Congregation of St Casimir
The Lithuanian Congregation of the Sisters of St Casimir was established in 1907 in the United States of America thanks to the efforts of Mother Marija Kaupaitė (1880-1940). The sisters moved into the former Camaldolese monastery at Pažaislis in 1920. Over the next two decades the Sisters of St Casimir worked in Lithuania to set up primary schools and high schools, kindergartens and homes for the aged. Their most important bases of activity were the Pažaislis monastery and Saulės Gymnasium in Kaunas. Even so, the congregation’s educational endeavours extended also to Telšiai, Samogitian Calvary, Žemaičių Naumiestis and Vabalninkas. The Soviet government forced the Sisters of St Casimir to withdraw from Pažaislis in 1948. Thereafter, the sisters continued their charitable work in the “underground”, working in hospitals and sanatoriums, caring in secret also for spiritual needs of the sick. In a number of parishes, they helped to instruct children in the faith and to organise worship services and processions. Some worked as missionaries in Moldova. The Sisters of St Casimir returned to the Pažaislis monastery in 1992. There are currently about 50 sisters in the congregation.
