George Matulaitis Journal

to the latest directives from the Holy See. I shall have to read certain books on this subject. I am also preparing material for the deans’ meeting which I shall hold as soon as possible. I should also begin putting the religious communities in order and the parishes as well, but it is impossible to do everything at once. Father Ra tutis, 1 who belongs to the Diocese of Kaunas, came to see me. He is returning from Oranenburg with his children’s home—107 persons in all. He hopes to stay in Vilnius 2 at least for a time. At present it is not possible to move the the children across the front lines; everything may be confiscated. I gave them the necessary permission to celebrate Mass and hear confessions. March 24 Today another Bolshevik spy or intelligence agent—a very suspicious character in any event, stopped in to see me. He even brought an introductory letter from Father Baliulis, the Dean of Vitebsk. Father Baliulis refers to him as a good friend. Once Father Matulaitis sent me a similar “friend” 3 to Fribourg from London. After I investigated him, this “friend” of his turned out to be a real con artist and spy. This gentlemen called himself Mich a= Zadkiewicz, originally a Pole, formerly of the Orthodox faith, but converted to Catholicism about two years ago. In Petrograd he became acquainted with the Jesuit Father Bartwarowski and had entered the Jesuit novitiate. However, when the Revolution broke out, he had no choice but to join the Bolsheviks. Now he has a responsible position with them and is commissar of a department dealing with foreign affairs. He can travel across all the front lines and hand out permits to others if necessary. Having conferred with Bishops von Ropp, +ozi<ski and Fathers Baliulis and Hergett, he is determined, while working for the Bolsheviks, to do good for the Church wherever he can and to accomplish a genuine revolution in the relations of the Bolsheviks with 233 1 Nikodemas Ra tutis (1881-1947): a Lithuanian priest ordained in 1903. Since 1915 he had been well known for his work among Lithuanians in the Vilnius area, for which he was exiled to Russia. During WW I he worked with Lithuanian refugees and had been caring for war orphans. When the war was over, he obtained several railway cars and transported the entire orphanage to Vilnius. 2 The orphanage was housed just outside Vilnius, at Trinapolis, the summer residence of the bishops of Vilnius. Matulaitis gave his permission and the Bolsheviks also allowed it. The orphanage remained at Trinapolis until 1925. 3 A reference to the Rafalovski incident in 1914; Father Kazimieras Matulaitis was pastor of St. Casimir’s Church in London.