page_title: Konstantinas Olšauskas
section_title: Candidate for the Bishop of Vilnius and Paris Peace Conference
hierarchical_section_title: Konstantinas Olšauskas / Biography / Candidate for the Bishop of Vilnius and Paris Peace Conference
caption_attribution_description: A delegation of the Council of Lithuania in Berlin after discussing the first appointment of the Cabinet of Ministers with the new German government of Prince Maximilian of Baden. From left sitting: Jonas Staugaitis; Antanas Smetona; Konstantinas Olšauskas; standing: Jokūbas Šernas; Jurgis Šaulys; Juozas Purickis; Vilius Gaigalas; Martynas Yčas; Augustinas Voldemaras.
context_page_description: Konstantinas Olšauskas was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest active in public life and convicted of murder in 1929.
  After graduating from the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy in 1892, he was assigned as chaplain to the Liepāja Gymnasium and parish priest in Debeikiai and Rozalimas where he joined Lithuanian cultural life and helped distribute the banned Lithuanian books. In 1904, on the eve of the Russian Revolution of 1905, he was transferred to the Holy Cross Church, Kaunas. In Kaunas, Olšauskas organized the Workers' Society of St. Joseph as a counterbalance for various socialist organizations. He became long-term chairman of the Saulė Society that was organized in 1906 to establish and maintain Lithuanian schools in the Kovno Governorate. For three months in 1911, Olšauskas and Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas toured Lithuanian American communities to collect donations for the construction of Saulė headquarters that was completed in 1914. Olšauskas also joined the Lithuanian and Belorussian Constitutional Catholic Party, established by Bishop Eduard von der Ropp, and was this party's candidate to the first State Duma.
context_section_description: Lithuanians long wanted to replace Kazimierz Mikołaj Michalkiewicz, administrator of the Diocese of Vilnius, with a more pro-Lithuanian candidate. An opportunity arose while conducting negotiations with Germany. Olšauskas was recommended to Pope Benedict XV by German Chancellor Georg von Hertling and diplomat Matthias Erzberger in fall 1917. He was also supported by the Council of Lithuania, and Juozas Purickis collected 200 signatures of priests in his support. According to Vladas Mironas, Olšauskas even harbored a scheme to invite Spanish prince Alfonso as King of Lithuania and with his help become the bishop. In June 1918, Michalkiewicz led a procession during the Corpus Christi celebration that had banners with Polish slogans such as "God Save Poland" and "Almighty, Return Freedom to Our Homeland". Thus, a religious procession became a political demonstration. The incident was used by the Germans as a pretext to expel Michalkiewicz from Vilnius to the Maria Laach Abbey in Rhineland-Palatinate on 19 June and to force the pope to make changes in the diocese. However, Olšauskas due to his pro-German and anti-Polish attitudes was not an acceptable candidate to the Holy See. The pope appointed Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius as the new bishop in October 1918.
  After the failure to become bishop, Olšauskas eyed the position of the Minister of Education in the newly formed government of Augustinas Voldemaras. Instead, he was sent as the Lithuanian delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. His primary goal was to obtain diplomatic recognition as well as financial and military support for Lithuania. Olšauskas together with representatives of minorities in Lithuania – Simon Yakovlevich Rosenbaum (Jewish), Dominik Semashko (Belarusian), and Jurgis Daujotas (Polish) – arrived to Paris in early January 1919 and already found Lithuanians working there – priest Adomas Vilimavičius, engineer Ernestas Galvanauskas, and poet Oscar Milosz. They were soon joined by Juozas Gabrys. Thus, there were three Lithuanian groups that sometimes competed with each other. On 6 January, Le Temps published an interview with Rosenbaum who expressed opinions contrary to Lithuanian positions. Due to these misunderstandings, Olšauskas was quickly replaced by Augustinas Voldemaras and returned to Lithuania at the end of March. During the short time, Olšauskas was received by French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and introduced Lithuanian issues to other European diplomats.
caption: Olšauskas (sitting on the right) with a delegation of the Council of Lithuania in Berlin
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