Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas

Archidioecesis Metropolitae Kaunensis

Kauno Arkivyskupija Metropolitas
Kaunas Archcathedral Basilica, the mother church of the Archdiocese
Location
Country Lithuania
Statistics
Area8,750 km2 (3,380 sq mi)
Population
  • Total
  • Catholics
  • (as of 2016)
  • 655,000
  • 524,000 (80%)
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established1417
(As Diocese of Žemaičiai)
4 April 1926
(As Archdiocese of Kaunas)
CathedralCathedral Basilica of St Peter and St Paul
Patron saintJohn the Baptist
Current leadership
PopeLeo XIV
Metropolitan ArchbishopKęstutis Kėvalas
SuffragansDiocese of Šiauliai, Diocese of Telšiai, Diocese of Vilkaviškis
Auxiliary BishopsSaulius Bužauskas
Bishops emeritus
Map
Map of the Archdiocese
Map of the Archdiocese
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Kaunensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. The episcopal see is in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. The archdiocese's motherchurch and cathedral is Kaunas Cathedral Basilica; it is also home to a Minor Basilica in a town of Šiluva, in the region of Samogitia.

History

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Varniai, cathedral of the Diocese of Samogitia until 1864

Predecessor of the diocese was established according to directions from the Council of Constance on October 24, 1417, as the Diocese of Samogitia, with a see in Medininkai as a suffragan Diocese of the Archdiocese of Gniezno. It was the second Catholic diocese in ethnic Lithuanian parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

On March 25, 1798, it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Wigry and became a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Mohilev (until 1926). On July 3, 1848, it gained territory from the persisting then Diocese of Vilnius, now Lithuania's other Metropolitan see. On June 9, 1920, it lost territory to the existing Diocese of Riga (in Latvia), while in the next year it gained territory from the persisting Diocese of Sejny (in Poland).

Curia of the Archdiocese of Kaunas

The Apostolic constitution, issued by Pius XI, intended to structure the diocesan territories in accordance with the actual boundaries of Lithuanian Republic after the Declaration of Independence in 1918. Due to fact, that claimed Lithuanian capital city Vilnius and the eastern parts of the country were seized by Polish troops in 1920 and annexed by Poland in 1922, Kaunas became not only the Temporary capital of Lithuania but also was promoted by Pope Pius XI on April 4, 1926, into the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas, initially with as suffragan sees Vilkaviškis and Telšiai in the new Lithuanian ecclesiastical province. The then Diocese of Vilnius was also elevated into a Metropolitan Archbishopric with its ecclesiastical province in Polish territory.

It enjoyed a Papal Visit from Pope John Paul II in September 1993. On May 28, 1997, parts of the archdiocese have been ceded to the newly founded suffragan Diocese of Šiauliai.

Province

Its ecclesiastical province comprises the Metropolitan's own archbishopric and the following suffragan sees :

Episcopal ordinaries

Suffragan Bishops of Samogitia
See List of bishops of Samogitia.
Juozapas Arnulfas Giedraitis, longest serving Bishop of Samogitia
Metropolitan Archbishops of Kaunas
Kęstutis Kėvalas, Archbishop since 2020

References

  1. ↑ In 1926 the diocesan structure of the Catholic Church was significantly modified by the papal bull Lituanorum gente. Indeed, with the new borders, only the ancient Diocese of Samogitia kept its seat within the new State, since the Diocese of Vilnius was then located on Polish territory: the Diocese of Samogitia became a metropolitan see as the "Archdiocese of Kaunas", having as suffragans the new dioceses of Telšiai, Vilkaviškis, Panevėžys, and Kaišiadorys (the latter comprising the remaining Lithuanian territories of the Diocese of Vilnius, which had become an archiepiscopal see in 1925). See the Bull Lituanorum gente, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 18 (1926), p. 121.

54°54′N 23°53′E / 54.900°N 23.883°E / 54.900; 23.883