Simonas Šultė: vieno vizionieriaus likimo pėdsakais

LTStraipsnyje trumpai apžvelgiama žinomo XX a. pradžios lietuvių filosofo ir sociologo kun. Simono Šultė (1875-1920) biografija ir kūryba. Daugiausiai dėmesio skiriama paskutiniam jo gyvenimo tarpsniui, praėjusiam Kupiškio parapijos Palėvenėlės filijoje. Čia sudėtingu istoriniu laikotarpiu S. Suites bandė praktiškai įgyvendinti kai kurias savo teorines nuostatas, ryškiau atsiskleidė ir jo asmenybės bruožai. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Eciklika "Rerum novarum; Katalikų sociologija; Katalikų sociologija, Simonas Šultė, enciklika "Rerum novarum", kooperacija, krikščionys demokratai, Palėvenėlė; Kooperacija; Krikščionių demokratų partija; Popiežius Leonas XIII; Simonas Šultė; Catholic sociology; Catholic sociology, Simonas Šultė, "Rerum Novarum" Encyclical, cooperatio, Christian democrats, Palėvenėlė; Cooperation; Encyclical "Rerum novarum"; Lithuanian Christian Democratic party; Pope Leo XIII; Simonas Šultė.

ENThe author of the article introduces a well-known Lithuanian philosopher and sociologist of the early 20th century the Reverend Simonas Šultė (1875-1920). A native of the Viekšniai rural district, having graduated from the theological seminary of the Samogitian diocese in Kaunas and having started to serve as a priest, he managed to go to Europe from tsarist Russia, part of which Lithuania was at that time, where he studied in Belgian and Swiss universities for several years and defended two doctoral theses: "Adam Müller and Social and Political Doctrines" (Leuven Catholic University, 1909) and "The Reaction of German Catholics against the French Ideas of the 18th Century and the Restoration of Catholic Sociology" (Freiburg Catholic University, 1913). In Lithuania Suite worked as a priest in Šiauliai, was a chaplain in Kaunas and Panevėžys, and spent the final years of his life as a priest of the Palėvenėlė chapel of ease (in Aukštaitija). Šultė was one of the most active followers of the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII "Rerum novarum" (1891), and an advocate of the Catholic, or the third, way of society's development in Lithuania.Suite actively promoted the ideas of the German adherent of cooperation of the 19th century F. W. Raiffeisen, who proclaimed that the basic aims of a cooperative were not only to strengthen the economically weak members and maintain their life standards, but also make them co-owners with joint responsibility and a right to share the profit. Suite hoped that mutual benefit funds of this type would help Lithuanian farmers protect themselves from high interest rates for loans, develop their solidarity and sense of responsibility and duty, help them retain and even expand their land property by buying land from the state and foreign landowners, who were not familiar with efficient farming and had run it down completely. Much attention in the article is dedicated to describe how the Palėvenėlė priest Suite managed to put into life the above mentioned ideas of social justice and cooperation in the country devastated by World War I and the Bolshevik occupation, and which difficulties he had to face. Besides, Suite actively contributed to the formation of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic party, and applied for a professor's position in the University of Lithuania, which was being restored. His early death cut short his wide and intensive activity, which probably had not reached its apex, but Suite's merits in developing the cooperative movement and the ideological preparation of the Land Reform of 1922, one of the cornerstones of the economic independence of new Lithuania, cannot be doubted. [From the publication]