Juozapas Ambraziejus

Juozapas Ambraziejus or Ambrozevičius (1855–1915) was a Roman Catholic priest active in Lithuanian culture life in Vilnius in 1896–1908.

He campaigned for the use of the Lithuanian language at Catholic churches and attempted to combat Polonization efforts of local clergy.

He published a catechism which was added to Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the list of prohibited books by the Vatican, in 1907.

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)[2] and Luchai [be].

[2] 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 Vladimir Lamansky [ru], he met with Evgeny Feoktistov, head of the press department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

[3] After the failure of his magazine Šviesa, he retired from public life and ran a shelter for the city's poor in Užupis.

[4] He recruited Donatas Malinauskas and Marija Šlapelienė [lt] to join the Lithuanian National Revival.

[2] He also composed Ant Dauguvos skardų (On the Cliffs of Daugava) about the Lithuanian battles with the Teutonic Order and several other songs.

[5] When the Tsarist authorities began considering lifting the Lithuanian press ban, Ambraziejus established contacts with Alexey Kharuzin, head of the office of the Vilna Governorate-General.

[2] On 15 November, he signed a controversial memorandum ten points of demands and declarations addressed to Sergei Witte, Prime Minister of the Russian Empire.

[7] He participated in the founding of the National Democrats Party [lt] (Tautiškoji demokratų partija) right after the Great Seimas.

[2] The magazine also raised the idea of purchasing Verkiai Manor (priced at 800,000 rubles) and turning into a campus for various Lithuanian agricultural and craft schools.

[9] With the funds raised for the Verkiai Manor (about 50,000 rubles) he purchased a house in Užupis district of Vilnius and established a shelter for the city's poor.