[1] Leftist Lithuanians established Šviesa (light), led by future president Kazys Grinius, in December 1905.
However, seven of its members left it in protest when the new society voted that the religious class should be taught by a regular teacher and not a priest.
[6] In 1908, the society invited Marija Pečkauskaitė (Šatrijos Ragana), who had studied pedagogy in Switzerland, to direct the pro-gymnasium.
To raise funds, Žiburys organized various public lectures (speakers included Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Petras Leonas, Marija Pečkauskaitė), music performances, amateur theater plays.
[3] The plays included drama Ponas ir mužikai by Aleksandras Fromas-Gužutis, comedy by Jean-François Bayard, adaptation of Genovefa by Christoph von Schmid, opera Birutė by Mikas Petrauskas, Velnias spąstuose by Žemaitė and Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, The Bear by Anton Chekhov, Nepadėjus nėr ko kasti by Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas.
[5] In 1914, society's chairman Motiejus Gustaitis traveled to United States to collect donations from Lithuanian Americans for the construction of a dedicated school building in Marijampolė, but the plans were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.
Gymnasiums were established in Šakiai, Prienai, Vilkaviškis, Sejny (moved to Lazdijai in 1921 due to the Polish–Lithuanian War), Kražiai even before the Lithuanian Ministry of Education was organized.
[6] It was an intentional effort by the authoritarian regime of President Antanas Smetona to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church and by extension its main political opponent the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party.