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In his words, “On the right bank of the Jevonis stream, where that stream flows into the Šešupė, there was a small fishing village: Starapolė. That town belonged to the Kvietiškis mansion. Kvietiškis, along with other mansions and villages between Šešupė and Nemunas, was within the boundaries of the elderly Prienai. And the Prienai elder existed in the Trakai army, which belonged to Kaunas county. Lithuania still had its own power, and later there were no provinces introduced by the Russians.
The village of Starapolė along with other villages up to Šešupė was part of the Prienai parish. Neither Igliauka nor Sasnava existed then. The residents of Pašešupis found it quite difficult to reach the Prienai parish due to the distance. Therefore, a wooden chapel was built in Starapolis, near the Javonis stream.
Three Franciscans came from Kaunas three times a year to celebrate services. There were still no roads between Starapolė and Kaunas. There were forests and swamps in that area. On their way to Starapolis, the Franciscans disintegrated the Nemunas and then moved to Šešupė.
Old Prienai Pranciška Butlerienė loved living in the Kvietiškis Mansion. On his initiative, care was taken to have a permanent priest here. He asked the chief priest of the Marian priests to send a priest monk to Starapolis. In 1750, a Marion was dispatched here. Countess Butlerienė (1693-1769) built a wooden church and a wooden monastery where at least a few monks could live.
According to historian Jonas Totoraitis, “There are still legends about how Countess Butlerienė chose a place for the church. Walking from the Kvietiškis mansion, she spoke rosaries. When he finished speaking, he said there would be a church here. Where he went now is Liudvinavo Street (author’s note in the interwar period) and then Kvietiškis Road. To that statement, others add that where she ended up talking about ten-year-old Hail Mary, July was planted. That path has long been called the production path.
After building a church and a monastery, the Prienai elder invited more Marians. In 1758, before the Feast of the Holy Cross on September 13, the Marianas were solemnly introduced into the church. Pastors from Alvitas, Pajevonis and Pilviškiai came to the celebration with processions.
Later, Countess Butlerienė wrote to the Marionis a piece of land between the Jevonis stream and Šešupė. It gave them the right to build a city here. The Marians divided that land into gardens, in which several people began to build huts. The city grew and expanded, and the monks gave it the name of Marijampolė.
Thus, over time, two towns began to meet here: Starapolė on the right edge of the Jevonis stream and Marijampolė on the left. The entire movement of the city was concentrated in Starapolis. There was a market place that Marijampolė did not have. Since 1792, both cities have been called by one name: Marijampolė.
Marijampolė and Starapolė have been part of the Prienai parish for quite some time. In 1781, the Prienai pastor, Mykolas Karpavičius, the Prienai elder, Count Mykolas Butler and the Marian monks agreed to separate a large part of the Prienai parish and establish an independent parish of Marijampolmp.
They all appealed to the Duke of Vilnius, Duke Masalskis, to acknowledge their consensus. Bishop of Vilnius September 17, 1783 Marijampolė parish recognized and established boundaries for it. It included fifty-three villages in the parish of Prienai, 13 villages in Daukšiai, four in Liudvinavas and one in Vilkaviškis. At the same time, the Igliauka branch was established and entrusted to the care of the Marianons.
Across Šešupė, there was already a Vilkaviškis parish at the time. Even further from Giza. Residents of nearby villages wanted to contribute to Marijampolė. Twelve villages and the Mikalinė mansion were separated from the Gižai parish and connected to Marijampolė.
The wooden church at Marijampolė, built by Countess Butlerienė, burned down in 1809. There was a lot in its place. In January of that year, the store was destroyed. After this disaster in 1818, the current St. Church of the Archangel Michael. Only she was shorter at the same time than now. In 1880, two beautifully decorated towers were built in front of it. And there were two chapels on the sides.
When a wooden shed collapsed in a storm in 1817, the parish was completely without a church. Then, in the eleventh kilometer of the Marijampolė forest, residents built a chapel in Sasnava, to which Marijampolė Marionians went to celebrate services on holy days. That chapel was expanded several times later and became the parish church where it still stands today.
The city of Marijampolė had 6,298 inhabitants in 1897, and in the interwar period the number exceeded ten thousand.
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