Vol. LXI
 p20  Samogitia​a

Samogitia (Samogitien).​b A bishop's seat with its residence in Varniai or Medininkai, in Russia: formerly it was in Raseiniai, the capital of the district, on the left bank of the Dubysa, which under the kings of Poland was the capital of Samogitia and the seat of a dietine. It had its cathedral and two other churches. Samogitia is an ancient country of Europe, bounded on the north by Courland, and on the west by the Baltic, on the south by the Baltic and Prussia, and on the east by Lithuania proper. It formed a province of the ancient kingdom of Poland, and was annexed to Lithuania (q.v.); today it is largely merged into the Russian governorate of Vilna. The Russians and Poles call this country Imond.​c The Knights of the Sword possessed it from 1404 to 1411. It is a country for the most part covered with woods, and inhabited by the Chud — or Tchoudes as the French write it. Of all the Polish provinces united to Russia, this country was the first to raise the banner of insurrection in 1831; and the Lithuanian insurgents took possession of Raseiniai in April, after having defeated a body of Russian troops. The city of Varniai is in Samogitia, in the governorate of Kaunas, district of Telšiai: among the cities now springing up rapidly in Russia, one can also include the city of Kaunas, which since 1843 has been built on a new site according to a plan sanctioned by the emperor Nicholas I. The cathedral is under the invocation of the Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul; it is a large and suitably adorned building, at 1000 paces from the wooden bishop's palace. The chapter comprises 6 officers — the first of whom is the archdeacon, with 3 canons and the prebendaries: the theologian and the penitentiary — 9 priests, and the clerics for the divine service. The care of souls is not exercised in the cathedral, but in the church of St. Alexander Martyr, where the only baptismal font is to be found. There are no other churches, although there are confraternities, a seminary with students, and a hospital. The episcopal see was erected in 1410 or 1413 as a suffragan of the metropolis of Gniezno, after King Jogaila (Władysław II)​d joined Samogitia to Poland. Pius VI, by the bull Maximis undique pressi, in 1798, having reorganized the dioceses that had passed into the dominion of Russia, removed the bishop of Samogitia from Gniezno and subjected him to the new metropolitan of Mahilioŭ. The bishop of Samogitia was given a suffragan with the right to succeed him, and also a coadjutor. His benefice amounted to 5,000 silver rubles, to be drawn on ecclesiastical property. Up until recently and before that, the episcopal living had kept the totality of its property, which produced an annual income of 16,000 zecchini or 50,000 rubles. The secular clergy had a capital of 111,330 rubles, which annually yielded 37,820 rubles; the serfs attached to their villages numbered 5380. The regular clergy possessed estates valued at 72,754 rubles, which annually yielded 10,328 rubles, with 952 serfs attached to the villages. In the diocese there were lately 14 convents, two monasteries inhabited by 34 nuns, a house of the Sisters of Charity, the seminary with 40 pupils, and 40 schools: the secular priests in 1834 numbered 432; there were Benedictines, religious of the Third Order, Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, Franciscans, Piarists; in total there were 186 religious. In that year the bishopric as a whole had 105 parishes, 59 subsidiary churches, and 92 chapels. In the agreement of August 3, 1847 concluded between the reigning Pope Pius IX and Nicholas I, Emperor of the Russias, it was recognized that the diocese of Samogitia or Telšiai, suffragan of Mahilioŭ, includes the governments of Courland and that of Kaunas, within their present-day boundaries. In the latest consistorial proposition it is stated that: "The diocese of Samogitia has been till now bounded to the north by Curonia, to the south by the Nemunas River and the kingdom of Prussia, to the west by the Baltic Sea, and to the east by the Niewiaza River. It counted about 110 parishes, 7 monasteries of men, of which 6 had the care of souls, and 2 monasteries of nuns, and thus overall five hundred thousand Catholics. But now by the apostolic letter of July 3, 1848 of the Universal Church, it includes the entire region contained within the present limits of the governorate of Kaunas and Courland; and for this reason in addition to the two existing suffragans a third is to be established, who shall reside in Courland, as prescribed in the aforesaid apostolic letter". Here follow the bishops as reported by the annual Notizie di Roma. 1736 Jozafat Karp. 1740 Antoni Tyszkiewicz of Vilna, translated from Mennith in partibus. 1762 Jan Łopaciński of Vilna. 1778 Jan Stefan of the princes Giedroyć of Vilna, transferred from Livonia: in 1782 suffragan of the deaneries of Mednik, Antonin Malinowski, O. P., of Grodno, bishop of Cinna in partibus: in 1786 another suffragan Tadeusz Józef Bukaty of Vilna, bishop of Thespiae in partibus: in 1791 coadjutor with right of succession Józef Arnulf of the princes Giedroyć of Vilna, bishop of Orthosias [in Caria]º in partibus. For a time the said two suffragans governed the diocese, when the see was vacant, and in 1804 in place of Bukaty, Szymon of the princes Giedroyć of Wielczka in the diocese of Samogitia was made suffragan and bishop in partibus of Adramyttium, who with Malinowski continued to govern the diocese. In 1819, however, the aforementioned bishop of Orthosias became the effective bishop. In the consistory of September 28, 1849, Pope Pius IX made the current Motiejus Valančius of Nasrėnai, diocese of Samogitia, bishop upon the death of his predecessor: he had been a professor and the rector of the seminary of Varniai for 20 years. Each new bishop is taxed 33 florins, with income from church revenues amounting to approximately 6,000 Roman scudi, not counting pensions, which come from real estate and other rights.

(my translation)