Blessed Teofilius Matulionis

Teofilius Matulionis (22 June 1873 – 20 August 1962) was a Lithuanian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was consecrated a bishop in secret and spent most of his years as bishop in prison. His death was likely due to poisoning by officials of the USSR. Pope Francis approved his beatification on 1 December 2016 and it was celebrated in Vilnius at the cathedral square on 25 June 2017. Teofilius Matulionis was born on 22 June 1873 in Molėtai, a town then in the Russian Empire, now in Lithuania. He was the second of three children to Jurgis Matulionis (1833–1911) and Ona Juočepytė (1851-9 May 1877); his two brothers were Jonas (1871–1920) and Juozas (1875–1955). After his mother died, his father remarried, and he and his second wife had seven children. Matulionis studied at Antalieptė from 1887 to 1892 and then at Daugpilis from 1892 to 1900. He graduated from high school in Latvia and began his theological studies for the priesthood in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he was ordained on 17 March 1900. He interrupted his studies for a brief period to reconsider his vocation. He studied Russian, Latvian and Polish. He also served briefly as a curate in several Latvian parishes. He was assigned to a small parish in Latgalia, Latvia, beginning on 26 June 1900 and transferred in 1910 to the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Jesus in Saint Petersburg, where Catholicism was a minority religion. He led a campaign to construct a new parish church, and he was awarded the title Monsignor. He lived in Saint Petersburg until 1929. Pope Pius XI named him an auxiliary bishop of Mohilev, Belarus, on 8 December 1928 and Matulionis received his episcopal consecration in secret on 7 February 1929 from Bishop Anton Malecki. His pastoral work was often hampered by the communist government. In 1922 the Bolsheviks ordered the confiscation of all churches. Their decree required pastors to provide their signatures.