Bernadeta Miliauskaitë-Harris
Reflections
Rev. Alfonsas Lipniûnas: Bravery in the Midst of Brutality
Bernadeta Miliauskaitë-Harris is a member of the Council of Religious Affairs in the Lithuanian American Community, Inc.
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“Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) So Jesus commanded the disciples after His resurrection. The history of the Church is filled with holy men and women who followed Jesus’ command often in unfavorable circumstances, many times to the point of death. Among them are many Lithuanian priests who fulfilled their duties in harsh conditions, such as concentration camps. Two such priests were Fr. Alfonsas Lipniûnas (1905 - 1945) and Fr. Stasys Yla (1908 - 1983).
The winter of 1942-43 brought the Nazi occupation to Lithuania, during which the Nazis tried to organize SS Legions in the Baltic States. Lithuanian underground organizations issued orders to the youth not to join. This infuriated the Germans, and they took reprisals against Lithuanian intellectuals by arresting and imprisoning 46 of them in the Stutthof concentration camp. Among them were Fr. Stasys Yla and Fr. Alfonsas Lipniûnas.
Fr. Yla survived and came to the United States, where he served as chaplain to the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Putnam, CT, as well as other American Lithuanian organizations. A stone castle, which he built in honor of King Mindaugas, still stands on the convent grounds. He authored many books including one about his experiences in the concentration camp called A Priest in Stutthof, published by Manyland Books in 1971. Fr. Yla died on April 10, 1983 and is buried in Putnam.
Fr. Lipniûnas escaped Stutthof, however he did not live to see the war’s end. People remember him as being intelligent, patient, patriotic and caring.
Fr. Lipniûnas was born on March 12, 1905 in the village of Talkoniai. He was ordained in 1930. After studying in France, he returned to Lithuania where he served as vicar in the Cathedral of Panevëþys. In 1939 he was transferred to Vilnius where he lectured at the Seminary and the Pedagogic Institute. He organized material assistance for families who had suffered under the Soviet and Nazi occupations and encouraged the underground activities of Catholic youth organizations. He was well known for his sermons, which even non-Catholics came to hear. Even though he was short of stature, he possessed the courage of David taking on Goliath. He bravely carried on his priestly duties, even in Stutthof, where he and Fr. Yla secretly ministered to the prisoners by hearing confessions, celebrating the Mass, and giving Holy Communion.
Fr. Yla recalls in his book how he and Fr. Lipniûnas clandestinely celebrated their first Mass:
“On Pentecost morning, June 13th, we arose very early -- just as the first rays of dawn were beginning to tint the sky. We had decided to use the day room of our barrack as a chapel, and had covered its window with blankets for greater security. To make an altar, we stacked one bench on top of another and spread it with a clean white handkerchief. On this improvised altar cloth we placed the wafer, the tumbler of wine, a little saucer, which was to serve as a paten, Father Gajkowski’s missal, and the lighted end of a candle....
Then, while the rest of the camp slept, the Holy Sacrifice commenced.
Father Lipniûnas celebrated the Mass in his striped prison uniform, assisted by Dr. Kuèas and attorney Kriauèiûnas, who acted as acolytes. I delivered the sermon. Everyone attended....
The emotional impact was overpowering. A profound silence had enveloped the room, and we felt as though God Himself were with us in this bleak concentration camp: neither barbed wire nor the guns of the S. S. guards could have stopped our Honored Guest. We were almost afraid to breathe, and we remained motionless -- except that here and there a hand was occasionally raised to wipe away tears. Of all my experiences in Stutthof, now dimmed by time and by the desire to forget, this alone has never lost any of its vividness.” (Yla 136-37)
As the Russian front approached, the prisoners of Stutthof were evacuated. They were forced to march through the snow in weakened condition. Upon arriving in the town of Puck, they were able to escape due to the chaos of the situation. Fr. Lipniûnas contracted typhus and died on Wednesday of Holy Week, March 28, 1945, seventeen days after his fortieth birthday.
Fr. Yla found these words Fr. Lipniûnas had written in his notebook for a Good Friday sermon: “Although I suffer and die, I shall rise again. Without death there can be no resurrection, and it is in anticipation of a glorious resurrection that my fatherland is now passing through the throes of death.” (Yla 277)
Fr. Lipniûnas was buried in Puck. In 1989, his remains were returned to the cemetery of his native Talkoniai, Lithuania.
Fr. Yla wrote: “The death of Father Lipniûnas was a tremendous loss to the Lithuanian Catholic Church. He had been a true Christian and an intellectual of many accomplishments. As a matter of fact, there had been talk of a bishopric before his arrest. To us, his companions in adversity, Father Lipniûnas will remain forever memorable because of his kindness, example, and natural camaraderie.” (Yla 279)
Fr. Lipniûnas' short life can be described by St. Paul’s words to Timothy in chapter 6 of his first letter to him in which he urges Timothy "to seek after integrity, piety, faith, love, steadfastness, and a gentle spirit, as well as to fight the good fight of faith." (lines 11-12) The people who still remember Fr. Alfonsas can testify that he truly did.