Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/70

 LITHUANIANS

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LITHUANIANS

came Stenar, who apparently resignetl in 1160 and subsequently became Bishop of Vexio; Kol (c. 1160- 95), who was killed at Rotala, Esthonia, 8 August, 1220, when fighting against the heathen; and Bene- dict (1220-37), the first of a long line of pious and munificent prelates, who built and endowed the fine cathedral, which had been begun in 11.50 but was not finished at the Reformation. Among these was Blessed Nicholas Hermansson (1374-91); educated at the University of Orleans, he had been tutor to Charles and Birger, the sons of St. Bridget, whose body he received when it was brought to Vad.stena by St. Catherine. He composed a beautiful Office in honour of St. Bridget, which included the hymn "Rosa rorans bonitatem". The last Catholic Bishop of Linkoping was Hans Brask (b. 1464; bishop, 1513- 27; d. 30 July, 1539), the valiant champion of the Old Learning, who was compelled to leave his diocese in 1527 owing to the adoption of Lutheranism as the state rehgion at the Diet of Westeraas.

The cathedral of Linkoping, the abbey church of Vadstena, and the numerous interesting churches on the Island of Gotland bear witness to a splendid Catholic past. Of the numerous provincial and diocesan synods held in the Diocese of Linkoping the Council of Skenninge was the most important. The papal legate, Cardinal WUham of Sabina, presided and the celibacy of the clergy was strongly enforced. The following religious institutions were set up in the diocese between the twelfth and the sixteenth cen- turies: The cathedral chapter, which consisted at the time of the Reformation of a dean, an archdeacon, a sub-dean, nine canons, and fifteen other prebendaries; the Cistercians, who had three houses for men, the ab- beys of Alvastra, the mother-house of the Cistercian Order in Sweden, in Ostergotland, Nydala in Smaaland, both founded in 1143, and Gutvalla (Roma) in Got- land; also four nunneries, Vreta (1160), Askaby, Byarum, dissolved about 1250 and the mms trans- ferred to Sko (Upland), and Solberga (Gotland); the Brigittines, who had the great Abbey of Vadstena (q. v.) ; the Dominicans, who possessed priories at Skenninge (1220?), Visby (1240), and Calmar, as well as nunneries at Skenninge (1260) and Cahnar (1286). There were hospitals at Linkoiiing, Visby (2), Soder- koping (2), Skenninge (2), Calmar.. (2), Norrabygd (Uknaback), and on the Island of Oland. Most of these institutions were destroyed at the Reformation.

BcMPUs, The Cathedrals of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark (London, 1908), 187-96, 220-66; Scriptorea rerum svecicarum, III (Upsala, 1876), pt. ii, 102-12, 282-98; Reuterdahl, Svenska kyrkans Hisloria (5 vols., Lund, 1S3S-66); Martin, Gustave Vasa et la reforme en SuMe (Paris, 190G); Schuck, Rosa rorans. Ett Birgitta-officium in Acta Vniversitatis Lundensis (Lund, 1902); Meddelanden fra del literatur-historiska Seminariet, 37-51 ; An- NELL, Bidrag till Biskop Hans Brasks Lefnadsteckning (Stockholm, 1904) ; LuNDQviST, Bidrag till Kdnnedomen om de svenska Dom- kapitlen (Stockholm, 1897); Nilsson, Klosterv&sendet inom LinkHpings stift till ach med aar 1344 (Linkoping, 1879); Hall, Bidrag till Kdnnedomen om Cistercienserorden i Sverige (Gefle, 1899) , school programme; Reuteroahl, Statuta synodalia veteris ecctesife Sveo-Gothiccp. (Lund, 1841); Skrifter utgifna af Kyrkohistoriska Foreningen, II; Synodalstatuter, ed. Gdmmerus (Stockholm, 1902).

A. W. Taylor.

Lithuanians in the United States. — The Lithu- anians {Lieluvyx; adjective, liduviskas) are a people of Russia, occupying the territory of ancient Lithu- ania (Lieluva), now the present Governments or Provinces of Suwalki, Kovno, Vilna, Grodno, Vitebsk, Minsk, and IMohilefT. Between 1300 and 1600 they formed an independent kingdom, but in 1500 their kingdom became practically united with Poland under a common sovereign and in 1569 the Diet of Lublin decreed a permanent union of Poland and Lithuania into a single kingdom with a Polish elective king. After the conquest and p:irtiti(iii of Poland in 1795 Lithuania became separate Russian jirovinces, apart from Poland, and bo continues, with the excep- tion of Suwalki, down to the present time. Although

the Lithuanian people were first under Polish and then under Russian domination they nevertheless presei-ved their nationality and language, and in late years their language has had a great revival. They are not a vSlavic people, although surrounded by the Poles and the Russians. They are the descendants of the original races dwelling on the shores of the Baltic Sea but have of course absorbed many Slavic traits and ex-pressions. Their language is unlike the Polish or the Russian, the nouns and adjectives having but two genders (masculine and feminine) unUke the three in Russian and Polish; and unlike them it has three numbers: singular, dual, and plural; and has an elaborate verbal inflection instead of the simpler one of the Slavic tongues. It has no article, not even the suffix forms used in Russian and Bulgarian.

Immigration. — The famine in Lithuania in 1867- 68 drove many Lithuanians abroad. Some of them crossed the Atlantic and landed at New York. The first arrivals worked on farms around New York City or in brickyards along the Hudson River and in the Catskills. Later on they were attracted to north-eastern Pennsylvania to build railroads and they eventually went into the anthracite coal mines around Shamokin, Shenandoah, and other towns. Many of them went to Chicago after the great fire in that city in 1872. Others established themselves in the tailoring business in New York, Brooklyn, and Baltimore. Even at the present time Lithuanian tailors are comparatively numerous in large cities along the Atlantic coast, including Philadelphia and Boston. In the early eighties of the last century a permanent drop in the prices of Lithuanian rye and flax coupled with the overpopulation of the country caused an exodus of the young and enterprising men towards the large cities such as Riga, St. Petersburg, etc., but this large flow of emigration was immediately diverted towards America. Beginning with 1890 the Lithuanians began to come in large numbers, until at present it is estimated that nearly one-fifth of the nation is on American soil. Lithuanian immigration during the past decade shows the following yearly figures: in 1900, 10,311; 1905, 18,604; 1907, 25,884; 1910, 22,714; 1912, 24,119; and it is probable that many of them have been reckoned in the immigra- tion reports as Poles instead of Lithuanians. Con- servative estimates place the number of Lithuanians in the United States in 1912 at approximately 600,000, including the immigrants and the native-born.

In 1909 the Lithuanians of America celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Lithuanian immigration to the United States. They are distributed over large areas of the north-eastern states, being .settled in the industrial centres of New England, and in and around New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Cleve- land, and Chicago (in the latter city about 70,000). They are in large numbers in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania (about 60,000), and are like- wise settled in the soft coal regions. Small numbers of them are scattered over the western states. Several hundred have settled in Montreal, Canada. Large Polish centres, such as Milwaukee, Detroit, and Buffalo, have had but little or no attraction for them. There are comparatively few Lithuanian farmers in America and these have not been very successful. All attempts to colonize them in Arkansas, lUinois, Wisconsin, and New York have failed. Generally speaking, the Lithuanians prefer to be employed in factories, closed shops, and mines, and seem to dis- like work in the open air. They have not met with any great success in business enterprises and there are few rich persons among them.

Rkligion. — In order to understaiKl properly the develo])ment of religious life among the Lilhuanians in America sonic facts in Ihcir iL-iliiin:il life should be recalled. The Lithuanians received tlu'ir Chris- tianity from Pohuul in KiSti, through the conversion