Lithuanian-Polish conflict about the language of the church service in the Berznykas parish at the beginning of the 20th century

Latin was a liturgical language in the Church at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Only the additional church services were allowed to be conducted in national languages. The Seinai Diocese as well as the Berznykas Parish were binationale Polish-Lithuanian. Seinai bishops (except for Paweł Straszyński) understood the needs of the Lithuanian congregation to have the church service in Lithuanian. However, there were conflicts on the basis of languages in several parishes. The conflict in Berznykas began when a young priest who came to the parish in 1903 (A. Staniukynas) said the rosary in Lithuanian. The Poles protested and three months later the priest was moved to another parish. Lithuanians wanted to protect their priest and they sent the complaint to the administrator of the diocese and the parish priest Juozapas Antanavičius. The conflict was solved only when a decision to build a new church was taken