Early life and education Giedraitis was descended from the
Lithuanian princely Giedroyć family. His father Jonas was a captain in the
Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army. He studied at the College of Nobility in
Vilnius. At the age of 23, Giedraitis graduated in 1780 from the
Samogitian Seminary in
Varniai, and as a cleric he was already appointed a
Livonian
canon.
Priesthood and European travels In 1781, he was ordained a deacon on January 6, and a priest a few weeks later on January 24. From 1781 to 1785, Giedraitis traveled around Europe, spending the longest time in
Rome. He traveled through the
Italian states and the
Kingdom of France, spending a year in
Paris, and returned to his homeland via the
Netherlands and
Germany. From 1785, he was a member of the chapter of the
Samogitian diocese. In 1788, he became a
prelate archdeacon. In 1789, he was awarded the
Order of Saint Stanislaus by King
Stanisław August Poniatowski. In 1790, he was made a
Doctor of Canon Law. He was chosen as a
coadjutor bishop with the right of inheritance on December 4, 1790, and then confirmed on April 11, 1791. As coadjutor bishop, he was a member of the confederation of the
Four-Year Sejm. He was also appointed the titular bishop of
Orthosias in Caria on April 11, and then ordained on June 19. After the
third partition of Poland–Lithuania in 1795, he was elected delegate of the
Duchy of Samogitia and went on a mission to
Empress of Russia Catherine II. As a token of her appreciation, she presented him with a diamond cross.
Bishop of Samogitia From 13 May 1802, Giedraitis was the
Bishop of Samogitia. However, he had already practically ruled the diocese from 1801. He moved the diocese's general consistory from
Alsėdžiai to
Varniai, and lived in Alsėdžiai himself. He took great care of the education of priests and
parochial schools, so that by the 1820s, more than 70% of parishes in the Samogitian diocese operated them. Due to these schools, he maintained relations with
Vilnius University. Giedraitis took care of the development of the
Lithuanian language, communicated with writers, and patronized Lithuanian literary figures. At the request of Tsar Alexander I, he participated in the work of the Biblical Committee operating in
St. Petersburg since 1813. During the
uprising of 1831, he urged
Lithuanians and
Samogitians to support the insurgents and assigned chaplains to their units. After it was suppressed, he was removed from direct control of the diocese by the Russian administration.In the 1800s, with the help of
Dionizas Poška, he translated Italian poetry (the prologue to
Torquato Tasso's drama "
Aminta", published in 1965). On his initiative, the Gospels were edited and published in 1806. At the request of the Bible Society that he was in, he wrote the study "On the Lithuanian Nation, Language and Literature" (published in 1994). His most important work is the first translation into Lithuanian of the entire text of the New Testament for Catholics (1816, 2nd ed. 1906). His translation contributed to the formation of the common
Lithuanian language. In 1832, after the uprising was brutally crushed, he translated from Polish a short catechism prepared by Bishop on the subjects' respect for the Tsar. ==Legacy==