Description
Six decades ago, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared here, so this place is considered sacred. Since then, thousands of pilgrims from Lithuania and other countries have flocked here to pray, lay flowers, and erect crosses. The history of this place began on June 30, 1967, around midnight, when Juozas Kriauklys (15 years old) and his cousin Albina Skvarčinskaitė (16 years old) were riding a motorcycle home from a relative’s house. Suddenly, they saw a light on Lake Ilgis, and as they rode across the bridge over a decaying pier, they saw a young girl of extraordinary beauty. The teenagers were startled; the motorcycle stalled, so they backed up a little and then rode away. Out of shock, neither the teenagers asked the girl any questions, nor did she say anything to them. When she returned home, Albina told her mother about the incident. Some time later, the girl dreamed of the same young woman, only this time as Mary. Mary asked why the girl wasn’t telling anyone about it, and she began to cry. Upon learning of the vision, the pastor of the Imbradas parish, Fr. Jonas Jatulis, agreed that it was indeed Mary who had appeared. Although people began coming here to pray and lay flowers just a few months later, the real influx of visitors began about a year later. The occupying authorities, who had been restricting religious freedom, reacted to this that same fall: they ordered the trees around the site to be cut down, the crosses to be removed, and set up a camp for soldiers or students at the sacred site. Helicopters flying overhead recorded the license plate numbers of cars heading toward the pilgrimage site. Believers who were detained were taken by bus ten kilometers away and only then released. In the summer of 2014, to mark the significance of this pilgrimage destination, Bishop Emeritus Jonas Kauneckas consecrated the Chapel of the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kvintiškiai. The chapel, with its modern architecture, stands out for its shape—it resembles a papal miter. Every year on June 30, a feast in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary is held here, and the site itself is somewhat reminiscent of the Hill of Crosses, as it is dotted with crosses of various shapes; it is also said that the water of Lake Ilgis has healing properties, so people take some of the lake water home with them.
