A few words about us
Our Vicariate of the Holy Guardian Angels is
new, established only in 1993. We are here in response to the call
from the Master of the Order, who is the direct superior for this
Vicariate, to rebuild the Order in lands where it once flourished.
In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, in the three thee and independent
Baltic Republics, there were Dominican priories, many brothers,
and full churches. In 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was one
known priest and one underground priest Churches were closed. The practice of
religion forbidden and penalized.
We have three houses: in Tallinn, Estonia, in Liepaja, Latvia and in Vilnius,
Lithuania. Vilnius is a capital our Vicariate, where our Vicariate Curia is
located. Twelve brothers, 10 in the house's and 2 individally, live and work
in our Vicariate. Four of our brothers are in formation, studying in Lille,
France and in Rixensart, Belgium and one more one co-operator brother in formation
in Poland. Additionally two of our brothers are pursuing post-graduate studies in
France and in Germany.
Preaching the Gospel of Christ here is not easy work. We are rebuilding in a
highly secularized environment after fifty years of Soviet
persecution, in the shadow of a history not always friendly to
Catholics. We build on the traditions of the past, but we work in
the secular future. We have three Republics - Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia, and five languages - lithuanian, latvian, estonian, polish
and russian. Our twenty brothers, mostly young, come from all
five-language groups.
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