Antanas Baranauskas (Polish: Antoni Baranowski; 17 January 1835 – 26 November 1902) was a Lithuanian poet,[1] mathematician and Catholic bishop of Sejny.

[3] Baranauskas was born to a small farmer family of Lithuanian nobility origin.

In 1856, Karolina's family tried to separate the couple by sponsoring Baranauskas' entry into the Catholic Seminary of Varniai.

While in the seminary, Baranauskas started writing poems in Lithuanian, and from that time essentially wrote in that language.

Literature critics consider it as a symbolic reference to Lithuanian history and language.

Starting in 1871, he worked at the Kaunas Priest Seminary, and began teaching the Lithuanian language.

After Baranauskas went to Sejny, he gained a considerable reputation by being able to preach in both Polish and Lithuanian.

Referring to Baranauskas in a lecture, the early 20th century Lithuanian poet Maironis once said, "Without him, there might not be us".