22 Facts About Teofilius Matulionis

Teofilius Matulionis was a Lithuanian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

Teofilius Matulionis was consecrated a bishop in secret and spent most of his years as bishop in prison.

Teofilius Matulionis's death was likely due to poisoning by officials of the USSR.

Teofilius Matulionis was born on 22 June 1873 in Moletai, a town then in the Russian Empire, now in Lithuania.

Teofilius Matulionis was the second of three children to Jurgis Matulionis and Ona Juocepyte ; his two brothers were Jonas and Juozas.

Teofilius Matulionis 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.

Teofilius Matulionis interrupted his studies for a brief period to reconsider his vocation.

Teofilius Matulionis served briefly as a curate in several Latvian parishes.

Teofilius Matulionis 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.

Teofilius Matulionis led a campaign to construct a new parish church, and he was awarded the title Monsignor.

Pope Pius XI named him an auxiliary bishop of Mohilev, Belarus, on 8 December 1928 and Teofilius Matulionis received his episcopal consecration in secret on 7 February 1929 from Bishop Anton Malecki.

Teofilius Matulionis refused and was arrested and imprisoned from 1923 until 1925, as part of the broader persecution centered on the "show trial" of Bishop Jan Cieplak.

Teofilius Matulionis was arrested a second time and sentenced to a decade of hard labor in the Arctic where the cold and damp climate damaged his health.

Teofilius Matulionis often awoke in the middle of the night to celebrate the Mass in secret using everyday bread as the Eucharist and distributing it in secret to fellow inmates when he could.

Teofilius Matulionis was placed in solitary confinement, but released in 1933 as part of a prisoner exchange when the Lithuanian government signed an accord with the Soviet Union for a ten-prisoner exchange, though he asked not to be part of the exchange.

Teofilius Matulionis visited Cairo and Jerusalem, and parts of Western Europe.

Teofilius Matulionis was arrested a third time for releasing a pastoral letter in 1946 and was sentenced to another decade in prison.

Teofilius Matulionis said they should be ashamed of forcing him to act in secret.

Teofilius Matulionis died on 20 August 1962 not long after a routine USSR KGB check of his apartment during which he was drugged.

Teofilius Matulionis had previously been denied permission to attend the Second Vatican Council.

Teofilius Matulionis's remains were exhumed in 1999 and tests confirmed that he had been poisoned.

Pope Francis confirmed on 1 December 2016 that Teofilius Matulionis had died "in odium fidei" and approved the beatification.