Fighting For LithuaniaÒ³ Freedom

Four Bishops Martyred for Their Work in the Catholic Church

Sons and Daughters of LithuaniaÒ³ Cause

Four Bishops Martyred for Their Work in the Catholic Church

Bishop Vincentas Borisevicius

(Nov. 23, 1887 to Nov. 18, 1946)

Crime: Continuing his work as bishop and priest to his parishioners contrary to Communist rule.

During his trial, he stated, "Your victory is only for today. The future belongs to me. Christ will win and my country, Lithuania, will win."

Punishment: Tortured and shot to death. Buried in a mass grave outside Vilnius.

Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis

(June 22, 1873 to Aug. 8, 1920)

Crime: Protested the expropriation of his church.

Punishment: Arrested in 1923 and sentenced to three years in a Moscow Prison. Arrested for a second time in 1929, interrogated for a year, sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in the Solovetskie Islands in the White Sea. Allowed to return to Lithuania in 1933. Arrested for the third time in 1946 and deported to Siberia. Allowed to return in 1956 and died in 1962.

Archbishop Mecislovas Reinys

(Feb. 2, 1903 to Nov. 8, 1953)

Crime: Participated in Catholic political and cultural organizations, and in the general effort to regain Lithuania's independence.

Punishment: Imprisoned in 1919 for five months. Arrested in 1922 and soon released. In 1947, Reinys was arrested, sentenced to 10 years, and removed to Vladimir Prison near Moscow. There he died and his grave is unknown.

Bishop Pranas Ramanauskas

(Nov. 21, 1893 to Oct. 15, 1959)

Crime: In charge of the diocesan synodal court and exercised episcopal duties.

Punishment: Arrested in 1946 and exiled to Siberia. Allowed to return after "successful rehabilitation" in 1956. He died in 1959 and buried in the Tel𩵠Cathedral.

Sons and Daughters of LithuaniaÒ³ Cause

Adolfas Ramanauskas

(1918 to Nov. 29, 1957)

Crime: Leader of partisan units against the German and Communist invaders. In his journal, he wrote, "We have but one desire; to win the fight for Lithuania's independence, and if God allows, to celebrate this event with the whole country..."

Punishment: Arrested in 1956 and shot without a trial in Vilnius. Burial place unknown.

Jonas Zemaitis

(March 15, 1909 to Nov. 26, 1953)

Crime: Captain of the General Staff of the Lithuanian Army, partisan leader, and chairman of the Council of the Association of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters.

Punishment: Arrested in 1953 along with his wife. Shot to death in 1954. Burial place unknown.

Nijole Sadunaite

(born 1938)

Crime: Helped to publish and distribute the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania.

Upon hearing her sentence, was quoted as saying, "Why is the sentence so light?"

Punishment: Three years compulsory labor in Siberia and three years in exile. During her exile, she took vows to become a nun. Presently she lives in Lithuania continuing her work for those in need.

These courageous warriors for LithuaniaÒ³ freedom were only a handful who sacrificed their lives for a countryÒ³ thirst for independence.