The struggle for Lithuanian language rights in the religious life of the Vilnius region, to 1901

In the year 1895, a socially active group of Lithuanian intellectuals gathered together to found the informal Association of the Twelve Apostles of Vilnius. The group was dominated by moderate liberals who enjoyed a rather high social status. They set as their priority the advancement of Lithuanian national consciousness by legal means. Radical liberals and social democrats both participated in the activities of the group and supported strategies determined by the majority. The group's activities focused on the goal of shaping the national identity of Lithuanians from Vilnius, who at the time had a low social status. The most important immediate task was to bring Lithuanian language into religious and sacral practices, including efforts to secure the church of Saint Nicolas for worship. Beginning in 1896, various means were used to achieve these goals, for example, appeals to diocesan authorities, an attempt to gain the support of the government, which required considerable delicacy, efforts for obtain the support of St. Petersburg's archdiocese and its hierarchy, and finally, an appeal was made to the Vatican. At times wanton and unauthorized actions were undertaken in order to obtain St. Nicolas' church. All these demands were set by the secular intelligentsia, which treated the religious sphere instrumentally. This fact may explain why Bishop Stefan Zwierowicz was not eager to satisfy the group's demands. On the other hand, public opinion among Poles from Vilnius and most of the Polish clergy were rigorously against Lithuanian claims and the bishop was afraid of possible riots as well as intervention by the administration, regarded as inevitable in such cases. He strove to neutralize Lithuanians' claims for churches in Vilnius by assigning Lithuanian priests to them. The conflict came to an end in 1901 when the Archbishop of Mogilev intervened and the problem was solved on behalf of Lithuanians.[...]Vytauto Didžiojo universiteta