T. Matulionis lived intermittently at the Benedictine monastery in Kaunas from 1933 to 1943 and assisted the Archbishop of Kaunas Juozapas Skvireckas in pastoral works. In 1934, he visited Pope Pius XI in Rome, where he was especially honoured as a martyr. Later, Pope Pius XI said of Bishop Teofilius: “Honour to the Lithuanian nation who has given such a hero.” In 1934-1936, T. Matulionis and the priest Dominikas Mikšys travelled around the United States, visited Lithuanian parishes, and on the way back, they visited Egypt and Jerusalem, and once again met with Pope Pius XI.