Juozapas Skvireckas

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His Excellency

Juozapas Skvireckas
Archbishop of Kaunas
ChurchRoman Catholic
ArchdioceseKaunas
Appointed5 April 1926
In office1926–1959
SuccessorVincentas Sladkevičius
Orders
Ordination24 June 1899
Consecration13 July 1919
by Antanas Karosas
Personal details
Born(1873-09-18)September 18, 1873
Pašilaičiai, Vilnius, Russian Empire
DiedDecember 3, 1959(1959-12-03) (aged 86)
Austria
NationalityLithuanian

Juozapas Skvireckas (1873–1959) was a Lithuanian archbishop of Kaunas (1926–1959).[1]

In 1911–1937 he translated the Bible into the Lithuanian language; it was published in six volumes by the Society of Saint Casimir.[2] During the occupation of the Baltic States by the Nazis, Skvireckas and his assistant, bishop , welcomed the Nazis.[3] Skvireckas would provide chaplains for Lithuanian-manned Nazi auxiliary units.[4] In later years however Skvireckas issued multiple protests to Nazi authorities regarding the conditions of the Catholic church in Lithuania.[5] He also sent reports to Vatican and since 1942 started receiving instructions from papal office.[5] In 1944, Skvireckas, Brizgys and over 200 other Lithuanian clergymen left Kaunas with retreating German forces, and went into exile.[4] He would settle in Austria, where he died in 1959.[6] After his death, the post of an (arch)bishop of Kaunas was vacant till 1989.

References[]

  1. ^ Catholic Hierarchy -Archbishop Juozapas Skvireckas
  2. ^ Lithuanian Bible Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Yitzhak Arad, The Christian Churches and the Persecution of Jews in the Occupied Territories of the U.S.S.R, Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b (in English) Tadeusz Piotrowski (1997). Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide... McFarland & Company. pp. 165–166. ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b A. Strielkus Church Institution during the Period of Nazi Occupation in Lithuania
  6. ^ Piotrowski, p. 350

Further reading[]

Preceded by
, MIC (1914–1926)
Archbishop of Kaunas
1926–1959
Succeeded by
Vincentas Sladkevičius


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