Telšiai Bishop Vincentas Borisevičius Priest Seminary () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1927 by

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 ...

, the first Bishop of Diocese of Telšiai . Mukienė, Danutė
Telšių Vyskupo kunigų seminarija
(2006-07-04)

History

After the establishment of Diocese of Telšiai in 1926, Bishop Justinas Staugaitis expressed his worries about the education of Diocese's priests whereas in

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 ...

priest seminary there were only 26 Samogitian seminarians at that time. On 4 October 1927, the priest seminary in Telšiai was opened. Vincentas Borisevičius became the first rector of the seminary and later also became the second bishop of Telšiai. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, the seminary was closed. By that time it had educated 150 priests. It was reopened in 1941 however in 1946 it was closed again. The seminary in Telšiai was re-established in 1989 by Bishop Antanas Vaičius. Now, the seminary also has a preparative faculty as well as a minor seminary in

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 ...

. From 2015 until 2018 the rector of the seminary was dr. Ramūnas Norkus. In 2018 he was replaced by dr. Saulius Stumbra. The university lost the accreditation for its religion study program in 2021 and as of 2021–22 school year is not organizing any

tertiary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

studies. It is expected to lose university status.

Rectors of the seminary

*1927–1940 – Vincentas Borisevičius *1940–1946 – Pranciškus Ramanauskas *''1946–1989 – Seminary was closed due to the Soviet occupation'' *1989–1993 – Kazimieras Gasčiūnas *1996–1997 – Steponas Brazdeikis *1997–2003 – Algis Genutis *2003–2006 – Antanas Lapė *2006–2008 – Vygintas Gūdeliūnas *2008–2011 – Jonas Ačas *2011–2015 – Viktoras Ačas *2015–2018 – Ramūnas Norkus *Since 2018 – Saulius Stumbra

External links

Official website

References

Catholic seminaries in Lithuania Buildings and structures in Telšiai County 1927 establishments in Lithuania Educational institutions established in 1927 Telšiai {{Catholic-seminary-stub