Saulė Society

Saulė Society (Lithuanian: Lietuvių švietimo draugija "Saulė"; "saulė" means sun) was a Catholic educational society active in Lithuania from 1906 to 1940. It organized and maintained Lithuanian-language schools in the Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire, and later interwar Lithuania.

The society organized local primary schools, evening courses for adults, libraries and reading rooms, kindergartens. From 1907 to 1914, the society established about 62 primary schools and adult courses. It also organized teachers' courses that grew into Saulė Teachers' Seminary and bookkeeping courses. Several schools were evacuated to Voronezh where the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers organized a number of Lithuanian schools. Saulė Society was able to organize more middle and secondary schools during the German occupation during World War I. In 1919, Saulė maintained ten gymnasiums and progymasiums that had about 1,600 students. The role of the society diminished after Lithuania regained independence and a number of its schools were nationalized. The society was fully liquidated after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940