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On January 13, 2022, the Lithuanian Freedom Prize was awarded to three collaborators of the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania - Bishop Emeritus Jonas Boruta SJ and the two Sisters of the congregation of the Eucharistic Jesus Bernadeta Maliskaite SJE and Gerarda Suliauskaite SJE. The 'Sorores Jesu Eucharistici' (SJE) was founded in 1947 in the underground by the Lithuanian Jesuit Pranciskus Masilionis.

The annual Freedom Prize honours individuals and organizations for their achievements in and contribution to the defence of human rights, freedom and democracy.

The underground publication Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, issued in Lithuania under Soviet occupation from 1972 to 1989, documented numerous church persecutions and human rights violations. The reports publicly announced the observation and punishment of religious teachers, the interrogation of believers who participated in church funerals or processions, and the removal of crosses and other religious symbols.

On the initiative of Cardinal Sigitas Tamkevicius, a member of the Jesuits then active in the underground, the first copies of the first edition of the Chronicle were published in 1972. Every two or three months, using mechanical typewriters, about 24 copies were secretly produced and distributed to the recipients, who then passed the publication on to other readers or reproduced it as well. It is assumed that at least a few hundred copies were produced, which, according to various estimates, each reached about 100,000 readers. Numerous Jesuits were involved in the distribution of this underground magazine in various forms.

Through the Lithuanian associations and individuals, the Chronicle also reached the foreign press in the European West and in the USA in the form of microfilms, which then reported the facts to the wider public.

After the arrest and detention of the editor-in-chief, Sigitas Tamkevicius SJ in 1983, Jonas Boruta SJ took over the position until 1989, shortly before Lithuania's independence. Sisters Bernadeta Maliskaite SJE and Gerarda Suliauskaite SJE remained faithful in assisting and compiling the Chronicle after Tamkevicius' arrest. 

In view of numerous attempts of KGB repression, the fact that the Chronicle - an important sign of resistance - lasted even 17 years is like a miracle. The awarding of the Freedom Prize is intended to honour not only the specific merits of three collaborators, but also of all those involved, whom the Soviet government failed to silence.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, the year 2022 was proclaimed the Year of the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, in order to internalize its importance for the freedom and independence of the country.

Jesuits ECE

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