KAUNAS (KOWNO), Diocese of. – A city and diocese in Lithuania on the right bank of the River Niemen. At present no statistical data are available. King Jagellone of Poland (1386–1434) founded the diocese of Samogitia with its see at Miedniki; this institution was confirmed in 1416 by the Council of Constance; the cathedral erected in 1417 was dedicated to the Roman martyrs SS. Alexander, Evencius and Theodulus.
The first bishop was a certain Matthias, succeeded in 1421 by Nicolao. After the Protestant Reformation, Melchior I (1574–1609) restored the see, which remained vacant and was then suppressed in 1708. It was re-established in 1849 as a suffragan of Mohilew. Pope Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution *Lituanorum gente* of 4 April 1926, erected Kaunas as a metropolitan see of the Lithuanian Republic and reorganized the dioceses of that nation, elevating the church of SS. Peter and Paul in Kaunas to the status of metropolitan basilica, with the dioceses of Kaisiadorys, Panevėžys, Telšiai, Vilkaviškis and the *prelatura nullius* of Klaipėda as suffragans.