XII
The chapter opens with a description of the fast‑passing period from Christmas to the pre‑Lent “Užgavėnių” carnival, when the seminarians’ sole pleasure is the “pončkos” – Thursday feasts after long walks, funded by senior priests. The former senior formado now oversees the second‑year students, while first‑years still have a junior formado. The “Šviesa” literary circle, composed of Lithuanian seminarians, plans its program for the upcoming carnival evening. Varnėnas, a third‑year clerk, enthusiastically proposes to recite the controversial Lithuanian poem “Skausmo balsas” by Maironis, hoping to assert Lithuanian cultural identity amid worsening Lithuanian‑Polish quarrels in parish churches.
The night of the performance is set in a spacious recreation hall before the altar. The hall is filled with the diocese’s senior clergy, the rector, Inspector Mazurkovskis, the curial secretary, and other seminarians. Varnėnas takes the stage, large‑bodied and eager, and delivers the poem with fervent gestures and a booming voice. As he reads lines about love, hope, and death, the audience reacts with uneasy silence that turns to nervous laughter, then to outright hostility. The rector and an “official” (pralotas oficialas) interrupt, demanding to know who Maironis is, eventually concluding he is a “socialist, anarchist, atheist.” The curial secretary apologizes, the rector rebukes Varnėnas for publishing the poem without permission, and the inspector sternly warns that no seminary writing may leave the institution without his knowledge.
After the performance, Varnėnas is summoned by the rector. The rector accuses him of “breaking the rules,” calls the poem a dangerous “heretical letter,” and orders Varnėnas to cease all literary activity and leave the “Šviesa” circle. Varnėnas protests, claiming ignorance of the rule, but the rector dismisses him with the phrase “pychę masz.” Varnėnas later recounts the episode to the “Šviesa” members; the group feels a “sharp Damocles sword” hanging over them. Vasaris, listening, feels a surge of mixed emotions – admiration for Varnėnas’s courage, fear of the rector’s power, and a growing sense that his own poetic aspirations are perilous.
The chapter then shifts to a broader discussion among seminarians about the Lithuanian‑Polish cultural conflict. Jonelaitis (a third‑year clerk) warns that Varnėnas’s act could lead to expulsion from the seminary; Kasaitis (another clerk) argues that the incident shows the seminarians are needed and that repression only strengthens their resolve. Their debate highlights the tension between nationalist ideals and the seminary’s hierarchical, Polish‑oriented administration.
Later, the narrative describes a separate incident at a recreation evening where Lithuanian seminarians begin singing Lithuanian songs, soon followed by Polish songs, leading to a dispute. The rector intervenes, siding with the Lithuanian singers and publicly rebuking a third‑year tenor named Marčiulis for “disrespect.” This further illustrates the volatile atmosphere and the rector’s selective enforcement of rules.
Throughout, Vasaris observes the secret circulation of Lithuanian newspapers, books, and poems (Liudviko Giros, S. Čiurlionienės‑Kymantaitės, etc.) among “Šviesa” members, noting their desire to create a cultural “corner” within the seminary walls. He reflects on his own limited Latin studies, the lack of classic world literature in the curriculum, and the difficulty of accessing broader literary works.
The chapter concludes with Vasaris contemplating his own future: the rector’s warning that priests must be “humble, obedient, and free of ambition,” the warning that Varnėnas’s literary ambition is a dangerous path, and Vasaris’s internal conflict between his burgeoning literary interests and the seminary’s strict expectations. He realizes that the “Šviesa” circle’s aspirations are fraught with risk, and that the seminary’s oppressive environment both stifles and fuels his desire for literary expression.