Kazimieras Steponas Šaulys (; 1872 – May 9, 1964) was a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest,

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, and one of the twenty signatories to the

Act of Independence of Lithuania The Act of Independence of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Aktas) or the Act of February 16, also the Lithuanian Resolution on Independence ( lt, Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Nutarimas), The signed document is actually titled simply '' ...

. He graduated from the Theological Seminary in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius 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 ...

in 1895 and went on to receive a master's degree from the Roman Catholic Theological Seminary in St. Petersburg in 1899. Šaulys was then appointed curate at Saint Peter and Saint Paul

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Panevėžys Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...

. He was involved in a number of political, charitable, and educational institutions; in 1917 he participated in the

Vilnius Conference The Vilnius Conference or Vilnius National Conference ( lt, Vilniaus konferencija) met between September 18, 1917 and September 22, 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would ...

, and signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania in 1918. Šaulys specialized in canon law and moral theology, serving as a professor in these subjects at the Kaunas Theological Seminary from 1922 to 1941. He published a number of articles on religious jurisprudence, including those sections of the Provisional Constitution that dealt with religion. After 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, ...

invasion of Lithuania in 1944, he moved to

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where he died twenty years later.

References

*" Šaulys, Kazimieras". Encyclopedia Lituanica V: 79-80. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. LCCN 74-114275. 1872 births 1964 deaths People from Šilutė District Municipality People from Kovno Governorate 19th-century Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests Members of the Council of Lithuania Lithuanian independence activists {{Christianity-bio-stub