Fr Juozas Montvila

(Courtesy of Steve Belies)

Rev. Juozas Montvila was born at Gudine 1, near Marijampole, Lithuania, on 3 January 1885 the son of Kazys Montvila and Magdalena Karalevicius 2.

Montvila studied at the advanced School (Gimnazia) of the City of Marijampole and at the Seminary of Seinai (today within the province of Lithuania in Northeastern Poland). He was ordained a priest on 22 March 1908 and was assigned a post as vicar in Lipskas where he secretly administered to the spiritual needs of the Uniates, a religious body proscribed by the Czarist regime. As a result of this service he was seized by the Russian government and was sentenced. He was to lose his assignment as vicarate and be denied his pastoral vocation. Awaiting a change of this harsh ruling, he worked for the Catholic newspaper in Seinai and wrote sermons for the publication Vadovas (The Leader). Gifted as an artist, he drew illustrations and vignettes for a number of newspapers and books published in the Vilnius (the Capital of Lithuania).

With the passage of time and the realization that he was not likely to be allowed, in the foreseeable future, to return to pastoral work in Lithuania, he prepared to emigrate to the United States. Montvila's first stop would be to his brother Petras, who already lived in America 3.

Following a stay in England, he booked passage aboard the Titanic, boarding at Southampton.

Some confusion exists over Montvila's plans after arrival in America. According to the a friend of Montvila's sister who lived in the Lithuanian quarter ("Little Lithuania") in Brooklyn, Montvila was to head a parish in that growing community. However, the Jackson (Miss.) News and the Worcester Evening Gazette both said he was en route to Worcester, Massachusetts. In support of the latter theory the Encyclopedia Lituanica records that Montvila had been invited to be pastor of the new St. Francis' Lithuanian Parish at Athol, a town on the Millers River in Worcester County, Massachusetts (eventually founded on 13 November 1913).

Second Class passenger Ellen Toomey told reporters after the disaster that he, Fr Peruschitz and Fr Byles said Mass every day on board the Titanic.

Lawrence Beesley recorded the following observations of passengers in the Second Class library:

After the collision, according to reports, the "...young Lithuanian priest, Juozas Montvila, served his calling to the very end" by refusing a place on one of the ship's life boats, choosing to administer his priestly duties and offering solace to his fellow travellers.

Montvila died in the sinking his body, if recovered, was never identified. However, he was considered a hero in Lithuania and is currently under consideration for canonization by the Roman Catholic church.

His parents and grandparents received a grant of £130 pounds from the Titanic Relief Fund (case P. 511).

Notes
1. Please note the correct spelling:
2. Two years after the birth of their first son they moved to Nendriskiai, a small village not far away, where they bought a farm. In Nendriskiai all the other children of his parents were born: Petras (b.1887), Kazys, Pijus, Andrius, Emilija, Elsbeth, Isabelle (b. 1898). Nendriskiai was renamed after WW2 by the Soviet Union as Kapsukas.
3. Petras emigrated in December 1907 (on the Majestic from Southampton). Montvila's sister Elsbeth died in 1956 at Krasnojarsk as Elsbeth Raibikis. She had been deported to that city after WW II. The youngest sister Isabelle married a Jonas Steponaitis and lived until her death in 1987 in Brooklyn, New York.

References
Ship manifest of the Majestic, December 1907
Kazimieras Montvila (1994) Ein Opfer der Liebe zu Gott und dem Nächsten auf der "Titanic", Mariampol - Litauen
Paskutinioji Titanic'o kelione (The Final Journey of the Titanic) (1914)
Lietuviu Enciklopedija (Lithuanian Encyclopedia), Volume XIX (Mi-Na) pp. 248-249. A 36 volume set published in 1959 in South Boston.
Encyclopedia Lituanica Volume 1, p. 197, South Boston, Juozas Kapocius.
Lawrence Beesley (1912) The Loss of the Titanic: Its Story and Lessons. Houghton Mifflin
Mansion House Titanic Relief Fund Booklets and Minute Books

Contributors
George Behe, USA
Steve Belies (Montvila's great nephew)
Don Lynch, USA
Hermann Söldner, Germany
Pat Tedford, USA

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