Sigitas Tamkevičius

Garbės daktaras / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 1999-03-25)

In 1999, Archbishop Emeritus and former Great Chancellor of VMU Faculty of Catholic Theology, Sigitas Tamkevičius, was awarded the VMU Honorary Doctorate Regalia for his merits to the Church and Lithuania in publishing the Chronicle of the Catholic Church and reviving the newspaper Aušra under clandestine conditions.

Sigitas Tamkevičius was born on 7 November 1938 in Gudoniai village, Lazdijai district. In 1955, he completed his education at Seirijai Secondary School and entered the Kaunas Interdiocesan Seminary (KTKS). From 1957 to 1960, he served in the Soviet army, after which he continued his studies and was ordained a priest in 1962. In 1968, he joined the Society of Jesus, and in 1982, he completed the Jesuit tertianship.

Between 1962 and 1975, he served as a vicar in the parishes of Alytus, Lazdijai, Kudirkos Naumiestis (Šakiai district), Prienai, and Simnas (Alytus district) within the Diocese of Vilkaviškis. From 1972 to 1983, he edited the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, and from 1975 to 1983, he also served as the pastor of Kybartai (Vilkaviškis district). While there, he co-founded the Catholic Committee for the Defence of Believers’ Rights with four other priests on 13 November 1978. From 1983 to 1988, he was imprisoned in the Soviet labour camps of Perm and Mordovia. In 1988, he was exiled to Siberia but was released six months later as “perestroika” began. In 1989, he was appointed spiritual director of KTKS, and in 1990, he became its rector. He held this position for a year, after which he was consecrated bishop and appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Kaunas. In 1996, he was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaunas. He is also a former Chair of the Caritas organisation of the Kaunas Archdiocese. In 2005, he became the chairman of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference and in 2008, a member of the newly established Pažaislis Council.

Sigitas Tamkevičius is an Honorary Citizen of Kaunas City and a Chevalier of the Order of the Cross of Vytis of the Third Class and the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas of the Second Class. He has also been awarded the Silver Medal of the 600th Anniversary of Kaunas.

Based on information provided by VMU Library.