Kretinga - tarpukario Lietuvos pranciškonų dvasinis ir administracinis centras

ENThe history of the Convent of Friars Minor (Franciscans), the oldest in West Lithuania, goes back for more than 400 years. The first Franciscan monks arrived in Kretinga in 1602, and their convent became a fortress of Catholicism at the border with Protestant Prussia. The most distinct period in the history of the Kretinga convent was between 1912 and 1940. At that time, Kretinga was the spiritual and administrative centre of the Franciscan order, from which they operated in the entire territory of Lithuania. In the article, the organizational structure of the order of that time, the development of infrastructure of the Kretinga convent complex, as well as its pastoral, educational, charitable and economic activity is discussed. In the nineteenth century, when the tsarist Russian authorities liquidated the Franciscan Province of Lithuania, from 1913 the monastic order reborn in Kretinga operated as the Commissariat of the Silesian Province of St. Jadwiga. In 1931, it was recognized as the independent St. Casimir Province of the Order of Friars Minor of St. Francis of Assisi in Lithuania with the provincial’s residence in Kretinga. The key role in reviving the order and developing its activity was played by the Franciscan priests, Father Pranciškus Bizauskas, Father Jeronimas Pečkaitis, Father Kazimieras Čepulis and Father Augustinas Dirvelė. The Franciscans devoted most attention to pastoral, cultural and educational activity. They implemented pastoral activity through congregations of the Third Order and church fraternities.Religious festivals held by the Franciscans attracted a great many believers, and the festival of St. Anthony was particularly famous. For the purpose of educating the believers and spreading the ideas of St. Francis, they published religious calendars, books, the newspaper Sursum corda, the magazines The Bell of St. Francis (from 1936, The Franciscan World), and Kretinga R. C. Parish. As part of their cultural activity, they encouraged parishioners to join Catholic organizations and acted as their spiritual leaders. In 1932, they established a boys’ gymnasium of the Franciscan Order for young people and ordinands. The Franciscans offered social care and charity, supported charitable Catholic organizations, were in charge of the branch of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul which maintained the largest old peoples homes and kindergartens in the Kretinga district, and provided assistance to poor and homeless people. They also built a modern home for Lithuanians in exile returning to their homeland. In the interwar period, the convent’s estate was a site where Catholic and church congresses were held. Buildings of modern architecture that served for pastoral, educational and charitable activity were erected: a Franciscan gymnasium (1932), Lourdes (1933), and St. Anthony’s shelter (1934). The convent had circa 70 ha of land, in which agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry and fish farming were cultivated.