Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire, it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915.
Šiauliai is a city in northern Lithuania, the country's fourth largest city and the sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 108,000 in 2023. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County.
Vilnius University is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, it is Lithuania's leading research institution.
Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university.
The Catholic Church in Lithuania is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Lithuania is the world's northernmost Catholic majority country. Pope Pius XII gave Lithuania the title of "northernmost outpost of Catholicism in Europe" in 1939.
Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius was a Latin Church Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Vilnius from late 1918 until his resignation in 1925. Matulaitis was also the founder of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and the Handmaids of Jesus in the Eucharist; he served as the Superior-General of the Marian Fathers from 1911 until his death. He worked in secret to revive the Marian Fathers after the Russian authorities suppressed all religious orders and he even relinquished his teaching position to better dedicate himself to that secret revival. He was a noted teacher and spiritual director who set up other branches of the order in places such as Switzerland and the United States far from Russian authorities.
Garliava, is a city in Kaunas District Municipality, Lithuania. Garliava is located 10 km (6.2 mi) south from the center of Kaunas and has a territory of 3,65 km2.
Kaunas Priest Seminary is the largest seminary in Lithuania serving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas. It is part of the Faculty of Theology of Vytautas Magnus University. Its current rector is Aurelijus Žukauskas. As of 2007, the seminary had 35 students. It traces its history to 1622.
Monsignor Simon Morkunas (1902–1997) was a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Valtūnai, Lithuania on February 16, 1902, received his education at the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1933.
Juozas Urbšys was a prominent interwar Lithuanian diplomat, the last head of foreign affairs in independent interwar Lithuania, and a translator. He served in the military between 1916 and 1922, afterwards joining the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1938 Urbšys was named its head and served in this position until Lithuania's occupation in 1940. Urbšys was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities in 1940 and deported to Siberia, where he spent the next 13 years in various prisons. Urbšys died in 1991, having lived long enough to see Lithuania's independence restored, and was buried in Petrašiūnai Cemetery, Kaunas.
Vladas Jurgutis was a Lithuanian priest, economist, and professor. As the first chairman of the Bank of Lithuania he is unofficially considered to be the "father of the Lithuanian litas."
Vilnius Jesuit High School is a private Catholic gymnasium, located in Vilnius, Lithuania. Founded in 1570 by members of the Jesuit order, the school provides an education from grades 5 through to grade 12. The school is considered to be one of the most renowned schools in Lithuania and is aided by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Sigitas Tamkevičius is a Lithuanian prelate and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop emeritus of Kaunas.
The Church of St. Francis Xavier is located in the Old Town of Kaunas, Lithuania. The church, dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, was built in the Town Hall Square in the Old Town of Kaunas by Jesuits. The Jesuits opened their first residence in Kaunas in 1642 and established a chapel in the House of Perkūnas in 1643. Later they also founded a first four-form school in the city in 1649. The construction of the church started in 1666 and was completed in 1720, the church was consecrated in 1722.
John Clement Favalora is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami from 1994 to 2010 and as bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana from 1986 to 1989 and as bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida from 1989 to 1994
The Kražiai College was a Jesuit college in Kražiai, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later Russian Empire. Established in 1616 in hopes to educate new generations of anti-Protestants, the college was one of the major cultural and educational centers in Samogitia. In 1620–1742, it shared premises with the Samogitian Priest Seminary. In 1844, the college was transferred to Kaunas.
Archbishop Lionginas Virbalas, S.J. is a Lithuanian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Archbishop of the Kaunas from 11 June 2015 until 1 March 2019. He was Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Panevėžys from 6 June 2013 until 11 June 2015.
Pranciškus Petras Būčys was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest, university professor, titular bishop of the Eastern Catholic Church, and Superior-General of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
Bronislovas "Bronius" Paukštys was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest who rescued around 120 Jewish children and 25 Jewish adults from the Holocaust in Lithuania. He was recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations in 1977.
Antonino Zecchini was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the Baltic nations from 1921 to 1935 as a diplomat and Church administrator; he became an archbishop in 1922. He devoted the first half of his career from 1892 to 1920 to pastoral work, preaching and education in the Italian and Slovenian regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
