The power of Maironis in the texts of L. Andriekus (on the occasion of Maironis’ one hundred fiftieth birth anniversary)

Šiame straipsnyje pateikiami glausti L. Andriekaus biografijos faktai. Pristatoma jo archyvinė medžiaga, esanti pranciškonų vienuolyne prie Kryžių kalno. Pateikiami trys šaltiniai: dvi paskaitos ir viena invokacija. Visi trys šaltiniai glaudžiai susiję su Maironiu, jo šimtosiomis gimimo ir penkiasdešimtosiomis mirties metinėmis. Juose Maironis aukštinamas kaip poetas, bet apgailestaujama, kad jam taip ir neteko tapti vyskupu. Pristatomas jo kūrybinis palikimas ir dvasinė veikla. Maironis apibūdinamas kaip Lietuvos laisvės šauklys, kurio poezija lietuvių tautą kvietė išsivaduotiLeonardas Andriekus’ (1914–2003), a priest, monk and poet, poetry isn’t well known in Lithuania, not many people are familiar with his lectures and speeches on literary, cultural and art topics, also his invocations, sermons and speeches on radio are not widely known. His last book – selected poetry “Pasilikau tik dangų mėlyną” (“I have left only a blue sky for me”) – was published in Lithuania in 1991. All his other books – seven volumes of the selected poetry in Lithuanian and two volumes of the selected poetry in English – were published in emigration, USA. Having twice (in 1989 and 1993) arrived in Lithuania, he was not of special attention. In 1927 Andriekus finished primary school, although at that moment his family was as poor as one third part of Barstyčiai population: there were 7 children in the family, which had only a 1.09 ha of the land. The Andriekai family didn’t have enough money so he had to forget normal studies. Andriekus studied independently and finished two year course. Being seventeen years old, he came to Seda and presented an application to a schoolmaster wishing to continue his studies. He passed the exams although there were difficulties with Lithuanian. On June 16, 1931 Seda secondary school teachers’ council decided to admit him to the third form, if consent of the Minister of education was carried, because Andriekus’ age didn’t fit to the third form. On October 2 a positive answer from the Minister was received by Seda schoolmaster. The financial situation of the family didn’t improve, so Andriekus handed in an application to the schoolmaster asking to exempt him from tuition fees. Although he was diagnosed with chronic eye disease, notwithstanding he sought for knowledge. While studying he entered Ateitininkai federation, started guiding it and invited V. Mačernis to become its member.[...]Humanitarinių mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta