Book of
Remembrance

Biographical Description: Born February 4, 1884, in Madagaskaras, Utensk district. Graduated from Vilnius Seminary and was ordained in 1905 [1907?]. Graduated from the Catholic Theological Academy in St. Petersburg; in 1912, after the defense of his dissertation, he became a master of theology. He also took courses in physics, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, biology, anatomy, physiology, and political economics – in 1913 he completed the highest academic degree [sovershenstvovalsia] at Strasbourg University (France). From 1915 – during the First World War – he was a military chaplain in a hospital; he also taught in a high school in Vilnius; in 1916 he became a professor of philosophy at the seminary. From 1922 he was a professor at the university in Kaunas and head of the department of theoretical and experimental psychology. In 1923 he became a monsignor [prelat], and in 1926, he became coadjutor bishop of Vilnius. From 1925 through 1926 he was the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the author of dozens of articles on psychology, ethics, theology and pedagogy and the book The Problem of Racism [Problema rasizma]. He remained in Kaunas after the annexation of Lithuania to the USSR and during the German occupation. In 1940 he was given the personal title “archbishop” and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Vilnius. In 1947 – after the return of the Red Army and establishment of Soviet rule – Archbishop Mechislovas was arrested and given a lengthy prison sentence. Sent to Vladimir Prison where he died in 1953 at age 69 (exact date of death unknown). Source: Den’ skorbi…; Lietuvos aidas (1998), No. 30; list compiled by R. Dzwonkowski, SAC; see also www.catholic-hierarchy.org