George Matulaitis Journal

160 of the Catholic Faith. It looked as though everyone was pleased with my words: including the Jews, the Belorussians, and the Lithuanians. And so, God helped me to make peace with the Lithuanian Government once again. The Lithuanians were unhappy because of what had happened at the installation and were unsure about how I would relate to them. Now they calmed down. During these days many priests and people came to call on me in the mornings. In the afternoons I visited some of the more prominent citizens of the city. The representatives of the various convents and monasteries came to present themselves as well. Upon their invitation, I went to visit the Sisters of Nazareth. 1 I was well received. The speeches were very much in the Polish national spirit. In response, I emphasized the impor- tance and value of the Faith and of education in the life of the nation. I celebrated Mass for the Sisters on St. Stephen’s day and gave a short homily. The girls and the little children made a pleasant impression on me. I resolved to respect the desires and aspirations of every nation insofar as they were not opposed to the teachings of our Faith. If the Poles wish to return to Warsaw, let them do so. That is not contrary to salvation, just as long as they love God and the Church. December 15 His Excellency O’Rourke’s 2 consecration took place in Vilnius. I consecrated him, with the Bishop of Kaunas and Monsignor Michalkiewicz assisting. Bishop +ozi<ski 3 of Mi<sk could not come because Mi<sk has been occupied by the Bolsheviks. 1 The Sisters of the Holy Family at Nazareth, founded in Rome in 1875. They did educational and social work. The community had houses in Italy, Poland, France, England, Australia, and the USA. In Lithuania they were in Vilnius and Gardinas (Grodno). 2 Eduard O’Rourke (1876-1943): born in ethnographic Lithuania, he was of Irish descent. Ordained in 1907, he was spiritual director at the Kaunas Seminary for a time. As Bishop of Riga, he was not well received because of prevalent nationalist feeling and resigned in favor of a Latvian bishop. 3 Zygmunt +ozi<ski (1879-1932): Matulaitis’s friend from the Theological Academy of St. Petersburg. In 1917, he became bishop of the newly created Diocese of Mi<sk , predominantly Belorussian. He was unable to administer it properly because of constant persecution by the Bolsheviks. The Red Army took Mi<sk on Dec. 11, 1918, and on Jan. 1, 1919, the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was established.