KAUNAS, Diocese of. - City and diocese in Lithuania on the right bank of the Niemen river. At present no statistical data are available. The Jagiellonian king of Poland (1386-1434) founded the diocese of Samogitia with its seat at Miedniki; the institution was confirmed in 1416 by the Council of Constance; the cathedral, erected in 1417, was dedicated to the Roman martyrs Sts. Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus.

The first bishop was a Matthias, who was succeeded by a Nicholas in 1421. After the Protestant Reformation, Melchior I (1574-1609) re-established the see, which remained vacant and was then suppressed in 1798. It was re-established in 1849 as a suffragan of Mohilew. Pope Pius XI, by the apostolic constitution Lituanorum gente of 4 April 1926, erected K. as a metropolitan see of the Lithuanian Republic and gave a new organization to the dioceses of that nation, erecting as metropolitan basilica the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in K., with the dioceses of Kaisédozys, Panevezys, Telsiai, Vilkaviski and the nullius prelature of Klaipeda as suffragans.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Löffler, Samogitia, in Cath. Encycl., XIII, p. 421; AAS, 18 (1926), pp. 121-23; Ann. Pont., 1931, p. 229.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec7_kaunas_kown_diocesi_di, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Kaunas (Kown), diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {662}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/kaunas-kown-diocesi-di} }

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Kaunas, Diocese of

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