George Matulaitis Journal

He asked me to recommend someone to whom he could go for assistance. After giving it some thought, I directed him to the attorney Wróblewski, well-known and an activist. It seemed to me that this would do him no harm, since he had left the Social Democratic Party and was working for the Bolsheviks. And, after all, even the newspapers had published this informa- tion. And so, this fellow took off, not having unearthed very much. March 19 Today is the feast of St. Joseph, Patron of the Church. I celebrated a solemn high Mass at the Cathedral. When I returned home, 1 I found an order from the Bolsheviks to move my quarters from the second to the third floor and to leave all the furniture and belongings behind. I was permitted to take only my bed. They gave me three days to move out. I thought this over and conferred with others about what I should do. It is impossible to live on the third floor: the furnaces do not work, and there is no way of heating those large rooms with high ceilings. There is no furniture, nor is there enough room for everyone. I decided that if I am forced out, I would move to the seminary and leave Father Joseph [Vaitkevi ius] with the servants and the maid to keep an eye on the house and furniture. I resolved not to leave on my own until they throw me out. Let the people know that I was evicted from my house by force. March 22 The rumor that I was being forced out of my house quickly spread throughout the city. Since I did not want riots and unrest breaking out, perhaps even worse ones than in Father Muckermann’s case, I decided to make an effort to get the order canceled. I begged Father Kukta to go to Mrs. Vilei is with the notice. She gave it to a Lithuanian young woman she knew who was working for the Bolsheviks. She, in turn, handed it over to Mr. Pozela and Kapsukas 228 1 The house in which Matulaitis lived during the time he was bishop was a three-story Renaissance-style building on the street leading to the Vilnius Cathedral and quite close to it. The chancery offices were on the first floor, the bishop’s quarters were on the second, and the top floor was vacant. At the side of the house was an iron gate entered from the street and opened into an inner courtyard.