The Roman Catholic Diocese of Telšiai () is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Latin

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

of the Metropolitan of Kaunas, one of two in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

History

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

Diocese of Samogitia The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas () 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 cat ...

. On 28 May 1997, it lost territory to establish the

Diocese of Šiauliai 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 associated ...

. 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.

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 Telšiai Bishop Vincentas Borisevičius Priest Seminary () is a Roman Catholic seminary in Telšiai, Lithuania. It was founded in 1927 by Justinas Staugaitis, the first Bishop of Diocese of Telšiai . Mukienė, DanutėTelšių Vyskupo kunigų semi ...

Special churches

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

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian language, 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 ol ...

. It also has the former cathedral of the

Varniai Varniai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Varnē'') is a city in the Telšiai County, western Lithuania. In the Middle Ages the city was known as Medininkai (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Medėninkā''). Etymology ''Medininkai'' or ''M ...

and a

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

dedicated to the

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary In Christianity, the Visitation, also known as the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, refers to the visit of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, to Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, in the Gospel of Luke, . The episode is ...

Žemaičių Kalvarija Žemaičių Kalvarija (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitiu Kalvarėjė'', ) is a town in Plungė district municipality, Lithuania. It is known as a List of Catholic pilgrimage sites in Lithuania, major site for Catholic pilgrimage. Eve ...

Episcopal ordinaries

(all

Roman rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

) ;Suffragan Bishops of Telšiai *

Justinas Staugaitis Justinas Staugaitis (14 November 1866 near Šakiai – 8 July 1943, Telšiai) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic bishop, politician, educator, and author. He was one of the twenty signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania. Biography ...

(1926.04.05 – death 1943.07.08), also

Bishop-Prelate In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the c ...

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 admi ...

Vincentas Borisevičius Vincentas Borisevičius (23 November 1887 – 18 November 1946) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic bishop of the Telšiai Diocese. The process of his beatification was initiated in 1990. Born to a family of well-off Lithuanian farmers, Borisevičiu ...

(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 an ...

Lysias Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), 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 Samothrac ...

(1940.02.03 – 1944.01.21 ''see below'') as

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Telšiai 1940.02.03 – 1944.01.21) *

(''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 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 associated ...

(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 (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

(Lithuania) (2012.09.27 – 2017.04.20),

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

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 () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

* 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