Why St. Casimir’s name was popular in religious, educational and musical activities of Lithuanians in the USA

XIX a. pabaigoje ir XX a. pirmoje pusėje į JAV emigravusių lietuvių kultūrinis gyvenimas buvo glaudžiai susijęs su katalikiškomis tradicijomis. JAV įsikūrusios pirmosios visuomeninės organizacijos ir parapijos ėmė vadintis šventųjų vardais. Ypač populiarus buvo šv. Kazimiero vardas. Šiame straipsnyje apžvelgiama draugijų, bažnyčių, švietimo įstaigų, chorų, orkestrų, susijusių su šiuo vardu, kūrimosi istorija ir darbai, lietuvių vargonininkų ir kompozitorių muzikos kūriniai, skirti šv. Kazimierui; analizuojamos priežastys, paskatinusios lietuvių visuomenę išeivijoje puoselėti šios kilnios asmenybės išpažintas dvasines vertybes.The mass emigration of Lithuanians into the United States began in the second half of the 19th century. It took place in three phases. The first one lasted before the First World War. About a half of the Lithuanian immigrants arriving at the United States at those times did not only know a single word in English, but could not even read and write in their own language; so sometimes they did not even understand to which nationality they belong. The Irish, who had settled in America somewhat earlier, started terrorizing Lithuanians, calling them slavs and „polaks“. Illiterate Lithuanians, who could not speak a word to their employers, usually got the hardest and the least paid jobs. The first immigrants mostly settled in the coal mine regions of Pennsylvania. However, despite of all abuses and unfriendliness, Lithuanians stayed close both to Irish, and to Polish. The strongest tie was their Catholic faith, which from generation to generation was a base of their life. Lithuanians were hard-working people, so gradually they adapted quite well to American living standards. They mostly resided in big American cities with well-developed industry: Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland. They used to establish quite close-knit communities. [...