Juozapas Ambraziejus or Ambrozevičius (1855–1915) was a Roman Catholic priest active in Lithuanian culture life in Vilnius in 1896–1908.
Educated at the Sejny Priest Seminary, Ambraziejus first worked in the Diocese of Łomża before he transferred to the Diocese of Vilnius in 1892. He worked at several rural parishes before he received a position in Vilnius. He joined Lithuanian cultural life in the city and was one of the organizers of the illegal club known as the Twelve Apostles of Vilnius which later grew into the Lithuanian Mutual Aid Society of Vilnius. He was one of the first organizers of Lithuanian cultural evenings (though they were illegal until 1904–1905) and organized the first Lithuanian choirs in the city. He campaigned for the use of the Lithuanian language at Catholic churches and attempted to combat Polonization efforts of local clergy. In particular, he opposed bishop Edward von Ropp and was suspended from his priestly duties in 1906. He published a catechism which was added to Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the list of prohibited books by the Vatican, in 1907. After the Lithuanian press ban was lifted in 1904, Ambraziejus established the illustrated agricultural magazine Lietuvos bitininkas (Lithuanian Beekeeper) which was later reorganized as Šviesa (Light). When the publication failed in 1908, Ambraziejus retired from public life and ran a shelter for the city's poor until his death in 1915.
Biography
Ambraziejus was born in Suvalkija to a family of Lithuanian farmers. He studied at the Marijampolė Gymnasium in 1869–1874 and the Sejny Priest Seminary in 1874–1880. Ordained as a priest, he was first assigned to the Jedwabne parish. In 1883–1887, he was a vicar in a parish in Łomża. In 1888–1892, he had no official duties and lived in the . In late 1892, he received permission from the bishop of Vilnius to move to Vilnius. Just few months later, he was sent to work as a pastor in the parishes of Naujas Strūnaitis (where he started singing religious hymns and teaching catechism in Lithuanian) and . In 1894, he was demoted to a vicar in .
He then departed to Saint Petersburg, reportedly to seek medical treatment but also to inquire various Tsarist officials about lifting of the Lithuanian press ban. Via professor , he met with Evgeny Feoktistov, head of the press department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1896, he returned to Vilnius and briefly served as a vicar at the Church of All Saints and the Church of St. Raphael the Archangel before a more permanent assignment as a vicar to the Church of St. Johns where he continued to work until his suspension in May 1906. After the failure of his magazine Šviesa, he retired from public life and ran a shelter for the city's poor in Užupis. He died in Vilnius in June 1915 and was buried at the Rasos Cemetery.
Works and activities
Lithuanian language
In Vilnius, Ambraziejus joined the Lithuanian cultural life and became one of the founders of the illegal club known as the Twelve Apostles of Vilnius which later grew into the Lithuanian Mutual Aid Society of Vilnius. He recruited Donatas Malinauskas and to join the Lithuanian National Revival. One of the goals of these societies was to fight for the Lithuanian language services in Catholic churches and to resist Polonization of Lithuanian residents by the priests. Ambraziejus helped obtaining the Church of Saint Nicholas for the needs of the Lithuanian community in Vilnius; Lithuanians fought for the church from 1896 to 1901. However, likely to avoid sanctions from the ecclesiastical hierarchy, none of the petitions on the matter bear his signature.
Ambraziejus was one of the first to organize Lithuanian cultural evenings even though they were illegal until 1904–1905. He organized the first Lithuanian mixed choir in 1896 using beekeeping courses as an official excuse. In 1898, he organized a Lithuanian church choir and a cultural evening in his apartment. Based on the Polish hymn Boże, coś Polskę, Ambraziejus composed Lithuanian hymn Dieve, kaip ilgai Lietuva varguose (God, Lithuania Has Suffered for so Long). He also composed Ant Dauguvos skardų (On the Cliffs of Daugava) about the Lithuanian battles with the Teutonic Order and several other songs. His choir performed at two Lithuanian evenings that attracted 500–600 people in January and February 1901.