Reverend Justinas Staugaitis – founder of societies at the beginning of the 20th century

Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjama kun. Justino Staugaičio visuomeninė veikla XX a. pradžioje. Į visuomeninį gyvenimą kun. J. Staugaitis gausiausiai įsijungė 1905–1906 m., gyvendamas Marijampolėje ir ten kurdamas draugijas. Pirmiausia kunigas įkūrė vaikų darželį ir Šv. Kazimiero draugiją, skirtą jam išlaikyti. Tačiau daugiausia kunigas nusipelnė švietimui, kultūrai ir labdarai įsteigdamas „Žiburio“ draugiją.The article deals with the public activities of priest and later bishop of Telšiai Justinas Staugaitis until the First World War. Staugaitis entered Lithuania’s public life in 1905, only after returning from Warsaw. Sejny Diocese administrator prelate Juozas Antanavičius appointed him pastor of the newly created Lekėčiai parish. However, the authorization of the civil administration to establish the parish had not yet been obtained. As a result, Rev. Staugaitis settled in Marijampolė, where he was appointed as a vicar. Staugaitis lived in Marijampolė for a year and showed that he was a gifted organizer of public life. These activities were primarily expressed in the development of societies. First of all, he began to implement the social project – building of a kindergarten for the children of poor parents. For the purpose of official registration of the kindergarten with government institutions, the St. Casimir Society, which had to organize and supervise the activities of the kindergarten, was founded. Little data remain on the activities of the kindergarten that was open for about two years. In 1906 there were about 60 children in the kindergarten. The reasons for its closure were twofold. First of all, national disagreements arose because both Lithuanian and Polish children attended the kindergarten. While the very founder of the kindergarten lived in Marijampolė, he was able to resolve the issues arising based on ethnic grounds. After his departure from Marijampolė the ethnic disagreements became difficult to resolve. The second reason was the negative attitude of local farmers to the kindergarten. The farmers not only did not materially support it, but also strongly campaigned against it. The farmers opposed the idea of the kindergarten because if the poor children were cared for in the kindergarten there would not be anyone to graze the animals. Despite its failure, the kindergarten in Marijampolė was the first attempt to set up an institution of this kind in Lithuania. Among the most important works completed by Staugaitis in Marijampolė one has to mention the education and charity society “Žiburys” (Hearth) founded at the beginning of 1906. The creation of this society was most of all due to the emergence of competition between the liberal (socialist) and Catholic movements over who would have greater influence in society. Even though the national aspect was no less important in the creation of the society, Staugaitis convened the constituent assembly of the “Žiburys” Society, wrote the statutes that the constituent assembly approved them. He was elected as the first chairman of the Society. The “Žiburys” Society contributed a great deal to the education and culture of Užnemunė (Trans-Nemunas region). He founded a progymnasium for girls in Marijampolė, established primary schools, libraries in various areas, organized events. His merits in the social field are also quite large. Staugaitis was by the sources of the “Žagrės” Society aimed at farmers. He advocated joining this farmers’ organization of an economic nature with the “Žiburys” Society. However, this idea was not implemented and “Žagrės” company of a cooperative nature was founded. It should be noted that Staugaitis also contributed to organizing workers and he wrote the statutes of the workers’ society