Martynas Mažvydas published The Simple Words of Catechism in 1547, the first printed book in Lithuanian. It appeared in Königsberg in a Lutheran context rather than in Lithuania proper. The book used vernacular religious teaching to reach communities beyond Latin and Polish elite culture.

The catechism gave Lithuanian a printed literary presence and helped standardise written forms. For poetry history, it shows how hymns, prayers and teaching texts often created the first durable records of smaller European languages.