Vincentas SladkeviÄius
Vincentas Cardinal Sladkevičius MIC ( born August 20, 1920 in Žasliai, Rajongemeinde Kaišiadorys; † 28 May 2000, Kaunas) was a Lithuanian archbishop of Kaunas.
Life
Vincentas Sladkevičius received his philosophical and theological education in Kaunas seminary and was ordained a priest on 25 March 1944. In the years 1944-1959 he worked as a parish priest, teacher and prefect of studies in the Diocese of Kaunas.
Vincentas Sladkevičius was on 14 November 1957 by Pope Pius XII. appointed auxiliary bishop in Kaišiadorys and titular bishop of Abora. He received his episcopal consecration on December 25, 1957 Teofilis Matulionis, the then Bishop of Kaišiadorys.
After the death of Bishop Matulionis the Communist rulers Vincentas Sladkevičius prohibited until 1982, the exercise of his episcopal ministry and placed him under house arrest. In 1982 he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of his diocese.
Pope John Paul II took him in 1988 as a cardinal priest with the titular church of Spirito Santo alla Ferratella in the College of Cardinals to. The Pope appointed him on 10 March 1989 Archbishop of Kaunas.
1993 Vincentas Sladkevičius joined the community of Marian priest of the Immaculate Conception a. In 1996 he resigned the leadership of the Archdiocese of Kaunas of age.
Vincentas Sladkevičius died 28 May 2000, in Kaunas and was buried in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of St Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Honors
- Honorary citizen of Kaunas, since December 1993