George Matulaitis Journal

We talked about founding Belorussian religious communities for both men and women. I proposed that perhaps the men would like to join a branch of our Congregation. We do not persecute nations. We serve them all equally and endeavor to return our members to the nations from which they originated. He said that it would be better to found a separate religious community for women, but he liked the idea of joining our Congregation, 1 since he had been thinking of entering a monastery himself. I promised to help him with the foundation of these religious communities. 2 I am concerned that the Belorussian national revival develop along Catholic lines so the spiritual life of the reborn nation be solid. As for Father Cikoto, he seemed to me a very intelligent man and one gifted with an abundance of the Spirit of God. Since the Bolsheviks have begun to seize young men to join the Red Army, we sent our second brother, the candidate Andrius Meciunas, to Marijampole. It seems that on April 9th he managed to get out of Vilnius and reached Marijampole safely. On April l9th, before five o’clock in the morning I heard soldiers running along the street. When I looked out the window, I could see a large group of armed Jewish militiamen going toward the Cathedral almost at a run. Soon afterward, I saw several Polish Legionnaires ride up. After a while they returned on foot and set up machine guns on the street corner. They started shooting at the Bolsheviks, who were also fir- ing back from St. George’s Avenue and from the park near the Cathedral. Throughout the city one could hear gunfire and sounds of fighting. The Legionnaires had surprised many of the Bolsheviks while they were still asleep like a flock of sheep. I noticed that there was not much order among them, but I did not think that they would have allowed themselves to be caught unaware. The evening before, the Bolsheviks had been reveling and partying with gusto, completely oblivious of what awaited them. The Legionnaires were few in number—they say, only about three or four hundred. They rode in and immediately took the station and attacked along Main Street. 250 1 In 1920, Fr. Cikoto joined the Marians and completed his novitiate in Marijampole. He learned Lithuanian and worked among the Lithuanians for a while. In 1923, he started a branch of Belorussian Marians in Druja and worked there until 1933, when he was elected Superior General of the Marian Congregation. 2 A Belorussian religious Community was established at the Marian parish in Druja in 1923 and juridi- cally established by Matulaitis in 1924. The Servants of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist are still in existence.