Ričardas Mikutavičius (February 26, 1935 – July 1, 1998) was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, Doctor of Theology,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, and one of the most famous collectors of art in

. He attended the 15th Kaunas elementary school and the 4th boy's gymnasium. In 1953 he entered Kaunas Priest Seminary and became a priest in 1958. He had been a member of the Union of Lithuanian writers since 1992. He was awarded the 3rd class Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas in 1993.Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas
/ref> Mikutavičius was killed on June 30, 1998 during a robbery of his painting collection. His body was tossed into the Nemunas River and he was later buried in Petrašiūnai cemetery. Three defendants subsequently confessed to the murder and pointed to a fourth defendant as the mastermind of the crime. On November 29, 2001 a monument for his honour was built. Eighteen paintings from his collections are still missing. Seventeen paintings that were found were shown to the public during a special exhibition dedicated to his 70th birthday in 2005.Exhibition
/ref>

Literary works

Although the fact that Mikutavičius was a poet and essayist was known, he didn't publish any of his poetry until the Sąjūdis times. In 1989 he introduced his first book "Kad Lietuva neišsivaikščiotų" in the Town Hall of Kaunas. Other books, "Poterių upė" (River of Prayers), "Šviesos spalvos" (Colours of Light), "Žaizdos metafizika" (Metaphysics of Injury), "Spindintis virš mūsų" (Shining above Us) and "Mirties vilties veidai" (Death's Hope's Faces), were published in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1998 and 1999 respectively.

References

1935 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Lithuanian poets Lithuanian Catholic poets Lithuanian art collectors Commander's Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Burials at Petrašiūnai Cemetery {{Lithuania-poet-stub