A Lithuanian archbishop who was martyred during the country’s Soviet occupation has been declared blessed, making him the country’s first martyr from the Communist era to be beatified.
Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis died in 1962 from a lethal injection. A KGB police nurse most likely administered the injection after police beat Archbishop Matulionis in his apartment.
The beatification ceremony is planned for June 25 in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, a location that makes the beatification all the more historic.
