BL. NICHOLAS CHARNETSKY, BISHOP AND MARTYR - 2 APRIL

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of April

WELCOME!

BLESSED NICHOLAS CHARNETSKY, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Nicholas Charnetsky (Mykolai Charnetskyi, Mykolay Charnetsky) was born in the village of Semakivtsia, Ukraine, on December 14, 1884. He came from a large family, all of them devout members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church which is in communion with the Bishop of Rome and is distinct from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

From a young age, Nicholas had expressed a desire to become a priest and when he was 18 years of age, the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Gregory Khomyshyn sent him to study at the Ukrainian College in Rome. After his ordination to the Catholic priesthood in 1909, Father Nicholas returned from Ukraine to Rome so that he might complete a Doctorate in Theology, which he did the following year. He then taught theology for nine years. 

For some time, Father Nicholas had desired to live a more austere life than that of a seminary professor. In 1913 the Belgian province of the Redemptorists had established a mission in Ukraine and this included a novitiate near Lviv for those interested in joining the congregation. Like Ivan Ziatyk who was to follow him some years later, Nicholas entered the novitiate in 1919. As he was already an ordained priest, after his first profession in 1920, Nicholas immediately began working in a nearby parish before being sent to teach at the minor seminary (for students in their teens) run by the Redemptorists. In 1926 the congregation opened a mission in the Volhynia region of northern Ukraine (then part of Poland), the main purpose of which was to promote a better relationship between Catholic and Orthodox Ukrainians. As Nicholas had been ordained in the Ukrainian Catholic Rite, he was well acquainted with the liturgy and Christian spirituality as lived by those of the Orthodox churches and this gained him much respect amongst their people and clergy. His devotion to the people together with his tireless efforts at fostering Orthodox-Catholic relations caused Pope Pius XII to name him as titular bishop of Lebed and Apostolic Visitor to Ukrainian Catholics in the Volhynia region as well as those in Podlaskie (Ukr: Pidlashia) in southern Poland. He was ordained to the episcopacy by Bishop Gregory Khomyshyn in Rome on February 2, 1931. From 1931 to 1939, he ministered to the people of Volyn, Polisia, Pidliasia, and Belorussia.

In 1939 Soviet armed forces invaded western Ukraine, and in 1945 all the Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops were placed under arrest as part of the Soviet plan to suppress the church. During his time in prison Nicholas endured frequent violent interrogations. He was arrested on April 11, 1945 and charged with collaborating with and being an agent of a foreign power i.e. the Vatican; as a result he was sentenced to hard labour. Between his arrest in 1945 and his release eleven years later, Bishop Nicholas was moved around to about thirty a prisons. It was reported that, during all this time, he maintained a dignified, gentle and calming presence in spite of enduring over 600 hours of interrogation, which included torture. By 1956, his health was in such a dismal state that a shroud had already been prepared; the prison authorities then decided to release him in order that he die elsewhere. However, he made enough of a surprising partial recovery that he was able to pastor the Ukrainian Catholic community, which was then operating clandestinely. Although he lived under constant surveillance, one of his most important acts was to secretly prepare and ordain young men called to the priesthood. Bishop Nicholas died on April 2, 1959 and was buried in Lviv two days later. Due to many regarding him as a saint, people began visit his grave and to ask for his heavenly intercession immediately. Today people continue to claim that miracles happen through his intercession. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II during his pastoral visit to Ukraine on June 27, 2001. This date was significant as it is the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the patroness of the Redemptorists.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Charnetsky

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Nicholas may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.