Remdamasis Adamo Sikorskio veikalu MARIA MA RIANORUM (Liublinas-Varšuva, 2001) autorius išskiria du marijoniškojo dvasingumo modelius: kristo centrinį ir ekleziocentrinį, apibrėžia marijonų charizmą. Nagrinėjant marijonų vienuolijos įkūrimo istoriją, pabrėžiamas tėvo Stanislaw Papczynski, tėvo Kazimierz Wyszynski ir palaimintojo Jurgio Matulaičio - asmenybių, nulėmusių vienuolijos dvasingumo kryptį, vaidmuo.

Broliai pasauliečiai marijonų vienuolyne gyveno nuo pat jo įkūrimo. XX a. pradžioje, atnaujinant Marijonų kongregaciją, palaimintasis Jurgis Matulaitis nurodė broliams naujus tikslus. Jie turėjo aktyviau nei iki šiol įsitraukti į evangelizacinę veiklą ir pastoracinius darbus. Tam brolius reikėjo atitinkamai paruošti. Straipsnyje analizuojami bandymai pasiekti šiuos tikslus, apžvelgiamas brolių pasitraukimas iš kongregacijos ketvirtojo dešimtmečio viduryje.

Father K. Višinskis was considered the central figure in the fulfilment of the desires of the benefactor Countess P. Butlerienė. Even before the council passed the decision for benefaction in 1749, he was already recognized as a friend of Bishop Teodoras Čartoriskis. The bishop’s brother, Archduke Mykolas Čartoriskis, who maintained a continual relationship with the Butleris family, admired the characteristics of both Višinskis and his monastery. [...]

1. The Order of Marian Fathers founded by the blessed Stanislaus Papczyński in 1673 in Poland, was introduced in the middle of the 18th century in the Great Duchy of Lithuania, thanks to lordly foundations in Raśna near Brześć in 1749 as well as in Marijampolė in September 1758. 2. The monastery in Marijampolė was on the terrain of Prienai Commune which since the middle of the 17th century was administered by the Butlers. Gotard Wilhelm Butler (1600–1660) received it because of his faithful service to the prince John Casimir. 3. The Butlers lived in Prienai, but after destruction of their castle by Swedes in 1702, they moved to a safer place – the village of Kvietiškis at the border of Kaunas and Prienai Woods. Not far from the Butlers estate, a new settlement started to appear and was called first Starapolė and later Marijampolė. 4. After the death of Mark Antoni Butler (†1740?), the Prienai Commune was administered by his wife countess Francie, native of Szczuków family (sometimes mistaken with Szczuckich family). 5. Francie Butler had an intention to help her people living far from the church in Prienai in practicing their religion, so she decided to build a church and monastery. The Superior General of the Marian Fathers Fr. Casimir Wyszyński (1700–1755), was happy to agree about the decision. 6. Realization of these intentions was delayed because of the unclear intentions of Fr. Stefan Turczynowicz, who tried to appropriate the name of the order and a habit for his created order “Vilnius Marians” with neophytes. Actually, in 1752 the Holy See ordered him to renounce this intention. 7. The Marians, mostly of Czech nationality, had already worked in Marijampolė from 1750, though there was no church and monastery yet. Father Casimir resided in Rome and kept a written contact with the countess and her son Michael. He did not wait for the act of the Marians’ introduction into Marijampolė monastery, because he had died in Portugal in 1755. 8. Another barrier to the solemn entering of Marian monastery was caused by the fire of a wooden chapel as well as the invasion of the Russian army, which caused fires, plundered and put people in requisitions. 9. After the legal formalities – the Vilnius bishop’s permission and the act of donation which was prepared by countess Butler – the dean from Alytus Fr. Francis Wnorowski as the bishop’s delegate executed the solemn introduction of the Marians to the church and monastery in Marijampolė. This happened on September 13, 1758. Because the Prienai Commune belonged to the royal property, August III expressed agreement to donate the area to the Marian Fathers, having the approval of countess Butler and her son Michael. 10. Because the terrain of the Marian Fathers’ work was extensive, gradually new churches were built with new monasteries close to them, or Marians’ residences in Igliauka, Sasnava, Miroslavas. Marians from Marijampolė’s monastery helped parish-priests who didn’t know the Lithuanian language, fulfilling priestly service in different churches. They founded schools that helped Marijampolė’s inhabitants to raise their social level. In the second half of the 19th century Marijampolė became the centre of Lithuanian national movement. 11. After 1864 the tzar closed the Marian monasteries, leaving only Marijampolė as the place for Marians extinction. However, the Marian Order survived thanks to one of the members – the blessed Jurgis Matulaitis- Matulewicz who secretly joined this order in 1908. A new chapter of the Order’s history – now Community – began this way. 12. The Marians played the significant role in consolidation of faith in Lithuania. The archbishop Matulewicz contributed to the settlement of the relations between the Holy See and Lithuania, moreover considerably to settlement of new structure of Church in this country. Prominent contributions in successful process of archbishop Jurgis’ beatification had Fr. Joseph Vaišnora from Marijampolė.