Jurgis Petkūnas was a Bishop of Samogitia from 1567 to 1574. He received medical education in universities in Germany and Italy. Despite his lack of theological education, Petkūnas was confirmed as bishop in November 1567. He inherited a neglected diocese that had only about 20 priests and faced competition from the Protestants. He was the first Samogitian bishop charged with implementing the Counter-Reformation decisions of the Council of Trent.
The diocese did not have a permanent bishop for about four years and Petkūnas found it neglected and affected by the Protestant Reformation. He was the first Samogitian bishop charged with implementing the Counter-Reformation decisions of the Council of Trent. However, little is known about his activities in the diocese; he likely spent a lot of time in Vilnius and not in Samogitia. In 1569, together with other bishops, he signed the Union of Lublin. He supported reconstruction of the Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard in Vilnius and bequeathed religious paintings from Holland, liturgical objects and robes to Varniai Cathedral. In his last will, Petkūnas left 1,700 kopas of Lithuanian groschens to send twelve students to the Jesuit Academy in Vilnius. The money was used by his successor Bishop Merkelis Giedraitis to construct a house in Vilnius for Samogitian clerics. In 1573, Petkūnas promoted his nephew Petras Petkūnas, ordained only as an acolyte, to a canon of the cathedral chapter in Varniai and gave him parishes in Betygala and Viduklė. However, Petras Petkūnas neglected his parishes and frequently lived in Vilnius. Petkūnas died in 1574 and was buried in a crypt of the Varniai Cathedral.
Evaluation
In letters of Cardinal Michele Bonelli, before his appointment as bishop, Petkūnas was evaluated as having two undesirable traits – relatively low birth and enjoying alcohol more than what would be appropriate for a bishop. Petkūnas was ridiculed in In quendam antistitem, a Latin poem by, a Spaniard working in Vilnius, for neglecting his duties and spending his time hunting. The poem was quoted by Bishop Motiejus Valančius in his influential history of the Diocese of Samogitia. Valančius also quoted Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz who claimed that at the time of Petkūnas, the diocese was so neglected that it had just seven priests. This evaluation persisted in historiography, but according to Lithuanian historian Zenonas Ivinskis, it is too critical. According to Ivinskis study, the diocese probably had about 17 to 20 priests. During Petkūnas tenure, only one new parish church was built.
