Pranciškus Būčys, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Pranciškus Būčys

Date of Birth: 20-Aug-1872

Place of Birth: Šilgaliai, Lithuania

Date of Death: 25-Oct-1951

Profession: writer, Catholic priest

Zodiac Sign: Leo


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About Pranciškus Būčys

  • Pranciškus Petras Bucys (Polish: Piotr Franciszek Buczys, 20 August 1872 – 25 October 1951) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest, university professor, titular bishop of the Eastern Catholic Church (consecrated in 1930), and Superior-General of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception (1927–1933, 1939–1951). Born to a Lithuanian peasant family active in book smuggling, he studied at the Marijampole Gymnasium and Sejny Priest Seminary and was active in Lithuanian cultural life.
  • He started contributing articles to Lithuanian press, including Vienybe lietuvninku and Varpas, in 1891.
  • He continued his studies for a master's degree at the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy where he formed a life-long friendship with fellow cleric Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevicius.
  • He earned his doctorate in theology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in 1901.
  • In 1902, he became professor of apologetics and fundamental theology at the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy.
  • During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he participated in the Great Seimas of Vilnius and helped draft the program of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party.
  • Bucys was prorector and acting rector of the academy in 1912–1915, but resigned upon learning that he would not be promoted to rectors because he was not Polish.
  • Together with Matulaitis-Matulevicius, Bucys joined the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception in 1909.
  • At the time, the congregation was reduced to a single elderly member.
  • Matulaitis-Matulevicius and Bucys spent considerable time and effort working on reviving and expanding the congregation.
  • In 1916, Bucys traveled to United States to work with the newly established Marian Fathers in Chicago.
  • He served as pastor to Lithuanian parishes in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Waukegan, Illinois, and edited the struggling Lithuanian daily Draugas.
  • In 1921, he returned to Lithuania and worked on organizing the Faculty of Theology at the new University of Lithuania.
  • He was dean of the faculty in 1922–1923 and 1925–1926, as well as university prorector in 1923–1924 and rector in 1924–1925.
  • After the death of Matulaitis-Matulevicius in 1927, Bucys was elected as the Superior-General of the Marian Fathers and moved to Rome.
  • There he became an advisory member of the pontifical commission on Russia and was consecrated as titular bishop of Olympos on 6 July 1930.
  • He was tasked with a Catholic mission to convert Eastern Orthodoxs and Old Believers to Eastern Catholicism.
  • He visited Russian diaspora in Europe and United States working to organize parishes.
  • In 1934, he was ordered to work on converting Russians in Lithuania.
  • He worked for five years organizing Eastern Catholic masses, public lectures, and publications, but did not achieve any more noteworthy results.
  • He was reelected as the Superior-General of the Marian Fathers in 1939 and moved to Rome where he lived until his death in 1951.

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