Justinas Staugaitis was a Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n Roman Catholic bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, politician, educator, and author. He one of the twenty signatories

Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania

The signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania were the twenty Lithuanian men who signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania on February 16, 1918. The signatories were elected to the Council of Lithuania by the Vilnius Conference in September 1917 and entrusted with the mission of...

 to the Act of Independence of Lithuania

Act of Independence of Lithuania

The Act of Independence of Lithuania or Act of February 16 was signed by the Council of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania, governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. The Act was signed by all twenty...

.

Staugaitis graduated from the Sejny Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1890. At that time, the use of the written Lithuanian language was prohibited, and Saugaitis participated in the underground movements that smuggled in such books and periodicals (see Knygnešiai

Knygnešiai

Book smugglers were people who transported Lithuanian language books printed in the Latin alphabet into Lithuanian-speaking areas of the Russian Empire, defying a ban on such materials in force from 1866 to 1904...

). He then served as a curate in a number of parishes in Lithuania and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

.

In Marijampolė

Marijampole

Marijampolė is an industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Marijampolė is 48,700...

, he founded an educational society, Žiburys (The Light), and was instrumental in founding several schools, an old age home, and an orphanage. From 1909 to 1912 he served on the editorial staff of the periodical Vadovas (The Guide). At the Vilnius Conference

Vilnius Conference

The Vilnius Conference or Vilnius National Conference met between September 18, 1917 and September 22, 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would be independent of the Russian Empire, Poland, and the German Empire...

 in 1917, he was elected to the Council of Lithuania

Council of Lithuania

The Council of Lithuania , after July 11, 1918 The State Council of Lithuania , was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place between September 18 and 23, 1917. The council was granted the executive authority of the Lithuanian people and was entrusted to establish an independent...

, and signed the Act of Independence in 1918.

As a member of the Christian Democratic Party, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1920, serving alternately as speaker or deputy speaker. In 1926 Staugaitis was consecrated Bishop of Telšiai, a newly formed diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 in northwestern Lithuania that had been part of the Samogitia

Samogitia

Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...

n diocese. He established a theological seminary in Telšiai

Telšiai Bishop Vincentas Borisevičius Priest Seminary

Telšiai Bishop Vincentas Borisevičius Priest Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Telšiai, Lithuania. It was founded in 1927 by Bishop Justinas Staugaitis....

and contributed numerous articles to periodicals, as well as writing several books. These included a history of the church, a history of the Lithuanian State Council, and a novel depicting the life of a loyal priest.