The Pontifical College of St. Casimir (Italian: Collegio Lituano S. Casimiro, Latin: Collegium Lithuanicum S. Casimiri, Lithuanian: Popiežiškoji lietuvių Šv.
[1] In 1944, as Red Army steadily pushed westward leading to the occupation of the Baltic states, many prominent Lithuanians retreated into Germany to avoid Soviet persecutions.
[2] At the end of 1945, twenty Lithuanian clerics under prelate Ladas Tulaba, former rector of the Vilnius Priest Seminary, were sent to Rome.
[3] Its statute and regulations were approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education in September 1950 and it received the right to use "pontifical" in its name from Pope Paul VI in December 1960.
[1] In 1959, the college bought its twin building across Via Casalmonferrato and converted it to a guest house named after Villa Lituania, the pre-war Lithuanian embassy in Rome taken over by the Soviets in 1940.
[3] Among the students were Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis, bishops John Bulaitis, Romualdas Krikščiūnas, Rimantas Norvila [lt], Jonas Ivanauskas,[4] Gintaras Grušas.