Justinas Staugaitis (1866–1943)
Born 1866 CE, died 1943 CE.
Justinas Staugaitis (14 November 1866 – 8 July 1943) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic politician and bishop. He was one of the twenty signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania and became the first bishop of Telšiai in 1926. Educated at the Sejny Priest Seminary, Staugaitis was ordained as a priest in 1890. From 1894 to 1905, he served in the Archdiocese of Warsaw. Upon return to Lithuania, he was a pastor in Marijampolė, Lekėčiai, Pakuonis, and Aukštoji Panemunė (1916–1926). In Marijampolė, he became more involved in the Lithuanian cultural life – he founded and chaired Žiburys Society which established Lithuanian primary schools, participated in the agricultural Žagrė Society, and started contributing to the Lithuania press. He was the editor of the monthly Catholic magazine Vadovas from June 1909 to August 1912. During World War I, he remained in Lithuania and organized aid to war refugees. In September 1917, Staugaitis was elected to the 20-member Council of Lithuania which adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918.
Text from the Wikipedia article Justinas_Staugaitis, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.