About the Church
The Chapel of Divine Mercy at Keturnaujiena stands in the fields of Suodžiai village, in Šakiai district, near the Vilkaviškis–Kudirkos Naumiestis–Šakiai road. It is one of the youngest churches in the region, and has become a place of pilgrimage for the Diocese of Vilkaviškis.
The chapel's history is connected with 14 November 1969, when, it is said, Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared here to the milkmaid Anelė Matijošaitienė (1927–2012). During the Soviet era the witness was resettled, her homestead demolished, and an agricultural aviation airfield built on the site. Nevertheless, people's memory endured.
The plastered masonry chapel on the site of the former homestead was consecrated in 2002. Every year on 14 November a great many of the faithful gather here, and Mass is celebrated at weekends. In 1998 Vytautas V. Landsbergis made a documentary film about these events, titled “On the Apparitions”. A. Matijošaitienė died in 2012; about a thousand of the faithful and twenty priests attended her funeral.
The chapel's history is connected with 14 November 1969, when, it is said, Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared here to the milkmaid Anelė Matijošaitienė (1927–2012). During the Soviet era the witness was resettled, her homestead demolished, and an agricultural aviation airfield built on the site. Nevertheless, people's memory endured.
The plastered masonry chapel on the site of the former homestead was consecrated in 2002. Every year on 14 November a great many of the faithful gather here, and Mass is celebrated at weekends. In 1998 Vytautas V. Landsbergis made a documentary film about these events, titled “On the Apparitions”. A. Matijošaitienė died in 2012; about a thousand of the faithful and twenty priests attended her funeral.