VILEISIS ANTANAS (1856-1919), physician, active in
Lithuanian national affairs, brother of Jonas and Petras Vileisis, born on
October 21, 1856, in Mediniai, county of Birzai. He was educated at the
University of Moscow and from 1898 practiced medicine in Vilnius. From his
student years onwards until the repeal of the Press Ban, he was engaged in
the clandestine activity of distributing and contributing to the Lithuanian
press. He belonged to the group known as the “Twelve Apostles of Vilnius”
through whose efforts St. Nicholas' church was assigned to the Lithuanians by
the bishop of Vilnius. At that time there was not a single church in the city
where services were held in Lithuanian. After the 1905 revolution when the
Russian government saw fit to modify somewhat its policy toward its subject
peoples, Vileisis concerned himself with educational and cultural matters,
founding and supporting Lithuanian schools and societies. These included a
two-year secondary school, the educational society Ausra (The Dawn),
and the Lithuanian Learned Society; for a number of years he served as
officer in both societies. During World War I he was in charge of sanitation
matters among war refugees. He wrote numerous articles on medicine and
hygiene as well as (…) measures against diseases, the care of patients, and
on general matters of health. he died in Vilnius on April 9, 1919.
Literature:
ENCYCLOPEDIA LITUANICA I-VI, 1970-1978, Boston
