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#17204 - 04/23/02 10:59 PM Bulgarian Martyrs
Two Lungs Offline
Member

Registered: 01/21/02
Posts: 1919
Loc: Takoma Park, MD
Dear Friends,

The following is an excerpt from a longer article in EWTN news. Does anyone have more details about these martyrs?


Quote:
23-Apr-2002 -- Vatican Information Service

DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 23, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall, in the presence of the Holy Father, the members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the postulators of the respective causes, 19 decrees were promulgated relative to 22 Blesseds and Servants of Gods. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation, read a discourse on the lives of the future blesseds and saints.

.................

MARTYRS


- Martyrdom of the servants of God Pietro Vitchev, Paolo Djidjo and Giosafat Chichkov, professed priests of the Congregation of Augustinians of the Assumption, killed in hatred for the faith on November 11, 1952 in Bulgaria.

- Martyrdom of the servants of God, Davide Okelo and Gildo Irwa, lay catechists, killed in hatred for the faith on October 18 and 19, 1918 in Uganda.


Have a Blessed Day!

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

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#17205 - 04/24/02 02:52 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Orthodox Catholic Offline
Member

Registered: 11/05/01
Posts: 22291
Loc: Canada
Dear John Two-Lungs,

Were these Eastern Catholics?

Rome has beatified a Bulgarian Latin Catholic martyr before.

Just wondering.

Alex

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#17206 - 04/24/02 02:55 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
RichC Offline
Member

Registered: 11/13/01
Posts: 188
Loc: Washington DC
Why/how on earth would a Bulgarian be a Latin Catholic?? Makes about as much (well, even less) sense as a Palestinian Latin Catholic.

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#17207 - 04/25/02 12:41 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Mike C. Offline
Member

Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 447
Loc: Haddonfield, NJ
How about a Japanese being a Russian Orthodox, or an Inuit being Russian Orthodox? Or an African American Byzantine Rite Catholic?????What's the difference?

The Bulgarian Martyrs, being members of a Latin Rite Order were Byzantine Rite priests.

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#17208 - 04/25/02 12:47 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Brendan Offline
Member

Registered: 11/07/01
Posts: 474
Loc: USA
Rich --

Of course there are tens of thousands of Palestinian Latin Rite Christians, thanks to the Crusades (as I'm sure you are aware, in any case).

Brendan

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#17209 - 04/25/02 01:04 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Orthodox Catholic Offline
Member

Registered: 11/05/01
Posts: 22291
Loc: Canada
Dear Friends,

There would be no difference in terms of their Rite before God, to be sure!

I'm only asking because I like it when Byzantine Rite martyrs are beatified.

And I am happy to know that these were of the Byzantine Rite.

But there was one Bulgarian martyr of the Latin Rite.

And there is today a Ukrainian Latin Catholic Church in Ukraine.

These were the descendants of those who refused to become Russian Orthodox when their Ukrainian Catholic church was formally "disunified" in 1946 and went, instead, to the Latin Catholic church.

I have seen the NO Mass and the entire Latin Catholic prayerbook in Ukrainian for these Ukrainian Latin Catholics.

Brendan is right about the Latin Catholics in the Middle East.

It is nice to know the Crusaders had a usefulness that went beyond simple soldiering! smile

Alex

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#17210 - 04/25/02 01:59 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
RichC Offline
Member

Registered: 11/13/01
Posts: 188
Loc: Washington DC
I did say "less sense" than Palestinians being RC precisely to acknowledge the Crusades and other cultural "meddling" from the West. However, in Eastern Europe, where nations/peoples were largely defined by their religion, it's not clear to me how an ethnic Bulgarian would/could historically belong to the Latin Church. Bulgaria is surrounded by Byzantine Christian peoples and is a thoroughly Orthodox and Slav nation.

Surely in today's enlightened world, freedom of conscience would permit any person to be a member of any particular Catholic Church of his or her choosing, such as we see most particularly in the United States.

But not being as versed in Bulgarian history as I might like to be, perhaps I'm unaware of factors other than "meddling" that would have planted a Latin presence among the Bulgarian people.

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#17211 - 04/25/02 02:08 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Abdur Islamovic Offline
Member

Registered: 11/24/01
Posts: 278
Loc: USA
Quote:
Originally posted by RichC:
Why/how on earth would a Bulgarian be a Latin Catholic?? Makes about as much (well, even less) sense as a Palestinian Latin Catholic.


Ethnic Bulgarian Latin-rite Catholics are the descendents of Bogomils--who are the ancestors of many Slavic Muslims-- converted to orthodox Christianity by Franciscan missionaries.

Evidently, the Bulgarian Orthodox held the Bogomils in such contempt, they refused to evangelize them.

Abdur

[ 04-25-2002: Message edited by: Abdur Islamovic ]

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#17212 - 04/25/02 07:13 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Mexican Offline
Member

Registered: 11/06/01
Posts: 1667
Loc: Mexico, Iasi
Do you know if Josif Sokolsky, the first Exarch of the Bulgarian Grek Catholic Church will be beatified someday?

This Bulgarian Patriot was made bishop in Rome supported by Orthodox Bulgarians who wanted to found an autocephalous church. After that he was captured by Turkish soldiers and died under strange circunstances (he was killed).

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#17213 - 04/25/02 10:00 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Robert K. Offline
Member

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 374
Loc: New Jersey
Personally, I dont see the major catastrophe in the fact that Bulgarians or any other Eastern people for that matter are members of the Latin rite. True it was not the indiginus rite of their peoples but they were converted to it, and they obviously did not put up much of a fuss over the issue. If it was true that the crusaders forcably converted these people then why wouldnt all of their brethren who are now Orthodox/Eastern Catholic be Latins? If these people truly wanted to be Byzantine then Im sure that Rome would have obliged them on it somewhere down the last 1000 years.


Many Eastern Christians seem almost amazed at how someone from their culture could practice the Latin rite. Believe me, most Latins feel the same regarding their own who turn Byzantine.

Robert K.

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#17214 - 04/25/02 10:03 PM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Robert K. Offline
Member

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 374
Loc: New Jersey
Quote:
Originally posted by Remie:
Do you know if Josif Sokolsky, the first Exarch of the Bulgarian Grek Catholic Church will be beatified someday?

This Bulgarian Patriot was made bishop in Rome supported by Orthodox Bulgarians who wanted to found an autocephalous church. After that he was captured by Turkish soldiers and died under strange circunstances (he was killed).



Wasnt he the fellow who was kidnapped by the Tsar and locked away n the Kyiv caves monastery for the rest of his life? If he is then I doubt that the canonization will take place least it offened the delicate sensibilities of our seperated brethren in Moscow.

Robert K.

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#17215 - 04/26/02 10:48 AM Re: Bulgarian Martyrs
Amadeus Offline
Member

Registered: 01/30/02
Posts: 4240
Loc: Chicago
Alex:

Somehow such "activities" pursued by the Crusaders, beyond soldiering, titillate my senses!

AmdG

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