Julijans Vaivods (18 August 1895 in Vārkava,

Latgale Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...

Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (russian: Витебская губерния, ) was an administrative unit ( guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting the Byelorussia Governorate and ...

– 24 May 1990 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

) was the

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

and of Liepāja from 10 November 1964 to his death, and Cardinal Priest of Santi Quattro Coronati from 1983 to his death. He was the first

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n cardinal and also the oldest living cardinal at the time of his death at age 94.

Biography

Julijans Vaivods studied at the

Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy The Imperial Roman Catholic Theological Academy (russian: Императорская Римско-Католическая Духовная Академия) was an institution of higher education preparing Roman Catholic theologians in the Russia ...

, Russia. He was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

for the

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mohilev The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mohilev (or Mogilev or Mahilyow) was a territorial Latin rite division of the Roman Catholic Church, covering a significant western proportion of the territory of the Tsarist Russian empire. History It was er ...

by Bishop

Jan Cieplak Jan Cieplak (17 August 1857 – 17 February 1926) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and archbishop. Early life Jan Cieplak was born in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Congress Poland, in 1857 to an impoverished family of the Polish nobility. He attended the ...

on 7 April 1918 in St. Petersburg. He was initially sent back to Latgale to serve as a parish priest and school chaplain. He came under the jurisdiction of the newly restored Diocese of Riga on 22 September 1918. He was sent to serve as a parish priest in

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

(Kurzeme) in 1925. He later came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Liepāja when it was created in 1937. While serving as the

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of that diocese, he was elevated to

monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

on 4 July 1949. Msgr. Vaivods was imprisoned by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

authorities from 1958 to 1960. In 1962 he became vicar general of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Riga. In 1964 he received a papal invitation to travel to Rome to attend the third session of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

. On 18 November 1964 he was consecrated

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Macriana Maior by Paolo Cardinal Marella in Rome. Cardinal Marella was assisted by Latvian bishops-in-exile

Jāzeps Rancāns Jāzeps is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the given name Joseph. People bearing the name include: *Jāzeps Grosvalds (1891–1920), Latvian painter *Jāzeps Pīgoznis (1934–2014), Latvian painter * Jāzeps Vītols (1863–1 ...

and

Boļeslavs Sloskāns Boļeslavs Sloskāns (1893-1981) was a Latvian Roman Catholic bishop. He was born 31 August 1893 near Stirniene and died on 18 April 1981 in Leuven, Belgium. Biography In 1911 Boļeslavs Sloskāns entered the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic T ...

. Bishop Vaivods returned to Rome in 1965 to participate in the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council. He died in 1990 and was buried at the Basilica of the Assumption in

Aglona , nickname = , settlement_type = Village , motto = , image_skyline =Aglona Basilica.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Aglona Basilica , image_flag = , flag_siz ...

. On 28 July 1948, the Special Department of the Soviet State Security Ministry recruited Vaivods as an agent under the codename 'Omega'. He remained an agent of the KGB right through the Soviet period.Latvian ex-PM, supreme court judge, top list of KGB collaborators, Agence France Presse 21 December 2018; The Latvian KGB's clergy agents https://www.academia.edu/38042677/The_Latvian_KGBs_clergy_agents No information has been made public about what information he might have given the KGB.

References

External links

Julijans ''Cardinal'' Vaivods
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaivods, Julijans 1895 births 1990 deaths People from Preiļi Municipality People from Dvinsky Uyezd Latvian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Latvian Roman Catholic bishops