Kauno arkivyskupijos kurijos archyvaras kun. Petras Veblaitis (1895–1972)

Abstract

Straipsnyje aptariama Kauno arkivyskupijos kurijos archyvaro kunigo Petro Veblaičio (1895–1972) biografija ir indėlis į Katalikų Bažnyčios istorijos tyrimus Lietuvoje. P. Veblaitis daugiausia dėmesio skyrė vietinei parapijų istorijai ir XIX a. Katalikų Bažnyčios padėčiai Lietuvoje atskleisti. Žymiausi jo veikalai – studijos apie caro valdžios XIX a. brutaliai uždarytas Kražių ir Kęstaičių bažnyčias. Visos P. Veblaičio publikacijos paremtos gausia Kauno arkivyskupijos kurijos archyvo medžiaga

The article discusses life and legacy of priest Petras Veblaitis (1895–1972), a researcher of the history of Lithuanian Church. P. Veblaitis was born in Samogitia, in Šiauliai district, Dargužiai village. He was ordained to priesthood in 1918 and worked in various parishes of Samogitia. In 1921 he was appointed an archivist in the curia of Kaunas diocese (later – archdiocese). P. Veblaitis had spent the rest of his life there. The only exception were the two years of the Second World War (1941–1942), when he worked as a paleographer and chief of the department of manuscripts in Lithuanian academic library in Vilnius. His genius in historical research was revealed in the archives of Kaunas curia. Because of the various circumstances of his life, P. Veblaitis did not have a history diploma. In spite of that, he was very quick in mastering paleographical quirks and managed to read documents in the old-Slavonic language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as texts in Latin, Polish, Russian, German and other languages. P. Veblaitis deciphered, rewrote and translated into Lithuanian many manuscripts. Until 1940 he published about twenty articles. P. Veblaitis was a patriot of Lithuania; therefore, he cared about the purity of Lithuanian language. Being a member of the Family and Place Names Board at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he wrote articles on Lithuanization of family names. He also published occasional articles. For example, when there was a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Grand Duke Vytautas’ death, P. Veblaitis published curiosities found in the archives that were related to Vytautas’ personality. He was especially interested in the history of Samogitian diocese. P. Veblaitis paid a lot of attention to the history of specific churches. He wrote articles on Zapyškis and on Kaunas St. Cross churches as well as on Kaunas Cathedral. [...]