George Matulaitis Journal

148 The Bishop of Sejny went to Warsaw and with him I sent a letter to Monsignor Ratti, 1 the Apostolic Visitator appointed by the Holy See. I explained that our Congregation cannot do without me. Then, since the danger that I would become Bishop of Vilnius kept increasing, I decided to go to Munich to present the matter personally to His Excellency Nuncio Pacelli. The Lithuanian Council also asked me to inform the Nuncio that Monsignor Michalkiewicz was exiled to Germany through no fault of the Council or the Lithuanians and that there was great need for direct communication between the Lithuanian clergy and Rome. I did go to Munich, 2 but came away with the impression that the Holy Father was not likely to pay any attention to my explanations. With God’s help, we were able to find some candidates who wanted to enter our monastery in Marijampole. Refugee priests began to return from Russia. Many of them came through Marijampole and a few stayed in the monastery for some time. Gradually, we introduced spiritual read- ing at meals as well as readings and commentaries on the Constitutions and Instructions. Then we closed our doors to enforce the cloister. Soon the secular priests found lodgings in town, and little by little we began to live as religious. Whenever I had the time, I worked on, and wrote up, the Constitutions for the Sisters of the Poor, 3 and Father Laukaitis translated them into Lithuanian. Somehow or other, I also managed to get the Sisters’ life organized. I think that now I shall be able to continue writing the Instructions for our Congregation. The brothers [Marians] from Warsaw had written that I could now work in peace, since there is no longer any danger that I would shortly be appointed bishop. But later on they wrote again, this time saying that, in fact, I had already been designated Bishop of Vilnius. It must have been on October 22nd that the Rev. Professor Mi = kowski brought me a telegram from Vilnius from His Excellency Msgr. A. Ratti, the Apostolic Visitator, which informed me that I had already been appointed Bishop of Vilnius and also, that if I tried to resign, the Holy Father would not accept my resignation. That night I could not sleep. I felt 1 Achille Ratti (1857-1939): appointed Apostolic Visitator in April 1918. His jurisdiction included Poland, Lithuania, and the other Baltic nations. He arrived in Warsaw in May, and the negotiations for the appointment of a bishop to the city of Vilnius continued through him, rather than Pacelli. 2 The meeting with Pacelli took place on September 2, 1918. 3 The Sisters of the Poor under the title of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The actual founding date was October 15, 1918. This was the first religious community for women founded in Lithuania. Their motherhouse was in Marijampole.