Paulius Antanas Baltakis, O.F.M. (1 January 1925 – 17 May 2019) was a Lithuanian

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 ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

who served as the last

Apostolic Visitor In the Catholic Church, an apostolic visitor (or ''Apostolic Visitator''; Italian: Visitatore apostolico) is a papal representative with a transient mission to perform a canonical visitation of relatively short duration. The visitor is depute ...

for the Lithuanians in Diaspora from 1 June 1984 until his resignation in 2003.

Biography

Baltakis was born into a family of Lithuanian farmers as the second of eleven children and named as Antanas. He studied in gymnasiums in

Kretinga Kretinga (; german: Crottingen) is a City in Klaipėda County, Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kretinga district municipality. It is located east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga, and about north of Lithuania's 3rd largest c ...

and

Anykščiai Anykščiai (; see other names) is a ski resort town in Lithuania, west of Utena. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Matthias in Anykščiai is the tallest church in Lithuania, with spires measuring in height. Anykščiai has a resort status i ...

until he was arrested by Nazi agents in 1944 and sent to

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

. After the liberation from the forced labour camp at the end of World War II, he began to study at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

in 1945 and a year later joined the

mendicant A mendicant (from la, mendicans, "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many inst ...

Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, where he was tonsured with the name "Paulius" and made his solemn profession of vows on 15 September 1950. Baltakis was ordained as a

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 ...

on 24 August 1952, after completing his theological studies. From 1952 Baltakis was attached to the parish and missionary work among Lithuanian emigrants in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

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. He organised the construction of a monastery printing house, Lithuanian cultural centre "Kultūros židinys" and taught at a Lithuanian school. In 1979 he was elected provincial superior of the Lithuanian St. Casimir Franciscan Province and served in this office until 1984. On 1 June 1984 Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him as an

for the Lithuanian Roman Catholics in diaspora and made him Titular Bishop of

Egara Terrassa (, es, Tarrasa) is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona, ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin '' ...

. He received his episcopal consecration in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine, on 14 September 1978 from Cardinal

Pio Laghi Pio Laghi (21 May 1922 – 10 January 2009) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. His service was primarily in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and the Roman Curia. He served as Apostolic nuncio to several countries and as the P ...

. Baltakis resigned these titles in 2003 and remained in the United States until April 2018 when he returned to Lithuania. Baltakis died on 17 May 2019 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 ...

References

External links

Catholic-Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltakis, Paulius Antanas 1925 births 2019 deaths Lithuanian expatriates in the United States Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Franciscan bishops 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops 21st-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Lithuanian Roman Catholic bishops People from Anykščiai District Municipality Forced labourers under German rule during World War II Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II