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82-646: Bishop Merkelis Giedraitis raised the idea of establishing a college in Kražiai , the first higher education institution in Samogitia. To that end, in 1608, he invited the Jesuits, bought them land and built a house for their needs. Merkelis died the following year; in his last will, he left money and land for the construction of a Jesuit monastery. Other patrons included Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł who donated

164-521: A Protestant . The 244-line eulogy shows Giedraitis' mastery of the Latin language as well as familiarity with classical authors ( Theocritus , Virgil ) and Greek mythology ( Philomela , Niobe , Nestor , etc.). At the end of 1563, together with two relatives of Grand Chancellor Ostafi Wołłowicz  [ pl ] and Teodor Skumin Tyszkiewicz  [ pl ] , Giedraitis enrolled into

246-537: A Catholic priest. He became interested in Lithuanian language and started collecting Lithuanian words, idioms, proverbs, songs, etc. Jonas Juška also became interested in the language but took a more theoretical approach to his studies. The two brothers closely cooperated in their studies; Jonas frequently visited Antanas in Lithuania during summer vacations. Sometimes it is difficult to determine which manuscript

328-491: A Lithuanian grammar book and submitted it to the Academy of Sciences for approval. The work was not well received by its reviewers and the text remained unpublished. The reviewers also found the work unoriginal and copying the book by August Schleicher . Such evaluation was particularly hurtful as Juška and his brother spent so much time and effort on collecting language examples from the people. In February 1864, Juška then sent

410-468: A Lithuanian–Russian dictionary. However, he did not finish it (it was written up to the word marnastis ). At the time, Lithuanian did not have a standardized spelling. In his review of Schleicher's book, Juška urged to use the Samogitian dialect as the basis for the standard Lithuanian as he perceived it as purer and more archaic. After Schleicher rebuffed the notion in his response, Juška supported

492-471: A detailed picture of the neglect. Peculus described neglected churches, poorly educated priests who could not recite the Ten Commandments or barely read Latin, did not speak local language despite living in the diocese for over thirty years, shirked their pastoral duties and held masses only occasionally, openly kept lovers and raised illegitimate children, etc. Only one priest, Mikalojus Daukša ,

574-561: A handful of songs. In 1862, Juška was reassigned to Kazan and participated in a four-member commission working on reforms of military schools. While working in various schools, Juška published several articles in the Russian press on the issues of education, including three articles in Russky Invalid in 1859–1860. In 1863, Juška's brother Antanas was arrested and imprisoned for suspicions of distributing materials in support of

656-615: A letter to Ivan Petrovich Kornilov  [ ru ] , the newly appointed administrator of the Vilna Educational District  [ ru ] , asking for a reassignment to Kovno Governorate and for help publishing his Lithuanian textbook. Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky , Governor General of Vilna , implemented the Lithuanian press ban in 1864 – Lithuanian publications were forbidden if they were published using Latin alphabet but could be printed if they used

738-445: A letter to Pope Leo XIII asking to canonize Giedraitis and Andrius Rudamina , the first Lithuanian missionary to China. In 1909, Lithuanians commemorated the 300th death anniversary of Giedraitis with prayers and articles about his life. While his beatification case was not started, some Lithuanians pray to Giedraitis (e.g. a prayer to him was included in a prayer book published by Stasys Yla  [ lt ] in 1964). In 1999,

820-588: A military school in Saint Petersburg . The pay at the military schools was better which was very important to Juška as he sponsored education of his two younger brothers. It also allowed him to establish closer contacts with various Russian linguists. Though brief, the Saint Petersburg period was the most productive period of Juška's research. To collect material for his studies, he traveled across Lithuania in 1858 and 1861 and collected at least

902-498: A native Lithuanian who could help them study the language. In 1853, Sreznevsky coordinated efforts of the Russian Academy of Sciences to send a Lithuanian linguist on a three-year mission to study and describe Lithuanian dialects. Stanisław Mikucki  [ ru ] was chosen for the mission but he did not produce the expected studies. Sreznevsky then placed hopes with Juška. In 1856, Sreznevsky asked Juška to write

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984-578: A niece of Antanas Mackevičius , one of the leaders of the Uprising of 1863. Theirs twins Antanina and Vytautas were born on 31 August 1869. From 1871 to 1875, he taught Greek. At some point, Juška received the Order of St. Anna (3rd class). As years ticked by, Juška looked for ways to publish his and his brother's life-long work on Lithuanian folk song. In 1867, Juška prepared the first booklet with 33 Lithuanian songs and their translations to Russian. It

1066-605: A palace, built in 1565, and Jan Karol Chodkiewicz who donated seven homesteads. The college was founded in 1613, and was called Collegium Chodkievicianum in honor of Chodkiewicz. It was the second Jesuit college in Lithuania (after Vilnius Jesuit College ). The first class was held only in September 1616 in a temporary wooden house. In 1616, the Kražiai College was reorganized into a college with three compulsory classes: grammar , poetics and rhetoric . The construction of

1148-414: A permanent school began in 1618 (the ceremony of laying the cornerstone was attended by Grand Treasurer Hieronim Wołłowicz ). At the time, the college already had about 50 students and 12 teachers. Gradually, with the support of many wealthy sponsors, the college expanded into a large campus, including its own church built in 1625–89. Full financial support was given to 26 impoverished students. On average,

1230-520: A scholarly review of the newly published Lithuanian language textbook by August Schleicher . The work was published as a separate brochure by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1857. In this work Juška outlined his fundamental view that the Lithuanian language needs to be studied not from published material but from the untapped riches of the living language spoken by villagers. In 1861, the Russian Academy of Sciences published Juška's study on

1312-426: A textbook of Lithuanian for the middle schools. It was supposed to be both in Lithuanian and Russian. The book also included sample reading texts for students to practice on. These texts included excerpts from works by Kristijonas Donelaitis , Simonas Daukantas , Motiejus Valančius , two fairytales, seven Lithuanian folk songs, 22 fables (three of them by Simonas Stanevičius ), and 40 proverbs. Juška also worked on

1394-419: A volume with 1,100 wedding songs was published in Saint Petersburg in 1883. The next project was publishing Antanas' Lithuanian–Polish dictionary, but it was a painstakingly slow process as Juška needed to translate the dictionary to Russian and correct Polish from provincial vernacular to literary language. Further, Juška continued to work at the gymnasium (he was elected as the librarian in 1883 and appointed as

1476-531: The Cyrillic script . Therefore, Kornilov asked Juška to transcribe his grammar book in the Cyrillic script. Juška prepared a few pages of Lithuanian in Cyrillic (using a mix of Cyrillic and Latin characters as Cyrillic alone could not accommodate all needs of the Lithuanian pronunciation), but the government chose Stanisław Mikucki  [ ru ] to draft the official guidelines. Juška's transfer request

1558-518: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania . He also supported Maciej Stryjkowski , author of the first printed history of Lithuania . In recognition of his efforts, Giedraitis is often referred to as the second baptist of Samogitia (the first official baptism of Samogitia took place in 1413–1417). Giedraitis was born into the Giedraičiai family of the Lithuanian nobility . His father Motiejus Giedraitis

1640-412: The Lithuanian dialects in Russian and Lithuanian. It was published in the society's journal and as a separate booklet. It was the first study of Lithuanian dialects in Lithuanian. Living far away from Lithuania and visiting only during the summer vacations, Juška could not study the dialects in detail which made his study rather superficial. Yet the study was a significant step in the emerging research on

1722-544: The Lithuanian language and sponsored publication of the first Lithuanian printed books in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1595, Mikalojus Daukša translated a catechism by Diego de Ledesma  [ es ] , Spanish Jesuit , and published it as Catechism, or Education Obligatory to Every Christian in Vilnius . Four years later, Daukša published the much larger Catholic Postil (collection of sermons) which

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1804-482: The Russian Academy of Sciences and encouraged Juška to study Lithuanian language. He produced several studies, including the first more detailed study of Lithuanian dialects in 1861. When his Lithuanian textbook was met with criticism in 1863, Juška stopped writing studies but continued to closely cooperate with his brother Antanas who was also interested in Lithuanian language and culture and spent his life collecting Lithuanian vocabulary, proverbs, and folk songs from

1886-786: The Swedish invasion of 1656 and the plague of 1710 , but recovered. After the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, the college's administration was taken over by the Commission of National Education . After the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Carmelites from Kolainiai administered the school from 1797 to 1817. In 1817, Tsarist authorities secularized the school, changed its name to gymnasium, introduced primary education classes, and transferred its administration to Vilnius University . As such,

1968-790: The Union of Lublin in 1569 which established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In Vilnius, Giedraitis was noticed by Bishop of Vilnius Walerian Protasewicz who offered him a teaching position and likely encouraged to become a priest. Giedraitis was ordained as a priest in 1571. In February 1572, Protasewicz raised Giedraitis to members of the cathedral chapter and put him in charge of church property ( custos ). When Bishop of Samogitia Jurgis Petkūnas died in July 1574, Jakub Uchański , Primate of Poland and Archbishop of Gniezno , attempted to promote his nephew Jakub Woroniecki to

2050-530: The University of Kazan and began preparing Antanas' works for publication in earnest. They also managed to get a special exemption from Tsar Alexander II of Russia to publish a wedding song collection at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Antanas died in 1880, and Jonas published four volumes of Lithuanian folk songs and a small part of the Lithuanian–Polish dictionary before his own death in 1886. Juška

2132-534: The University of Leipzig . As it was quite common at the time, Giedraitis did not earn an academic degree. Giedraitis studied at four Protestant universities and was close with some Protestant activists, but there is no evidence that he converted to Protestantism – documents related to his appointment as bishop are silent on the issue. After his studies, Giedraitis worked as a secretary at the Grand Duke's chancellery. Together with his brother Kasparas, he signed

2214-631: The University of Saint Petersburg . When those plans did not pan out, he enrolled into the History and Philology Faculty of Kharkiv University . Juška graduated in 1844. Though the university did not have a strong linguistic program, Juška became the first Lithuanian to receive specialized philological education in the Russian Empire. As a Lithuanian he could not obtain a job in Lithuania due to Russification policies and for about four decades taught at various Russian educational institutions. He

2296-549: The Uprising of 1863 . Juška managed to get the Russian Academy of Sciences to send a letter to Nikolay Mikhailovich Muravyov  [ ru ] , Governor of Kovno , asking for Antanas's release as he was working on a Lithuanian dictionary which was important to science. Antanas was released after nine-month imprisonment but the Tsarist authorities remained suspicious of Antanas. In 1863, Juška completed his manuscript of

2378-468: The 3rd Gymnasium in Kazan where he continued to teach Latin. There he got acquainted with professor Jan Baudouin de Courtenay of Kazan University . With his support and encouragement, Juška and his brother began preparing their work for publication. Baudouin de Courtenay managed to get the university to publish the works in the Latin alphabet despite the Lithuanian press ban (the university had autonomy and

2460-596: The Academy of Sciences, had to petition Dmitry Tolstoy , the Minister of National Education, who in a consultation with Lev Makov  [ ru ] , the Minister of Internal Affairs , petitioned Tsar Alexander II of Russia for a special exemption to publish the songs. The Tsar granted the exemption on 22 April 1880 on a condition that the book would not be distributed in the Northwestern Krai . Despite

2542-660: The Catholic Church. In several instances, Giedraitis had to sue the Protestants in courts. He managed to recover several churches, including in Kražiai , Kėdainiai , Linkuva (1605), and Kelmė (shortly after his death in 1609). Giedratis constructed certain tents next to Catholic churches occupied by the Protestants so that Catholic priests could attract people visiting the traditional parish festivals . The Reformation peaked in Samogitia in 1580s and 1590s. During Giedraitis' tenure, twelve new churches were built in

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2624-469: The Catholic priest Antanas Juška . Educated at Kražiai College and Kharkiv University , Juška as a Roman Catholic could not obtain a job in Lithuania and had to live in and work as a school teacher in various Russian cities ( Mogilev , Novgorod , Saint Petersburg , Nizhny Novgorod , Yekaterinburg , Kazan ). In 1852, Juška established contacts with professor Izmail Sreznevsky who introduced him to

2706-576: The Jesuits. They even reported apparitions of Giedraitis in Varniai Cathedral after his death. The cathedral chapter tasked Jonas Kazakevičius (Jan Kosakiewicz), auxiliary bishop of Samogitia, to write a biography of Giedraitis, but it was not done. Bishop Motiejus Valančius (1801–1875) ordered a marble tomb of Giedraitis installed in Varniai Cathedral in 1853. On the occasion of the Church Jubilee in 1900, Lithuanian Americans sent

2788-489: The King wanted to move Bernard Maciejowski , Bishop of Lutsk , to Vilnius. However, Grand Chancellor Lew Sapieha refused to confirm the appointment leading to a power struggle that lasted almost a decade. Benedykt Woyna , the new Bishop of Vilnius, was confirmed only in 1600. Giedraitis was an ardent supporter of Sapieha and argued against appointing a "foreigner" to bishops in Lithuania. Giedraitis died on 6 April 1609 and

2870-496: The Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked to Giedraitis for his works. Before the 1576 Polish–Lithuanian royal election a congress of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's nobles was held on 20 April 1576 in Grodno which adopted an Universal, signed by Giedraitis and other participating high-ranking Lithuanian officials and nobles, which announced that if the delegates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania will feel pressure from

2952-572: The Lithuanian. He identified four major dialects – Samogitian , Prussian Lithuanian , Ariogala (he grew up nearby; the area encompassed most of present-day areas of western Aukštaitian dialect ), and eastern Lithuanian. The dialect descriptions were not in depth, sometimes missing key features and entirely failing to address pitch accents or accentuation . In 1855, Juška compiled a brief dictionary of words that were similar in Lithuanian and Sanskrit and sent it to Sreznevsky in early 1856. He based his work on research by Alexander Hilferding which

3034-765: The Poles in the Election sejm , the Lithuanians will not be obliged by an oath of the Union of Lublin and will have the right to select a separate monarch. On 29 May 1580, Giedraitis crowned Stephen Báthory as Grand Duke of Lithuania in Vilnius Cathedral . This ceremony consisted of Giedraitis' presentation of a luxuriously decorated sword and a hat adorned with pearls (both were sanctified by Pope Gregory XIII himself) to Báthory, while this ceremony manifested

3116-790: The Union of Lublin – bishops were automatically granted a seat in the Senate of Poland–Lithuania . Any new bishop first needed a nomination from the king. At the time, the king was Henry de Valois who abandoned the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in June 1574 to become the King of France . Therefore, Giedraitis traveled to Paris to obtain the nomination in person in April 1575. At the same time, he acted as an envoy of Lithuanian nobles in an attempt to persuade Henry to return to Poland–Lithuania. Pope Gregory XIII approved Giedraitis as bishop on 16 January 1576 and he

3198-510: The academy to publish it. However, publishing Lithuanian text in the Latin alphabet became an issue particularly because the academy republished The Seasons by Kristijonas Donelaitis in 1865 which prompted the Ministry of National Education , by the order of the Tsar, to issue an order that Lithuanian works must only be published in the Cyrillic script. Therefore, Yakov Grot , vice-chair of

3280-739: The decision. Two days later, on 11 May 1886, he suffered another attack and died. Both brothers were buried in a joint grave in the Arskoe Cemetery in Kazan; their remains were exhumed and reburied in the churchyard in Veliuona in November 1990. The same year, museum of Lithuanian ethnic culture named after brothers Juškas was established in the former rectory in Vilkija where Antanas briefly worked in 1862–1864. Juška's brother Antanas became

3362-580: The diocese. In 1603, Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz brought the Bernadines to Kretinga where they established the Kretinga Monastery . Giedraitis worked to strengthen existing parishes, regain parishes taken over by the Protestants, and establish new parishes. He obtained two royal decrees (from Stephen Báthory on 1 August 1578 and from Sigismund III Vasa on 2 April 1592) ordering the Protestants to return lands and property usurped from

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3444-564: The diocese. They were funded by the King, nobles, or Giedraitis himself. Some of them were built near the borders with the Protestant Duchy of Prussia and Duchy of Livonia . When Giedraitis died, the diocese had 50 parishes. According to Motiejus Valančius , Giedraitis established three deaneries (in Virbalis , Viduklė , and Luokė ) in 1587, but documents mentioning deaneries in the diocese date only from 1619–1620. Giedraitis

3526-702: The dispute between the Radziwiłł and the Chodkiewicz families. In 1579, when the Jesuit Academy was established in Vilnius (predecessor to Vilnius University ), Giedraitis became its protector. He donated some land near Riešė and Stirniai (near Ukmergė ) to the academy. Together with his brother, Giedraitis also funded the Church of St. Lawrence in their native Videniškiai . The Diocese of Samogitia

3608-569: The failed Uprising of 1863, the Tsarist authorities issued a decree forbidding to employ Roman Catholics in administrative posts in 1865. Further, Okhrana investigated Juška for his help to members of the uprising who were deported to the interior of Russia and passed through Nizhny Novgorod. Therefore, he was reassigned as a Latin teacher to a gymnasium in Yekaterinburg in January 1867. The same year, Juška married Felicija Liutkevičiūtė,

3690-463: The first known synod in the diocese. He worked to improve discipline among the priests, fought corruption by preventing several church benefices falling into same hands, combated informal marriages that did not receive proper matrimonial sacrament , insisted on proper liturgy, etc. Giedraitis was fond of church singing and developed a local choir and brought it to perform at Vilnius Cathedral . He also authorized singing during wakes . He supported

3772-400: The inspector in 1884). In October 1885, he suffered a heart attack and resigned from the school. He devoted the rest of his energy to the dictionary, but proofreading galley proofs was a very slow process – some pages required to be fixed five or six times. Between 1884 and spring 1886, only ten author's sheets (160 pages that did not encompass the full letter A ) worth of the dictionary

3854-550: The last will of his predecessor Jurgis Petkūnas , Giedraitis sponsored education of 12 clerics at the seminary in Vilnius laying the foundation for the Samogitian Priest Seminary . He also sought to establish Kražiai College , which was accomplished after his death. Giedraitis sought assistance from the Jesuits and invited them to Samogitia. In April 1582, he consecrated St. James's Cathedral, Riga , which

3936-463: The number of priests. Giedraitis invited the Jesuits to Kražiai where the Kražiai College was established already after his death and the Bernadines to Kretinga where they established the first monastery in Samogitia . He sponsored Mikalojus Daukša , who translated and published Catechism (1595) and Postil (1599) in the Lithuanian language —the first Lithuanian books printed within

4018-533: The number of students grew and exceeded 400. Vilnius University was closed in the aftermath of the 1831 November Uprising . After the establishment of the Kovno Governorate in 1843, the gymnasium was transferred from Kražiai to Kaunas (the present-day Maironis Gymnasium). The campus in Kražiai was abandoned and fell into ruins. Only the former student dormitory ( bursa ) survives to this day. The building

4100-456: The people. In 1867, Juška prepared the first booklet with 33 Lithuanian songs for publication. Due to the Lithuanian press ban , the Lithuanian words had to be transcribed in the Cyrillic script . In 1875, Juška moved to Kazan and became acquainted with professor Jan Baudouin de Courtenay . With his help, Juškas brothers managed to get a permit to print Lithuanian texts in the Latin alphabet at

4182-538: The prohibition, the book found its way to Lithuania via Lithuanian book smugglers . This precedent was later cited as one of the factors in lifting the Lithuanian press ban in 1904. To expedite the editing process, Antanas moved to live with his brother in Kazan. He also sought better medical care for his illness, but after thirteen months of work in Kazan, Antanas Juška died on 1 November 1880. Juška continued to edit and publish Antanas' collections: three volumes of Lithuanian songs were published in Kazan in 1880–1882 and

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4264-535: The school employed 30–50 Jesuits and educated 250–300 students. The curriculum and teaching methods followed the Ratio Studiorum . Students belonged to the Sodality of Our Lady and visited the sick. The college had its own student theater (30 performances are known) and a rich library, which in 1803 held 3,264 volumes (oldest dating back to 1427). The college suffered severe human and capital losses during

4346-722: The shortage of priests – particularly those who spoke Lithuanian – was one of the most pressing issues. There was no priest seminary in Lithuania until Vilnius Priest Seminary was established in 1582. That meant that most priests came from Poland after they could not get a local posting due to lack of education or moral virtues. Only a few select Lithuanian nobles could travel to universities abroad. Varniai cathedral school provided primary education. Giedraitis established and taught at educational courses in Alsėdžiai that prepared about twenty priests; one of them – Melchior Gieysz  [ pl ] – later became bishop of Samogitia. Based on

4428-465: The sovereignty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and had the meaning of elevation of the new Grand Duke of Lithuania , this way ignoring the stipulations of the Union of Lublin . In addition to his duties in the diocese, Giedraitis had responsibilities in the Senate of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . For a number of years, he was a member of a commission tasked with the delineation of the border between Samogitia and Courland . In 1601, he mediated

4510-482: The time (i.e. born in 1537). In February 1551, together with his brother Kasparas, he enrolled into the University of Königsberg . He then disappears from written records for a decade. In February 1560, he enrolled into the Universities of Wittenberg . Six months later, he was the first among eight Lithuanian students who were brought by their tutor Jurgis Zablockis to the University of Tübingen . The group

4592-713: The use of both Samogitian and Aukštaitian dialects but using the same spelling rules. That could be achieved only if the same character was read and understood differently by speakers of Samogitian and Aukštaitian but did not develop a more comprehensive proposal how to achieve this in practice. Juška wrote mainly in his native Ariogala (western Aukštaitian) dialect, but his writings also have features of Prussian Lithuanian (influence of Schleicher, particularly in earlier works) and sporadic elements of Samogitian dialects. Juška suggested several reforms of Lithuanian spelling. Instead of widely used Polish sz and cz , he used š and č that are used in modern Lithuanian. However, he

4674-413: The vacancy. He was supported by Tolomeo Gallio , Cardinal Secretary of State . Bishop Protasewicz, Samogitian cathedral chapter, Lithuanian Jesuits , Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł , and other nobles protested this nepotism and instead promoted Giedraitis, who had a clear advantage of speaking Lithuanian and Samogitian . They also did not want increasing Polish influence in Lithuania after

4756-506: The work unoriginal and copying the textbook by August Schleicher . Lithuanian researchers believe that such evaluation was too harsh and that the grammar is superior to many other available grammars of the time in its accuracy and summary of the key Lithuanian language rules. It appears that in this work Juška was the first to use Lithuanian terms galūnė ( case ending ), skaitvardis (numeral), skiemuo ( syllable ) that are commonly used in modern Lithuanian. Around 1863, Juška also wrote

4838-551: The year the Samogitian Diocese Museum opened and the 400th anniversary of the publication of the Postil of Mikalojus Daukša , a monument to Giedraitis and Mikalojus Daukša was unveiled next to the museum. Jonas Ju%C5%A1ka Jonas Juška ( Polish : Jan Juszkiewicz ; 1815–1886) was a Lithuanian teacher and linguist . He studied the Lithuanian language and worked on publishing works by his brother

4920-683: Was Bishop of Samogitia from 1576 to 1609. Educated at Protestant universities in the Duchy of Prussia and Germany, he actively combated the Reformation implementing resolutions of the Council of Trent in Samogitia . Born into the princely Giedraičiai family , he inherited a much neglected diocese that was reduced to only about 20 priests. He became known for his devotion and work to end clerical abuses, strengthen churches and schools, and increase

5002-470: Was a Court Marshall of Lithuania and was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1551. The family's main estate was in Videniškiai and it is likely that Merkelis Giedraitis was born there. His date of birth is unknown, but estimated to be c.  1536 as of his appointment as bishop he was around 40-years old. His portrait completed in 1585 recorded that he was 48-years old at

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5084-423: Was actively involved with the congregation – he frequently visited different parishes, delivered sermons in Lithuanian, heard confessions, taught basic catechism, etc. He supported and worked to implement decisions of the Council of Trent except there is no evidence that Giedraitis called an annual diocesan synod as mandated by the council. There is evidence that he did call a synod in 1577 or 1578, which would be

5166-421: Was admitted to Kražiai College where he earned a living working as a superintendent in a students' dormitory. Jonas educated his younger brother Antanas and he was admitted to the third grade at Kražiai College. Jonas graduated with a gold medal in 1839. He sold the medal to support Antanas education. He could obtain a stipend to study at the University of Kazan but decided to wait a year hoping he could attend

5248-498: Was also college's rector, and future Bishop Motiejus Valančius . Notable students included writers Dionizas Poška and Simonas Stanevičius , folklorists Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius , explorers Jan Prosper Witkiewicz , brothers Antanas and Jonas Juška . 55°36′21″N 22°41′21″E  /  55.60583°N 22.68917°E  / 55.60583; 22.68917 Merkelis Giedraitis Merkelis Giedraitis ( Polish : Melchior Giedroyć ; c.  1536 – 6 April 1609)

5330-458: Was an ambitious and virtually impossible project due to the lack of the prior research into the subject. In 1863, Juška completed a Lithuanian grammar textbook and submitted it to the Academy of Sciences for approval. The work was evaluated by Otto von Böhtlingk , Oskar Johann Wiedemann  [ et ] , and Franz Anton Schiefner . They found the textbook too primitive for academics but too complicated for an average person. They also found

5412-468: Was born in the village of Dilbė  [ lt ] near Žarėnai . His parents were landless Samogitian nobles – the family had to rent farms from others and frequently moved from one location to another. Juška had six brothers (two of them half-brothers) and helped them attain education – three became Catholic priests and the other three became doctors. He attended a Bernadine school in Dotnuva and

5494-591: Was buried in a crypt of the Varniai Cathedral on 11 May. In his last will, Giedraitis left money for the upkeep of a church in Viduklė and for the construction of a church in Pašvitinys , asked that two clerics be sent to receive education in Vilnius, and bequeathed his library (about 100 books) to the future Kražiai College . Giedraitis efforts and accomplishments were held in high regard, particularly by

5576-414: Was consecrated by Protasewicz during Easter in Vilnius . Giedraitis found the diocese neglected. Giedraitis conducted a canonical visitation with Jesuit Mikołaj Sędkowski ( Latin : Nicolaus Sedkovius , Lithuanian : Mikalojus Sedkovskis ) in 1576. Tarquinius Peculus, the plenipotentiary of the papal nuncio Giovanni Andrea Caligari, conducted an apostolic visitation in 1579. The report provides

5658-413: Was evaluated as properly qualified and diligently going about his church duties. Of the seven members of the cathedral chapter , only three were ordained as priests. According to a list from 1589, the diocese had 58 Catholic churches, but only 27 of them were open. Others were empty or taken over by the Protestants. The diocese had only about 18 to 20 priests (about seven of them spoke Lithuanian), and

5740-539: Was extensively renovated in 2008 and houses the Cultural Center of M. K. Sarbievijus, Kražiai Region Museum, and the library and art collection of Charlotte Narkiewicz-Laine. The first teacher, Jonas Kochas, was sent from the Collegium Hosianum in Royal Prussia . Among the first teachers was poet Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski who taught syntax. Other notable teachers included historian Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz who taught rhetoric, taught philosophy Adam Krupski in 1740–1742, Žygimantas Liauksminas (Sigismundus Lauxmin) who

5822-445: Was first assigned to a gymnasium in Mogilev where he taught history and then to Novgorod (1851–1858) where he taught geography. In 1852, Juška established contacts with professor Izmail Sreznevsky and with his support and encouragement started more serious studies of the Lithuanian language. In 1858, he got an inspector position at a Cadet Corps school in Novgorod. However, the school closed in 1859 but he managed to transfer to

5904-608: Was granted to the Jesuits by King Stephen Báthory . The Jesuits in Riga organized several missions into northern Diocese of Samogitia, but that was insufficient and Giedraitis wrote to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus asking to send Jesuit missionaries. The Superior General sent two men, Motiejus Galminas and Merkelis Daugėla, who settled in Kražiai . When Giedraitis became the bishop, there were no monasteries in

5986-509: Was initiated by Pier Paolo Vergerio who visited Vilnius twice and Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł . With short breaks, Giedraitis studied in Tübingen for about three years. There, in 1561, he published his only known work – a 16-page Latin eulogy to commemorate the death of Katarzyna, the mother of Piotr Wiesiołowski  [ pl ] , a fellow Lithuanian student in Tübingen. She was

6068-449: Was not consistent and sometimes used ś , ṡ , or even ʃ . He also suggested using v instead of w and l instead of ł . He argued for both changes because one letter is easier and quicker to use than two. He rejected the use of i to indicate soft sounds as it is ambiguous and instead suggested using the acute accent on consonants , but sometimes used dotless i or even j . He replaced y with ï to mark long i . He defended

6150-429: Was not subject to general laws of the censorship in the Russian Empire ), however Juška had to pay the publication expenses that amounted to 606 Russian rubles for just the first volume of the song collection. At the same time, Juška asked the Russian Academy of Sciences to publish a volume of wedding songs. The work was reviewed by Franz Anton Schiefner and Kazimieras Jaunius who highly praised its value and urged

6232-511: Was not very strong. Juška also knew little of Sanskrit, therefore, many words pairs identified by Juška were unrelated. Nevertheless, Juška was the first Lithuanian linguist to research the relationship between Lithuanian and Sanskrit. Around 1856, Juška began working on a dictionary of Lithuanian roots . It was supposed to be a comparative dictionary of Lithuanian, Latvian , and Prussian roots with Slavic equivalents. He worked on this project for about ten years but it remained unfinished. It

6314-543: Was poor and neglected and many bishops looked for better positions in other dioceses, particularly the Diocese of Vilnius. During Giedraitis' tenure, the Diocese of Vilnius was vacated twice – in 1579 after the death of Walerian Protasewicz and in 1591 after the reassignment of Jerzy Radziwiłł to the Diocese of Kraków – but due to unknown reasons, Giedraitis did not pursue the post. After Radziwiłł's reassignment in 1591,

6396-405: Was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Due to the Lithuanian press ban , the Lithuanian words had to be transcribed in the Cyrillic script . Juška adapted the Cyrillic script to Lithuanian phonetics by introducing new letters, but the publication was not well received in Lithuania due to the script. Due to such reaction, Juška delayed further publications. In 1875, Juška transferred to

6478-468: Was published. Numerous other linguists continued the work and three volumes (up to the word kuokštuotis ) of the dictionary were published in 1897, 1904, and 1922. On 9 May 1886, Juška received a letter that the Academy of sciences entrusted further editing of the dictionary to Vatroslav Jagić . Likely the cause of such decision was inconsistencies in Juška's text. He was agitated and deeply disappointed by

6560-493: Was refused due to Antanas' reputation. He was allowed to live in Vilnius and work on transcribing his grammar to the Cyrillic but he refused. After this failure, Juška did not write any new studies of the Lithuanian language but continued to help his brother Antanas to organize his collected information and publish it. In May 1864, Juška became an inspector of a gymnasium in Nizhny Novgorod . However, in reaction to

6642-512: Was translated from a Polish postil by Jakub Wujek . In 1578, Maciej Stryjkowski arrived to Varniai. Sponsored by Giedraitis, he became a member of the Samogitian cathedral chapter and wrote a history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which was published in 1582. It became the first published history of Lithuania. The postil and the history were both dedicated to Giedraitis. In the prefaces of his Catholic Postil (1599), Daukša expressed that

6724-403: Was written by which brother. Juška's studies were encouraged by professor Izmail Sreznevsky who established contacts with Juška in 1852. Sreznevsky did not study the Lithuanian language himself but supported and promoted its research. At the time, Russian and German linguists became more interested in the Lithuanian language due to its archaic features and similarity to Sanskrit . They needed

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