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"Steadfast and Faithful: A Martyr's Journey"

Blessed Bishop and Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky, CSsR


EWTN �Eternal Word Television Network
Friday June 30, 2006
5:30 pm (Eastern Time)


In September 2002, thousands of faithful crowded the streets of Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba. A swarming procession escorted the body of a martyr to St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church, culminating in celebration of the Divine Liturgy and veneration of this man's holy relics.

Who was this man who attracted national media attention almost 30 years after his death? What led the Church to build a pilgrim Shrine housing his relics and even a museum dedicated to his life? His name is Blessed Bishop and Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky, C.Ss.R. native son of Ukraine.

How did Blessed Vasyl serve as a beacon of holiness to his fellow Ukrainians? What horrible persecution and torture, led Pope John Paul II to declare him a martyr of the Church? How did he come to rest in Winnipeg? What can we learn from his life and how it is a source of grace and blessing today?

Discover the answers to these questions in this documentary and how this holy man was unafraid to remain steadfast in his faith during the communist regime.

Produced in collaboration with the Ukrainian Catholic Redemptorists
of the Yorkton Province and Ignatius productions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky,C.Ss.R.
Bishop And Martyr

The twentieth century is known as a century of martyrs. Millions of people gave up their lives for Christ. In the Soviet Union under the atheistic regime many Christians, especially Ukrainian Catholics laid down their lives rather than deny Jesus Christ and His Church.
Honoring this sacrifice, Pope John Paul II beatified a number of martyrs for the Ukrainian Catholic Church on June 27, 2001. Among the martyrs was Nicholas Charnetsky and his twenty-four Companions. They all shared their martyrdom under the Soviet regime, mostly during and after the Second World War. Among the Companions was the Redemptorist Bishop, Vasyl Velychkovsky.
Blessed Vasyl was born into a priestly family in Stanislaviv, now called Ivano-Frankivsk, on June 1, 1903. His father was an assistant at the Cathedral where Vasyl was baptized. His family soon moved to the village of Shuparka near Borshchiv. Here Vasyl was raised and educated, mainly by home schooling. The First World War interrupted his studies.
In 1911 during a mission at his grandfather�s church in Probizhnia, young Vasyl was dedicated to the Mother of God. Throughout his life he referred to this event as pivotal, since he always sensed himself under the protection of her loving care. After becoming a Redemptorist, he promoted devotion to our Mother of Perpetual Help with every mission he conducted. The rosary for him was a pillar of strength throughout his imprisonment.
After the War Blessed Vasyl completed his high school and entered the Major Seminary in Lviv. After being ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Andrij Sheptytsky, Blessed Vasyl entered the Redemptorist novitiate in Holosko in 1924. On October 9, 1925 he was ordained in the chapel in Zboisk to the priesthood by Bishop Josyf Botsian. The following two years he taught at the minor seminary, but his heart was in preaching missions. Recognizing his gift of preaching, he was soon assigned to the missions, first in Stanislaviv and in 1928 to Volyn.
In Volyn he worked out of Kovel among the Orthodox faithful, who wished to join the Catholic Church, and among Ukrainian Catholic immigrants from Halychyna. Here he had much success. His sensitivity to the ways of the eastern Orthodox made him dearly loved by the people. Unfortunately, political strife between the Poles and the Ukrainians caused him to leave Volyn in 1935.
He returned to Stanislaviv where with other Redemptorists he continued his parish missions. He went from village to village preaching a two week long Redemptorist Mission. He preached to hundreds of thousands of faithful.
When the Second World War began and the Soviets first occupied Ukraine, Blessed Vasyl was in Stanislaviv serving in a thriving Redemptorist mission church. His heart went out, especially to the poor country folk that came to the city to earn a living. In 1940, on the feast of our Mother of Perpetual Help , while the city was occupied by the Soviets, Blessed Vasyl dared to have a procession of 20,000 people through the streets of Stanislaviv. After the procession he was arrested. Fearing the people who were ready to shed their blood for him , the Soviets released Father Vasyl.
Since he had experience working with the Orthodox, he was sent by Metropolitan Sheptytsky to Kamianets Podilsk in Greater Ukraine in 1941. At that time the city was under German occupation. There, as in Volyn, he experienced a great spiritual revival. However he was forced to leave as his life was threatened by the German army.
In 1944, Blessed Vasyl volunteered to go to Ternopil even though the Soviet front had already arrived. Amidst the shelling of the city, he did his pastoral work courageously and boldly.
In the spring of 1945 the Soviets sought to arrest him, but he eluded them by going from village to village giving missions. Finally on June 26, 1945, the Soviets came to the monastery in Ternopil and arrested him. He was given a chance to deny his faith, leave the Catholic Church and serve as a Russian Orthodox priest. He quickly responded with "No, Never." Even though he was offered freedom and life if he would accept their proposal, he responded with "you can shoot me and kill me but you will not get any other answer."
After two years of interrogations and tortures in the KGB prison in Kiev, he was finally sentenced to die by firing squad. He was on death row for three months. While in the cell with others on death row, he catechized them and prepared them through the sacraments for their coming death. When his name was called, he left the cell ready to die for Christ, but at that moment, his death sentence was commuted to ten years in Soviet labour camps.
He spent most of his years working in the coal mines of the Vorkuta region above the Arctic Circle. Accused of inciting a strike among the prisoners in the fall of 1953, he was transferred to a most severe prison in Vladimir, near Moscow. After protesting his innocence he was sent back to Vorkuta.
When his prison sentence was completed, he was sent to Lviv. He became instrumental in organizing the underground church. His apartment became the centre of church activity: Divine Liturgies, administering the sacraments, catechesis, preparing seminarians, counseling and the like. He also began to organize religious sisters and taught them a new way of living out their monastic and religious life. Many a vocation was fostered by Father Vasyl's guidance and care. In 1959 Rome appointed Fr. Vasyl to be bishop of this underground church. Unfortunately there were no bishops in Ukraine who could ordain him.
In 1963, Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj was released from 18 years of Soviet labour camps to attend the Second Vatican Council in Rome. While in Moscow, he called Fr. Vasyl to come immediately to his hotel room. When Fr. Vasyl arrived, Metropolitan Josyf began the Rite of Ordination to the episcopacy. The secret ordination finished and Metropolitan Josyf was taken to Rome. Bishop Vasyl returned to Lviv to do his episcopal work.
In January of 1969, Bishop Vasyl was again arrested. He was sent to Komunarsk in Eastern Ukraine. There he underwent chemical, physical and mental torture. The Soviets attempted to extract information from him about the underground church but were unsuccessful. Near death in 1972, he was released from prison and was exiled from Ukraine.
Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk invited Bishop Vasyl to come to Winnipeg, Canada in June, 1972. Overcome by the tortures and death causing drugs he received while in prison, he died a martyr�s death on June 30, 1973. After the funeral services in Sts. Vladimir and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, he was buried on July 5 in All Saints Cemetery near Winnipeg.
After Blessed Vasyl was beatified by Pope John Paul II, preparations began for the exhumation and enshrinement of his holy relics. His holy body was exhumed on September 16, 2002. Following Vatican protocol, it was examined by a team of doctors and church personnel. His holy body was found to be fully intact with all its muscle mass. His holy body was revested with new vestments and placed in a stainless steel sarcophagus. On September 22, 2002, his holy relics were enshrined in a chapel in St. Joseph�s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Pilgrims come and pray before Blessed Vasyl , seeking his powerful intercession.


Bishop Velychkovsky Martyr�s Shrine
St. Joseph�s Ukrainian Catholic Church
250 Jefferson Ave
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2V 0M6
Canada

www.bvmartyrshrine.com [bvmartyrshrine.com]

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Just a reminder of this upocoming broadcast.
If you can, please tune in and watch.

Has anyone been to the Blessed Vasyl Shrine in Winnipeg?
Any impressions?


"Steadfast and Faithful: A Martyr's Journey"

Blessed Bishop and Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky, CSsR


EWTN �Eternal Word Television Network
Friday June 30, 2006
5:30 pm (Eastern Time)


In September 2002, thousands of faithful crowded the streets of Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba. A swarming procession escorted the body of a martyr to St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church, culminating in celebration of the Divine Liturgy and veneration of this man's holy relics.

Who was this man who attracted national media attention almost 30 years after his death? What led the Church to build a pilgrim Shrine housing his relics and even a museum dedicated to his life? His name is Blessed Bishop and Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky, C.Ss.R. native son of Ukraine.

How did Blessed Vasyl serve as a beacon of holiness to his fellow Ukrainians? What horrible persecution and torture, led Pope John Paul II to declare him a martyr of the Church? How did he come to rest in Winnipeg? What can we learn from his life and how it is a source of grace and blessing today?

Discover the answers to these questions in this documentary and how this holy man was unafraid to remain steadfast in his faith during the communist regime.

Produced in collaboration with the Ukrainian Catholic Redemptorists
of the Yorkton Province and Ignatius productions

For those of you who do not watch t.v. or can't see the show, then you may be interested in this site:

http://www.bvmartyrshrine.com/enshrinement.htm

Since he died and is buried in Canada, the Canadian government has stated that they will recognize him as Canada's first saint. Perhaps someone can confirm this.

Pray for him.

I.F.

very intresting ,amazing unbelievable ,
praise the Lord,Slava Bohu

This is a case of the information being inaccurate. Or maybe the Government "forgot" the Jesuit martyrs of the 17th Century.

http://www.holymartyrs.org/narthex.htm

Quote

� The Holy Martyrs of North America �

Holy Martyrs Church in Falmouth, Maine, is the first U.S. church dedicated to the Jesuit Martyrs of North America.

Three of the martyr's relics are at our church - Saints John deBrebeuf, S.J., Gabriel Lalemant, S.J., and Charles Garnier, S.J. - all of whom where martyred in northern New England or eastern Canada. Most of the North American Martyrs were killed by the Iroquois and Huron tribes.

Here is a complete list of the eight North American Martyrs:

Brother Rene Goupil, S.J., who died on September 29th, 1642. He was martyred while praying the rosary to the Blessed Mother.

Father Isaac Jogues, S.J., who was put to death on October 18, 1646, after undergoing many tortures and months of enslavement.

John Lalande, a lay missionary, who was decapitated while trying to bury the body of Father Jogues. He died on October 19, 1646.

Father Anthony Daniel, S.J., who was shot by an Iroqios war party on July 4, 1648. His body was thrown into his burning chapel.

Father John deBrebeuf, S.J., who was tortured at the stake, died on March 16, 1649, after hours of agony.

Father Gabriel Lalemant, S.J., who endured the same tortures as Father deBrebeuf, but lived until the next day, March 17, 1649.

Father Charles Garnier, S.J., who was martyred while baptizing in his mission church of St. Jean, on December 7, 1649.

Father Noel Chabanel, S.J., who escaped the attack at the mission of St. Jean but was betrayed the next day by his guide while attempting to reach Fort St. Marie. He died on December 8, 1649.


Ite missa est.
Go forth, you are sent.

Three of the eight Martyrs died about thirty miles west of Albany NY. there is a shrine at Auriesville, which I have visited.

The other five died in Canada. There is a shrine there also. Particularly striking is the account written by St. Isaac Jogues about the martyrdom of St. Rene Goupil, who was the first martyr, in 1642.

St. Isaac went back to France and then returned to North America, where he was killed in the same area, along with St. Jean Lalande in 1646.

http://www.wyandot.org/goupil.htm

http://www.wyandot.org/martyr.htm


Also, Blessed Nykyta Budka, the first Ukrainian Catholic Bishop in Canada, was also a Martyr of the Soviet times in Ukraine.

John
Pilgrim and Odd duck

Dear Father, I was blessed to be present for the enshrinement of Blessed Vasyl's relics in Winnipeg.

I will never forget that day, the procession through the streets of Winnipeg, nor the most radiant rainbow that appeared just as everyone left the church from the Pontifical Vespers. Some of his living relatives came from Ukraine, and many of the Redemptorists who served with Vladyka were also present.

Lots of incredible stories in the evenings, lots of blessings all around.

My oldest son carried the relics of Bl. Vasyl for part of the procession, and even a few years later now we all still talk about it often.
FDD

Did anyone watch the broadcast about
Blessed Vasyl on EWTN?

Father Dmytro: Yes, my husband and I watched it yesterday. It was very well done and truly inspirational. We were very graced by it and felt closer to God and inspired to pray afterward. This is definitely a must see! Has anything been made on the life of Nicholas Charnetsky?

I missed it!!!!!!!!!!!! I told my sister the wrong time for taping it, and I have a kid's program instead.

But I was a participant in the translation ceremonies in person in Winnipeg. Slava Bohu! It was one of the most significant religious expereinces of my life!

Best wishes to all!
Stefan

For those who missed it, not to worry. The DVD can be ordered through www.stjosaphateparchy.org. [stjosaphateparchy.org.] Click on resources, then books, music, videos. It's well worth it...

Anna,

A slight correction...

There is an extra "." at the end of the link which leads to a "this page cannot be found" message. It should be www.stjosaphateparchy.org [stjosaphateparchy.org]

The link where you can order the DVD is http://www.stjosaphateparchy.org/Store.html

The DVD can also be ordered from the "Bishop Velychkovsky Martyr's Shrine" website at www.bvmartyrshrine.com/audio_visual.htm [bvmartyrshrine.com]
There is a second version of the DVD which contains the akathist hymn to Blessed Vasyl.

griego