Educational Presence of Polish Salesians in Vilnius in the Years 1924-1945: Overview of Main Topics
Educational Presence of Polish Salesians in Vilnius in the Years 1924-1945: Overview of Main Topics

Summary/Abstract: The Salesians came to Vilnius in 1924 and took over coedu-cational care facilities run by the pralate Fr. Karol Lubianiec. The firstprincipal of the monastic house, Fr. Wojciech Balawajder, resigned fromthe coeducational character of these benevolent institutions. Salesiansworking with boys stayed in the facility in Dobrej Rady Street and servedin the Church of Divine Providence. Girls were relocated to StefańskaStreet near the railway station. In 1928 the Church of Saint Stephen wasmade available to use by Salesians and a separate monastic house was es-tablished next to it. Priests and clergymen ran oratory, taught religion atschools, visited prisons, studied at Stefan Batory University (now VilniusUniversity). During World War II priests ran limited pastoral work andwere engaged in ministrative and educational activities during secretmeetings. During Lithuanian, Soviet and German occupation Salesianswere removed from the facility in Dobrej Rady Street and interned inLithuanian Salesian houses. After World War II, the majority of PolishSalesians left Vilnius and the Vilnius region and moved to Poland.

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