The Varsėdžiai St. Roch Church
Coordinates: 55.495523 22.378794
Object address: Varsėdžių k., Šilalės r.
Municipality: Šilalė district
Varsėdžiai was first mentioned in historical documents in 1524, but there is no accurate information about churches. There are only fragmentary stories about a chapel being there. The current St. Roch church was built in 1816-1817. It is wooden, of the folk style, adorned with baroque elements.
When Varsėdžiai became a state village in 1843, land was not allocated to the church, because it formally did not have land. Until 1854 the land of the state estate of Kaltinėnai, including Varsėdžiai, was distributed to the peasants, which could later be redeemed after the abolition of serfdom.
Kazimieras Golombickis was the first priest appointed to Varsėdžiai in 1860. It was not easy for the priest to support himself because the church had no land. Local peasants gave the priest some land to sow crops, allocated meadows, and paid an annual salary of 47 rubles. The vicarage and the other outbuildings were built on the land of the peasants with their care and funds.
Since 1888 there was no priest in Varsėdžiai. It is likely that the priest was not appointed because the church did not have land. It is said that one resident of Varsėdžiai village, authorized by the local residents, went to Kaunas on foot to Bishop Mečislovas Palilionis, in order to ask for a priest for the parish. The bishop promised to appoint a priest, if the residents ensure his maintenance; so the residents of Varsėdžiai bought 12 hectares of land for the church.
Around 1906, it was planned to build a brick St. Roch chapel. The octagonal, brick chapel was built from donations collected by the parishioners and consecrated in 1908.
To commemorate the decade of the “Pavasaris” company, an Independence monument was built near the church in 1934, but was destroyed in 1964; in 1990, it was rebuilt and consecrated again with the care of the people of Varsėdžiai.
The deed of establishment of Varsėdžiai parish was signed just on December 17, 1936. As many villages have vanished, since 1982, the Varsėdžiai parish St. Roch Church is served by visiting priests. This church is famous for St. Roch and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Zolinė) Feast days.