Juozas Laukaitis

Juozas Laukaitis (3 February 1873 – 15 August 1952) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest. He was a member of the Fourth State Duma of the Russian Empire (1912–1917) and of the Fourth Seimas of Lithuania (1936–1940).

Educated at the Sejny Priest Seminary and Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy, Laukaitis was ordained as a priest in 1897. He was assigned to Sejny where he became the chaplain of bishop Antanas Baranauskas until his death in 1902. In Sejny, Laukaitis worked at the curia, taught Lithuanian language at the seminary, and co-founded a printing press that published Catholic books and periodicals. He briefly was the chief editor of the weekly Šaltinis and monthly Vadovas. He cared about purity and correctness of the Lithuanian language, and organized a committee to revise the main Catholic prayers. In 1910, he was dismissed from curia and the seminary and assigned as pastor to the remote parish of Leipalingis.

In 1912, he was elected to the Fourth State Duma where he supported the Progressive Bloc and spoke against the Russification. During World War I, he lived in Saint Petersburg (then renamed to Petrograd) and chaired the local chapter of the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers. He also joined the efforts of the Council of the Lithuanian Nation which organized the Petrograd Seimas in 1917.

In 1919–1920, he toured numerous communities of Lithuanian Americans raising funds for the Žiburys Society. Upon return, he served as pastor in Kalvarija before returning to the curia of the Diocese of Sejny in 1924. The diocese was expelled from Sejny due to the Polish–Lithuanian War and was reorganized into the Diocese of Vilkaviškis in 1926. In 1931, he became the pastor of Seirijai. In 1936, he was elected to the Fourth Seimas where he attempted to defend Catholic rights against anti-religious policies of the ruling Lithuanian Nationalists Union.

Laukaitis was arrested by the Soviets in 1947 and sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement with the Lithuanian partisans and anti-Soviet agitation. He served the sentence at the Vladimir Central Prison. He died in detention in 1952.

Biography Early life and education Laukaits was born on 3 February 1873 in north of Prienai which was then part of the Suwałki Governorate in Congress Poland. His father claimed descent form the Lithuanian nobility and owned about 50 morgens of land.