LITUANIA

LITHUANIA. – A Baltic republic, proclaimed independent from the Russian Empire on 16 February 1918 and annexed as a federated republic to the U.S.S.R. on 22 July 1940. Following the return of Vilna and its territory (6,656 sq. km. with 458,000 inhabitants), obtained from the U.S.S.R. on 10 October 1939, the area of Lithuania rose to 62,550 sq. km.

I. GEOGRAPHY

The population, which numbered 3.3 million in 1940, suffered greatly from the deportations that accompanied the German and Russian occupations, and from the exodus of the Germans who constituted a notable minority (1.4% of the total). Lithuanians then formed 84% of the population; Jews 7.7%, Poles 3.2%, and Russians 2.7%. The capital, which had first been established at Kaunas (153,000 inhabitants in 1939), was transferred after 1941 to Vilna (210,000 inhabitants), which Lithuanians have always regarded as the centre of their nation.

Lithuania has a predominantly agricultural economy (77% of the population was engaged in it), with production of cereals and especially of flax (a state monopoly) and hemp. Forest reserves are considerable: timber feeds the pulp and paper industries. Livestock farming was also flourishing (1.2 million head of cattle) and allowed for significant exports of meat and butter. The incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union has brought about a profound upheaval in the country’s economic structure, though little is yet known of this.

II. CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY

The modern Lithuanian language, with its archaic forms, is the closest of all European languages to ancient Sanskrit.

Traces of the ancient ancestors of the Lithuanians are found in the area between the Vistula and Dvina rivers from as early as the Corded Ware culture of the Neolithic period (c. 1800 BC). Tacitus, in the *Germania*, refers to them under the generic name *Aestiorum gentes*, and Ptolemy (AD 150) already mentions two distinct tribes. The numerous finds of Roman objects (ornaments, coins) attest to flourishing cultural and commercial relations with the Romans in the 1st–4th centuries AD.

1. Ancient religion

In the ancient Lithuanian worldview there was no clear line of demarcation between man, the plant or animal kingdoms, or celestial bodies. In every manifestation of the surrounding nature he perceived the presence of life, whose varied expressions he attributed to mysterious vital forces.

Certain beings (animals, plants, etc.) appeared to possess a pre-eminent mysterious life. Thus historical sources, down to almost the 17th century (even in the reports of the nuncios), mention the survival among the people of traces of ancient paganism in the veneration of the serpent, which people kept in the corners of their houses. Among other animals, judging also from the ornamental motifs of folk art, the horse, the goat, the ox, and the cock seem to have been particularly favoured.

Trees were also held in special regard: among them the oak, the lime, the rowan, the fir, the maple, and the poplar; and entire woods, streams, lakes, or large erratic boulders that stood isolated in some part of the Lithuanian plain were considered sacred. Indeed, hundreds of place names containing the sacred root *alk* (Alkakalnis, Alkamiskis, Alkupis, etc.) still survive in toponymy. It therefore appears that underlying these cults was the concept of defending, preserving, inciting, and exalting the forces of life, against which evil constantly lurks as the bringer of death.

Death and evil were imagined as spirits, mysterious immaterial forces that threatened humans at every step and could lodge in various parasites that brought disease as well as in the eyes of men (the evil eye). Charms included the sound of a bell, and it was considered lucky to carry a rowan staff.

Fire was regarded as the most powerful means of exorcism and purification, annihilating and consuming all. It was believed that even in a conflagration it was the spirit of fire that powerfully and mysteriously manifested itself in lightning, which, by kindling flames, demanded and took from man the sacrifice of his goods. Hence the rites of spontaneous offerings burned to propitiate the fire deity. Many survivals of this particular cult stubbornly persisted even after the introduction of Christianity; even today no one, not even a child, would spit into the hearth or onto an open flame. Water was another means of purification.

The force of life was perpetuated through the concurrent action of a masculine element represented by the deity of lightning, Perkūnas, a very vague personification of thunder and lightning, and a feminine element: the Earth Mother, Žemyna (from *žemė* = earth), who produces all manifestations of life; and for this power of giving life and bearing fruit she was considered sacred. Neither one nor the other ever had, beyond their proper names, anthropomorphic features or any precise plastic representation. Only literary romanticism, relying on sources far from scientifically reliable, could create a kind of Lithuanian Olympus.

In listing the various Lithuanian deities one must avoid the error into which 19th-century historians and writers fell, basing themselves solely on works from the 16th and 17th centuries, of giving place names as divine names and listing up to 70 of them. In reality, the names drawn from reliable chronicles are only those of Perkūnas, Žemyna, and Medeinė.

A firm belief in life after death is very evident among the ancient Lithuanians. Since cremation and inhumation alternated in funeral rites, excavations have yielded irrefutable evidence of this belief, confirmed also by written sources (the term *sirmen*, Lithuanian *šermenys* = funeral, is already found in sources from the 15th century).

On anniversaries, as well as during the funeral ceremonies that followed burial, food was brought to the graves for the souls of the deceased. J. Długosz relates that in the *alkai* (sacred places) there were areas belonging to individual households or entire settlements where cremation ceremonies were performed; later, food was brought there on wooden or bark dishes to be left, while drinks were poured directly onto these areas.

LITHUANIA – 1) State frontiers 1939; 2) State frontiers 1950; 3) ecclesiastical circumscriptions; 4) railways.

Up to the 16th century, the custom was preserved of placing food on tombs as an offering to the deceased, under the belief that their souls would partake of it during the night. There is no positive evidence regarding the organization of the cult or the existence of a priestly hierarchy, but this must be ruled out by the fact that the religion lacked anthropomorphic forms of worship and defined deities whose representatives such priests would have been. Instead, there were individuals who could present themselves as magicians, sorcerers, or holy men, offering themselves to the people as mediators, especially in presenting propitiatory offerings to the gods.

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**Figure 1.** Graphic from the book *Lituania - Europa, Finlandia, Estonia, Lettonia, Lituania*, in *Terra e Nazioni*, Milan 1936, p. 133.

**LITHUANIA** – Church of the monastery of Pazašlis near Kaunas.

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In 1250, Mindaugas embraced the Christian faith and received the royal crown from Pope Innocent IV, while Lithuania was enumerated by the same Pontiff as part of the patrimony of St. Peter (1252). At that time, the first diocese of Lithuania (Lethovien. dioec.) was erected, directly dependent on the Apostolic See, with Cristiano, a priest of the Teutonic Order, as its first bishop. However, the methods of evangelization by fire and sword employed by the Teutonic Knights, who continued to devastate the country with their incursions, were not conducive to a rapid expansion of the Christian religion. Thus, with the death of Bishop Cristiano in 1270, the diocese he had founded also came to an end. The struggles lasted nearly two centuries. The Lithuanians defended themselves to the utmost, while at the same time expanding their state toward the East.

During the 14th century, repeated attempts were made to resume the Christianization of Lithuania. In 1322–23, Gediminas (“Rex Lithuanianum et multorum Ruthenorum”) wrote letters from his capital, Vilisius, to many cities in Germany, to the Franciscans, and to Pope John XXII for this purpose. Under his son Algirdas, the Franciscans were not only able to carry out their peaceful missionary work undisturbed in Vilnius, Navahrudak, and elsewhere, but they also enjoyed the open protection of the Lithuanian rulers. In 1386, the ruler of Lithuania, Jogaila (“Ladislaus Jogailenko”), upon marrying Jadwiga, heir to the Polish throne, became king of Poland himself and promised the conversion of Lithuania; this took place in February 1387.

In the capital, the diocese of Vilnius (dioec. Vilnensis) was also erected. The Teutonic Order, seeing its plans of conquest thwarted, began to claim that the baptism of Lithuania was invalid and continued its military expeditions against the country. However, on July 15, 1410, the united forces of Lithuania and Poland, under the command of Vytautas the Great (1392–1430), completely defeated the Teutonic Order at Tannenberg. Thus, the Teutonic claims to Samogitia also ceased, and the Council of Constance (1417), at Vytautas’ proposal, provided for the establishment of a second Lithuanian diocese in this western part of Lithuania, in the region of Medininkai (Mednien. dioec.), with its seat at Varniai.

Though introduced late, Catholicism took firm root. This was aided by the long period of peace during the reign of Jogaila’s son, Casimir IV, Grand Duke of Lithuania (1440–92). His son Casimir (d. at Vilnius in 1484) was later enrolled by the Church among the saints as the patron of Lithuania.

Catholicism subsequently faced great obstacles due to the scarcity of clergy; this, combined with the Teutonic Order’s conversion to Lutheranism (1525) and the favor shown by Polish-influenced Lithuanian nobles toward Calvinism, contributed to the spread of the “Reformation.” However, the positions of the Catholic Church were soon regained through the zealous work of the Jesuits, Piarists, Dominicans, Basilians, and Bernardines. The fact that the rulers of Lithuania, after the real union with Poland (1569) common to both states, were fervent Catholics also played a significant role. The Lithuanian bishops contributed greatly to this, such as Merkelis Giedraitis (d. 1609), bishop of Samogitia, who earned the name of “saint” from the people, and his collaborator, Mikołaj Daukša, who in 1595 published the first Catholic catechism in the Lithuanian language. King Sigismund Vasa (1588–1632) declared Catholicism the state religion, and in 1596 the Union of Brest was proclaimed, uniting the “Orthodox” with the Catholic Church.

In the subsequent partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795), Lithuania found itself almost entirely under Russian occupation (1795–1915). Ecclesiastical jurisdictions were reorganized, but the failed political uprisings of 1831 and 1863 led to further persecutions. The German occupation of 1915 also contributed to the dispersal of the population, many of whom emigrated abroad. The reestablishment of Lithuanian independence on February 16, 1918, restored freedom to the Church, which was able to regularize the question of ecclesiastical jurisdictions (cf. the apostolic constitution *Lithuanorum gente* of April 4, 1926). On September 27, 1927, the Voldemaras government concluded a Concordat with the Holy See, which sanctioned full freedom of worship, jurisdiction, and self-governance according to its own canons, exempted ecclesiastics from military service, made religious instruction compulsory, exempted ecclesiastical property from taxation, obligated the state to pay annual sums to the bishops and diocesan clergy as stipulated in the concordat, and granted full recognition to Catholic Action.

The Second World War, which brought first Soviet occupation (June 15, 1940), then German, and then Russian again, destroyed everything, resulting in mass deportations, massacres, and imprisonments. The entire Catholic hierarchy was suppressed, with bishops either dead or in exile.

In 1949, Pope Pius XII established the Ecclesiastical College of St. Casimir in Rome, thus responding to the requests of Archbishop Metropolitan Msgr. J. Skvireckas, who donated a summer residence for young ecclesiastics under Tivoli, while the urban seat was offered by Msgr. A. Briška, a Lithuanian parish priest in Chicago. In this way, provision was made to ensure the formation of young Lithuanian clergy to make up for the severe losses suffered by the Church in Lithuania.

From the standpoint of international law, Lithuania continues to be recognized as a sovereign national state, albeit temporarily prevented from exercising certain prerogatives of its sovereignty. The constitutional organs of Lithuania, abolished within the country, continue to function abroad, where legitimate diplomatic representatives of Lithuania operate with full recognition from the governments to which they are accredited. Thus, Lithuanian legations exist at the Holy See, in Washington, London, and have been restored in Paris; a series of consulates also function in America. The Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (v. L.I.K), which led the resistance in the country occupied by the Nazis, after transferring its seat abroad, continues the struggle in defense of Lithuania’s just rights, coordinating the various initiatives of individual Lithuanian communities in exile or emigration and serving as the voice of oppressed Lithuania before the United Nations and various governments.

III. LITERATURE

The first books in Lithuanian appeared through the efforts of Lutheran preachers. The Jesuits, who came to oppose them, promoted the publication of numerous Catholic books in the Lithuanian language through popular preaching. Among the writers of that period are remembered the canon Mikalojus Daukša (1527–1613) and the Jesuit Konstantinas Sirvydas (1580–1631). A special place is held by C. Duonelaitis (1714–89), author of a hexameter poem entitled Metai (The Seasons).

From the religious literature of the 19th century emerged the new branch of didactic narrative, composed mostly of edifying tales for the people. A prolific author in this field was the Bishop of Samogitia Motiejus Valančius (1801–1875), followed by some Lithuanian priests, including Dovydaitis and Tatarė. Meanwhile, nourished by folk poetry, the first authentically Lithuanian representatives of cultivated poetry emerged: the priest Antanas Strazdas (1763–1833), the Bishop Antanas Baranauskas (1835–1902), and the priest Antanas Vienžindys (1871–92), whose lyrical output almost immediately became part of the folk heritage and contributed greatly to keeping alive both Catholic faith and patriotic love among the people. A prominent place is held by the poet of the national revival, the prelate Janas Maironis-Mačiulis (1862–1932). A guide for generations of an entire era, in his lyric poetry (collected under the title Pavasario Balsai [Voices of Spring]), in his poems and dramatic works, he expressed the ideals of the national rebirth with suggestive beauty and profound optimism. In narrative and journalism, a similar influence was exerted by the canon Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas (1869–1933). In his masterpiece Pragiedruliai (Clear Skies), a classic of modern Lithuanian prose, no one like him knew how to show how national consciousness, beyond being an inner fact of the individual soul, is also a collective fact of the soul of an entire people. Another masterpiece by Vaižgantas, permeated with Franciscan love for creation, is Dedes ir Dediens (Grandfathers and their Wives), in which he reflects on the mysterious and subtle bonds between the events of nature and human life.

The prelate Aleksandras Dambrauskas, alias Adomas Jakštas (1860–1938), devoted his multifaceted work to the propagation and deepening of Catholic ideology. A many-sided personality, he harmoniously and broadly fused in himself the Christian philosophy of the East (Soloviev) with Western Thomism; always in the forefront in defense of Catholic values, he exerted an incalculable influence in the Catholic revival among Lithuanian intellectuals.

After the reconstruction of the independent state, new literary movements reached young writers, bringing ideas of liberalism and Marxism alongside other avant-garde literary trends prevalent in Western Europe. Nevertheless, Catholics remained in leading positions even during this period. The principal driving force behind the philosophical, pedagogical, and social thought movement was Stasys Šalkauskis (d. 1942), an apostolic soul and thinker of solid Thomistic formation, and a connoisseur of Soloviev’s philosophy. Antanas Maceina (b. 1908) grew up in his school and continued his literary activity in exile.

In poetry, Jonas Aleksandriškis-Aistis (b. 1904) has achieved a considerable place as a symbolist whose lyric poetry explores the anguished problems of human existence, though Christian ideology does not entirely dispel his pessimism. Faustas Kiršas (b. 1891), on the other hand, meditates on the problem of eternity, toward which he is journeying as a pilgrim who, while on the way, seeks to grasp its mystery; and while the mists at first obstructed his vision of the essence of eternity, he now clearly perceives the Divinity as Providence sustaining all things. Not a philosophical seeker like Kiršas, but a prophet and herald of the eternal God is Bernardas Brazdžionis (b. 1907). In his lyrics, the antithesis between the primordial innocence of nature and humanity, which has strayed from the Creator and blindly follows its civilization toward perdition, often appears. Of the poets of the present generation, Brazdžionis is perhaps the most openly Catholic and the most popular. Kazys Bradunas sings with talent the sentiments of rural Lithuanians, tenaciously attached to their land and to God.

In the field of prose, most Catholic writers depict Lithuanian life with its problems. Some of them treat figures and settings drawn from the past, focusing on the psychology of their people. Among these, Antanas Vaičiulaitis (b. 1906) holds a place of honor as a miniaturist of the Lithuanian landscape and an evoker of the poignant sorrow of humble folk. Also noteworthy are the short-story writer Juozas Grušas (b. 1901) and the novelist Vincas Ramunas (b. 1905), author of Dalkes randonam Saulėlaidy (Dust in the Red Sunset) and Kryžiai (The Crosses), both of which refer to the Bolshevik invasion of Lithuania. Jurgis Jankus (b. 1906), in the form of a novella, has treated human destiny under the influence of the dual totalitarian regime in Naktis ant moru (Night on the Mulberry Trees). The Bolshevik invasion forced seventy percent of Lithuanian writers into exile; those who remained in the homeland write under constraint, deprived of freedom.

ART

Only with the introduction of Christianity did Lithuania enter the common movement of Western civilization, and European art first appeared there with the construction of numerous churches. Some art historians distinguish, as sub-styles, Baltic Gothic, Polish Renaissance, and Lithuanian Baroque, and it is an undeniable fact that artistic production bears witness to the synthesis of heterogeneous elements, yielding an interesting and original result. A further artistic reworking in the direction of a more pronounced accentuation and fusion with the indigenous artistic tradition was carried out by anonymous craftsmen devoted to folk art, so that in this process of assimilation it is sometimes difficult to recognize the original Western stylistic element in the metamorphosis it underwent through successive stages of reworking. The existence from ancient times of a vast heritage of decorative motifs and richly symbolic pre-Christian ornamentation leads to the conclusion that from time immemorial, in its own forms, the Lithuanian people cultivated art in its various manifestations.

With their conversion to Christianity, the Lithuanians placed this traditional art at the service of the Christian idea. Original in their lines, in structural details, and above all in decoration are the wooden Lithuanian churches and the bell towers that rise in isolation on the churchyard, reproducing architectural motifs dear to the people.

Yet the archaic character of the decorative forms prevails and stands out in the countless rustic chapels and wooden crosses that constitute the characteristic feature of the country, often called the “land of crosses.” The variety of types of these crosses and chapels is such as to seem inexhaustible. Almost all, however, are characterized by an extremely rich halo, sometimes double or triple, because in addition to the crossbeam on which the figure of the Crucified is affixed, there is almost always a wheel-like halo, variously rayed, in wrought iron that crowns the top. Sometimes, in addition to the carved wooden figure of the Redeemer, there are also those of the Madonna and St. John Nepomucene, of St. George on horseback slaying the dragon,