from Zawisza to repair the monastery. At this time (the end of the 17th century), the territory of Berdichevshchena was covered by new Cossack-peasant rebellious movements, which took place under the leadership of the famous Fastov colonel Semyon Paliy. These movements determined the struggle of small, still free, Cossack landownership with large Ukrainian and Polish nobility. In 1706, Paliy defeated the troops of Yakov Pototsky and Rushchits near Berdichev, but the guardian of large Ukrainian capital, the hetman's power, in the person of Ivan Mazepa, quickly tamed the popular movement. With the help of tricks and betrayal, Mazepa arrested Paliy in Makhnovka and put him in the dungeon of the Berdichev fortress, from where, after some time, Paliy was exiled to distant Siberia. Only in 1717, after the suppression of a popular uprising, did the Carmelites again firmly settle in Berdichev, and in 1721 they returned the image of the Mother of God from Lvov. The Carmelites paid special attention to the restoration of the fortress. The old walls were repaired and greatly enlarged; with the help of the royal power, the fortress was armed with heavy artillery, a reinforced garrison was placed, the fortress itself was given the name "fortress of the most holy Mary panna." The fortress became a significant military stronghold on the Right Bank.
Already in 1732, the Carmelite fortress took part in suppressing the uprising of the Haidamaks, and served as a shelter for the wealthy gentry fleeing from the Haidamaks. Cautious Carmelites "just in case" took their miraculous image to Lublin, where it was until 1736. From 1739 to 1754, the Carmelites, taking advantage of the relative calm in the region, built a new large church over the old "dolny" church. The Carmelites, not sparing funds for its construction, invited famous architects Jan de Witte and Grigory Tarnovsky from Germany and Poland; the famous painter Veniamino Frederice was summoned from distant Italy; Carmelites laid in with. Bistrik large brick factories, stone in slabs was brought from Podolia, etc. The church was built in the Baroque style, with a large central dome and two high side towers. The inside of the church was especially richly decorated with gilding, molding, carvings and drawings "al fresco", where the baroque foundation was harmoniously combined with the "rocaille" style. In 1754, Pope Benedict XIV sent gold crowns adorned with valuable diamonds to the Berdichevsky church for a miraculous icon and, in particular, for protection from the Haidamaks, the relics of the legendary holy warriors Fedor and Yuri. In 1755 the icon was crowned. The magnates Lubomirsky, Pototsky, Sangushki, Radzivils, Slugotsky, Khoetsky, Voronichi and hundreds of other governors, elders, castellans, marshals arrived at the coronation - with their crown and court troops; monastic swarms of Jesuits, Basilians, Dominicans, Piar, Carmelites and others arrived; 72 different religious brotherhoods arrived. Thousands of pilgrims, artisans and craftsmen were drawn to the monastery in the hope of finding work; merchants found goods and crypts for them here. The Carmelites profited from all sources. During this period, the economic development and political significance of the monastery reached its highest level. The Carmelites, using the "uniy" as a spiritual weapon, and the army as a material one, planted Catholicism everywhere. The importance of the monastery and Berdichev has especially grown since 1765, when the foundation of King Stanislav Augustus gave Berdichev the right to organize ten annual large fairs. Such a right was procured by the Radzvils, into whose hands the Berdichev estates passed from the Zawishes.
In 1758, the Carmelites from Austria brought a printing press. It was acquired at the expense of the brotherhood at the church and on the basis of the privileges granted to the Carmelites of Berdichev by King August III, which were later confirmed by Empress Catherine II. Soon this printing house acquired paramount importance throughout Poland. The Discalced Carmelite Printing House, during its nearly century-long existence (1758–1844), produced a huge number of religious, political and other publications. The Carmelites also kept a valuable library, valuable publications and manuscripts even from the 15th century were preserved in it. As a strong economic and military unit, the monastery actively participated in social events in 1768, fighting against the Haidamak movement.
After the capture of Fastov and Makhnovka, detachments of Haidamaks decided to capture the Berdichev fortress, but at that time the monastery and the fortress were already in the cycle of armed struggle between Russia and the Polish confederates, who defended the positions of independent Poland. After the defeat of the Confederates near the city of Bar and Zhitomir, a detachment of Confederates under the command of Kazimir Pulavsky hid in the Berdichev Carmelite fortress, where he withstood a 25-day siege by the eight thousandth corps of the Russian General Krechetnikov. On June 14, 1768, Pulasky capitulated to Krechetnikov, "bargaining" for the entire detachment the right to freely leave the fortress, and Krechetnikov, on orders from Moscow, changed his tactics and turned his army against the Gaidamaks.
The Russian government at first supported the Gaidamaks in order to weaken the forces of Poland, but, having lost a competitor to its commercial capital in Poland, Russia also tamed the Gaidamaks, suppressing the revolts against the landlords with bloody reprisals. On September 4, Krechetnikov took out cannons and other weapons from the Carmelite fortress and went to the Gaidamaks. After the departure of the Russian troops, the Carmelites rebuilt the fortress again in 4 weeks, set up a garrison and cannons. After the partition of Poland in 1772 and the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775, Russia completely took over Ukraine. In 1792, the Carmelite fortress in Berdichev was finally liquidated. The Polish land magnate, in order to save their estates, massively accepted Russian citizenship. On April 19, 1794, the Russian tsarina gave an order to the Volyn Governor-General Tutolmin that all persons who owned starostvos and other estates in the Minsk, Zaslav and Bratslav provinces, who accepted Russian citizenship, would continue to use the estates as their inalienable property.
Following the nobility, the Catholic clergy began to cling to the "scepter" of mighty Russia, thereby saving their privileges. The barefoot Carmelites of Berdichevsky also changed their tactics and policies. Klyashtor Berdichevsky at that time became the residence of Volyn and Minsk Bishop Kaspar Kolot Tsetsinovsky. In the following years of the 19th century, the monastery still played its political role during the "landowner riots" of 1831 and 1863. After the suppression of the Polish uprisings, the Russian government took revenge on the klyashtor with a number of repressions. In 1832, Carmelite schools were closed, in 1844 the printing house was banned, in 1864 the publication of Berdichev calendars in Zhytomyr was banned for their political content, and, finally, in 1866 the monastery itself was abolished. In the same 1866, the Kyiv governor-general Bezak arrived in Berdichev with a military unit and, having dispersed the Carmelites, confiscated the buildings of the monastery for the needs of various state institutions (police, fire brigade, military presence, pharmacy), and handed over part of the buildings to local merchants for crypts for goods. The land and industrial estates of the Carmelites were also confiscated.
On June 16, 1918, the Carmelites again regained ownership of their monastery. They led the parish and were the guards of the monastery (sanctuary) until 1926 in difficult post-revolutionary conditions. After the death of the last Carmelite - Father Teresy Boleslav Shtobrin - the communist authorities of Russia took the monastery into state ownership. A museum was created in the upper church, and an atheistic cinema in the lower one. In 1941, just before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a fire broke out in the monastery. Most likely, the miraculous icon perished in its flame.
During 1970-1980. The administrative authorities of Berdichev, under the supervision of restorers of architectural monuments from Kyiv, ensured the safety of the church by restoring the vaults, installing a new roof of galvanized iron on the church and its dome. The burnt cells were rebuilt, which housed secondary schools - music and art, which still occupy and use the monastery premises for pedagogical and educational purposes. In 1991, the state authorities of Zhytomyr and Berdichev transferred the upper and lower churches of the monastery to the Catholic community. The dedication of the upper and lower churches took place on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 8, 1991. Preparation for that celebration was a nightly hearing in prayer along with the Holy Service. This was the first Holy Service with a sermon in the lower church after a 65-year break.
In July 1992, Father Tobiash Zazhetsky arrived in Berdychiv, who, in addition to pastoral activities, was entrusted with the management of repair, restoration and construction work under the supervision of a restorer of architectural monuments from the Ukrproektrestavratsiya Institute in Kyiv. The transformation of the gym into a shrine lasted several days. But it was a temporary refurbishment. Soon, after the return of the church to believers, the return of its functional original purpose and the revival of the destroyed architecture began. The greatest problem for the restorers was the dampness of the foundations and walls, which appeared due to precipitation and groundwater as a result of the lack of waterproofing. The increase in humidity was facilitated by the fact that the dungeons and ventilation ducts of the church were covered with soil. A threatening result of moisture was the salinization of the walls of the church, which led to the destruction of the brick walls of the monument. Another result of moisture was the presence of microbiological infection in the walls from various microscopic fungi and bacteria. During the cleaning of dungeons and backfilled canals, a large number of human bones and skeletons were found, for which they created a mass grave - an ossarium - in a crypt under the central navy of the lower church.
To reduce humidity and keep warm in winter, a glazed vestibule was built in the lower church, which blocks the external entrance to the church. Simultaneously with the draining of the walls of the church, work continued on replacing the damaged wood of the roof structures and installing a new copper roofing instead of the rusted galvanized iron roofing. New gutters and double glazed metal windows were also made in the church and its dome. After the construction of the sedimentary sewage system, the foundations of the church were excavated from the north side for their drainage and waterproofing from materials imported from Germany in 1996. Previously (back in 1993), a central heating system was made in the side navas of the lower church under the floor. At the same time, an electric lighting and radio system was installed. In 1996, the interior of the lower church was plastered and painted, instead of wood, the flooring was made of ceramic tiles. On the left side of the altar, a beautiful chapel of the Crucified Christ was built. From 1994 to 1995, the work on the restoration of the facades of the church lasted along with the renewal of decor, bas-reliefs and statues at the end of the main facade. These works were carried out thanks to the financial assistance of Church institutions abroad and individual donations. Plastering and decoration work in the interior of the upper church is currently underway.
The gesture of the Berdichev city authorities also deserves great respect, which restored the fortress walls from the side of the main facade of the church and monastery at their own expense.