Society of Saint Zita

In 1905, philanthropist Józef Montwiłł began organizing female servants and workers, both Polish and Lithuanian, into a society in Vilnius.

[2] Its Lithuanian members separated in 1906 and obtained premises (three rooms) at the former Franciscan monastery by the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in October 1906.

[5] During World War I, the society established a sash making workshop which employed up to 34 women and a soup kitchen which provided free meals to 50–70 people per day.

[8] The society constructed its four-storey headquarters (architect Feliksas Vizbaras [lt]) in 1925 at a cost of 400,000 litas (present-day Theological Faculty of Vytautas Magnus University).

[2] The society organized educational courses, local reading rooms, social evenings with music and theater performances, operated laundries, spinning mills, and other small businesses for women, provided temporary shelter and financial assistance to struggling members, maintained shelters for the elderly.

[2] The society, often organized and led by priests, was very conservative and did not show greater interest in the wider women's movement.