St Zita

Kretkampis, Šakiai district

From a cross with the sculpture of St Ignatius Loyola.

This embossed sculpture represents St Zita (1218–1270), who lived in Italy. Zita became a servant at the age of 12, and was very devoted to her employers and to God. She is the patron saint of maids and domestic servants. The St Zita Society of domestic workers was set up in Lithuania at the beginning of the 20th century. Since 1923 it has been based in Kretkampis in the Šakiai region. The cross in the churchyard, on which this figure and a figure of St Ignatius Loyola were attached, was probably put up by members of the society in 1933. The carver based the sculpture on a picture from the St Zita Society yearbook, published in the 1920s (S. Smilingytė-Žeimienė, Lietuvos bažnyčių dailė: XX amžiaus I pusė, Vilnius: Kultūros, filosofijos ir meno institutas, 2009, p. 195).

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė

Kretkampis, Šakiai district

From a cross with the sculpture of St Ignatius Loyola.

This embossed sculpture represents St Zita (1218–1270), who lived in Italy. Zita became a servant at the age of 12, and was very devoted to her employers and to God. She is the patron saint of maids and domestic servants. The St Zita Society of domestic workers was set up in Lithuania at the beginning of the 20th century. Since 1923 it has been based in Kretkampis in the Šakiai region. The cross in the churchyard, on which this figure and a figure of St Ignatius Loyola were attached, was probably put up by members of the society in 1933. The carver based the sculpture on a picture from the St Zita Society yearbook, published in the 1920s (S. Smilingytė-Žeimienė, Lietuvos bažnyčių dailė: XX amžiaus I pusė, Vilnius: Kultūros, filosofijos ir meno institutas, 2009, p. 195).

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė