Merkelis Giedraitis

Monument to Giedraitis next to the Samogitian Diocese Museum

Giedraitis found the diocese neglected. Giedraitis conducted a canonical visitation with Jesuit Mikołaj Sędkowski (Latin: Nicolaus Sedkovius, Lithuanian: Mikalojus Sedkovskis) in 1576.[11] Tarquinius Peculus, the plenipotentiary of the papal nuncio Giovanni Andrea Caligari, conducted an apostolic visitation in 1579. The report provides a detailed picture of the neglect.[12] 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, was evaluated as properly qualified and diligently going about his church duties.[13] Of the seven members of the cathedral chapter, only three were ordained as priests.[14] 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.[15]

The diocese had only about 18 to 20 priests (about seven of them spoke Lithuanian),[9] and the shortage of priests – particularly those who spoke Lithuanian – was one of the most pressing issues.[1] 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.[14] Only a few select Lithuanian nobles could travel to universities abroad.[16] 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 – later became bishop of Samogitia.[1][9] Based on 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.[17] 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 was granted to the Jesuits by King Stephen Báthory.[1] 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.[1] When Giedraitis became the bishop, there were no monasteries in the diocese. In 1603, Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz brought the Bernadines to Kretinga where they established the Kretinga Monastery.[1]

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 the Catholic Church.[1] 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).[9][17] 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.[17] During Giedraitis' tenure, twelve new churches were built in 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.[1] 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.[11]

Giedraitis 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.[1] There is evidence that he did call a synod in 1577 or 1578, which would be the first known synod in the diocese.[13] 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 performed at Vilnius Cathedral.[1] He also authorized singing during wakes.[18]

Title page of the Catechism of Mikalojus Daukša sponsored by Giedraitis – the first Lithuanian-language book printed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

He supported the Lithuanian language and sponsored publication of the first Lithuanian printed books in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[8] In 1595, Mikalojus Daukša translated a catechism by Diego de Ledesma, 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 was translated from a Polish postil by Jakub Wujek. In 1578, Maciej Stryjkowski arrived to Varniai.[8] 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.[8]

On 29 May 1580, Giedraitis crowned Stephen Báthory as Grand Duke of Lithuania in Vilnius Cathedral.[15] 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.[1] In 1601, he mediated 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.[1] He donated some land near Riešė and Stirniai (near Ukmergė) to the academy.[19] Together with his brother, Giedraitis also funded the Church of St. Lawrence in their native Videniškiai.[20]

The Diocese of Samogitia 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.[1][21] After Radziwiłł's reassignment in 1591, 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.[10] 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.[22][23]