From 2 to 5 January, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, Br Massimo Fusarelli, is in Lithuania for a visit to the Province.
Lithuania has known the Franciscan presence since 1200, after the death of St Francis. With ups and downs, this presence has grown and taken root in the country.
With the advent of the Soviet Union, the official presence ended, and several friars were forced to go on missions abroad, while others remained at home in hiding.
In 1991 the re-establishment of the Province began, which today has 36 friars and 2 novices, distributed in 6 Houses. The brothers work in parishes, in the sanctuary of Hill of Crosses, in youth and vocational pastoral work, in the service of charity and in the media.
The Minister General is visiting the Province to accompany and support its path of renewal, through important choices to be made at this time. He is accompanied by Br Jimmy Zammit, Definitor General of the Anglophone Conference.
In the photos: the celebration of Mass in Kaunas; assembly with a group of brothers; the Hill of Crosses; the photo of an old Minister Provincial of Lithuania who died in Siberia in a Soviet lager.
