The Roman Catholic Diocese of Telšiai ( la, Telsen(sis)) is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

Latin

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the Metropolitan of Kaunas, one of two in

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 ...

History

The diocese was established on 4 April 1926 on territory split off from the

Diocese of Samogitia The Archdiocese of Kaunas ( la, Archidioecesis 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 mot ...

. On 28 May 1997, it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Šiauliai. On 24 December 1991, the Territorial Prelature of Klaipėda (Memel), which had been seceded from the Diocese of Ermland on 4 April 1926, and was repeatedly held in personal union by the Bishops already, was merged into the Telšiai Diocese.Cf
"Territorial Prelature of Klaipėda / Territorialis Praelatura Klaipedensis"
on
''Catholic Hierarchy''
retrieved on 14 May 2011.

Statistics

As of 2014, the diocese pastorally served 564,000 Catholics (80.0% of 705,000 total) on in 79 parishes and 95 missions with 164 priests (148 diocesan, 16 religious), 50 lay religious (18 brothers, 32 sisters) and 20 seminarians studying at the Telšiai Bishop Vincentas Borisevičius Priest Seminary.

Special churches

Its cathedral is the Cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua in the city of

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua ...

. It also has the former cathedral of the

Varniai Varniai (; Samogitian: ''Varnē''; pl, Wornie) is a city in the Telšiai County, western Lithuania. In the Middle Ages the city was known as Medininkai ( Samogitian: ''Medėninkā''). It was established in the 14th century, on the bank of th ...

and a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

dedicated to the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Žemaičių Kalvarija.

Episcopal ordinaries

(all

Roman rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while di ...

) ;Suffragan Bishops of Telšiai * Justinas Staugaitis (1926.04.05 – death 1943.07.08), also

Bishop-Prelate In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy Orders, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of Holy orders in the Catholic Church, holy orders and is responsible ...

of Territorial Prelature of Klaipėda (Lithuania) (1926.04.05 – 1939) **

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 adm ...

Vincentas Borisevičius (1943 – 1944.01.21), while

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 a ...

Lysias Lysias (; el, Λυσίας; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a logographer (speech writer) in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace i ...

(1940.02.03 – 1944.01.21 ''see below'') as Auxiliary Bishop of Telšiai 1940.02.03 – 1944.01.21) * Vincentas Borisevičius (''see above'' 1944.01.21 – death 1946.11.18) **Apostolic Administrator Bishop Petras Maželis (1959.11.10 – 1964.02.14 ''see below'') while Titular Bishop of Celenderis (1955.05.22 – 1964.02.14) as Auxiliary Bishop of Telšiai (1955.05.22 – 1964.02.14); previously Bishop-Prelate of Territorial Prelature of Klaipėda (Lithuania) (1949.12.20 – 1955.05.22) * Petras Maželis (''see above'' 1964.02.14 – death 1966.05.21), also again Bishop-Prelate of Klaipėda (1964.02.14 – 1966.05.21) **Apostolic Administrator Bishop Juozapas Pletkus (1967.11.08 – death 1975.09.29) while Titular Bishop of Tubia (1967.11.08 – 1975.09.29), also Apostolic Administrator of Klaipėda (Lithuania) (1967.11.08 – 1975.09.29) **Apostolic Administrator Bishop Antanas Vaičius (1982.07.05 – 1989.03.10 ''see below''), Titular Bishop of Sullectum (1982.07.05 – 1989.03.10) and Apostolic Administrator of Klaipėda (Lithuania) (1982.07.05 – 1991.12.24) * Antanas Vaičius (''see above'' 1989.03.10 – retired 2001.05.26), died 2008 * Jonas Algimantas Boruta, SJ (2002.01.05 – 2017.09.18), previously Titular Bishop of Vulturara (1997.05.28 – 2002.01.05) as Auxiliary Bishop of

Archdiocese of Vilnius The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius ( la, Archidioecesis Vilnensis; lt, Vilniaus arkivyskupija) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania. Established as the Diocese of Vilnius in th ...

(Lithuania) (1997.05.28 – 2002.01.05) * Kęstutis Kėvalas (2017.09.18 – 2020.02.19), previously Titular Bishop of Abziri (2012.09.27 – 2017.04.20) as Auxiliary Bishop of

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 Traka ...

(Lithuania) (2012.09.27 – 2017.04.20),

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co- ...

of Telšiai (2017.04.20 – 2017.09.18); later promoted as Archbishop of Kaunas (2020.02.19-). * Algirdas Jurevičius (2020.06.01-), previously Titular Bishop of Materiana and Auxiliary Bishop of Kaunas (2018.07.02-2020.06.01)

Auxiliary episcopate

* Linas Vodopjanovas (Genadijus), OFM (2012.02.11 – 2016.05.20), appointed as Bishop of

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 ...

* Jonas Kauneckas (2000.05.13 – 2002.01.05) * Liudas Povilonis, MIC (1969.11.07 – 1973.07.07) * Pranciskus Ramanauskas (1944.02.28 – 1959.10.17)

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org

Diocese website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Telsiai, Roman Catholic Diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in Lithuania Religious organizations established in 1926 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Telšiai