Julius Sasnauskas

Julius Sasnauskas (b. 1959) was born in Vilnius. From 1966 to 1976, he studied at Antanas Vienuolis Secondary School. When at school, he became involved in dissident activities: he contributed to the publication of illegal press, prepared protest statements, and belonged to a secret political organisation – the “Lithuanian Freedom League”. In his final year, Sasnauskas and several of his friends were expelled from school for anti-Soviet sentiments. Consequently, Sasnauskas graduated from Evening School No. 8 in Vilnius. From 1977 to 1978, he did military service. In 1979, Sasnauskas, together with other dissidents, signed the “Baltic Charter of 45 Dissidents”. As of 8 March 1979, he worked as a watchman at the Museum of Progressive Scientific Thought of Vilnius University (St. Johns’ Church). On 14 December that year, Vincas Žilėnas, director of the museum, furnished a letter informing the Human Resource Department of the university that Sasnauskas would not come to work because he was detained. On 17 January 1980, the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR sent a letter to the university saying that Sasnauskas was convicted under Article 68 of the Criminal Code of the Lithuanian SSR for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, and was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and six months. He was also given an additional sentence of five years of deportation. After spending a year and a half in a KGB prison in Vilnius, Sasnauskas was deported for five years to Parabel Village, Tomsk Region, where he worked as a plumber, stoker, and loader.
In the summer of 1986, Sasnauskas returned to Lithuania, and in the autumn of that year, he joined the undercover Franciscan Order. From 1987 to 1992, he studied at Kaunas Priest Seminary. After Sasnauskas graduated from the seminary, the bishops decided to suspend his ordination to the priesthood. Therefore, the Franciscan leadership sent him to the Lithuanian parish of Resurrection in Toronto, where Sasnauskas was ordained a priest in the summer of 1995 and continued to serve as a priest until 1997.
After returning to Lithuania, he was assigned to do a pastoral job at the Bernardine Church in Vilnius, where he continues to work to this day. Since 1992, with a break of several years, Sasnauskas has been working for Catholic Radio’s “Small Studio” (currently, he is Editor-in-Chief). In addition, he works with periodicals (Šiaurės Atėnai, Lietuvos Žinios), the internet daily Bernardinai.lt, etc., and teaches homiletics at Vilnius Priest Seminary. As of 2015, Sasnauskas is a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union.

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