Daniel Eugene Ivancho (March 30, 1908–August 2, 1972) was the second

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh The Byzantine Catholic Metropolis of Pittsburgh ( la, Pittsburgensis ritus byzantini) is a metropolitan province for Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in the United States of America, with specific jurisdiction over several communities th ...

, the

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branch of the

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Early life

Born on March 30, 1908 in

Yasinia Yasinia ( uk, Ясіня, hu, Körösmező, sk, Jasiňa) is an urban-type settlement in Rakhiv Raion of Zakarpattia Oblast in Ukraine. Population: . It was the site of the Hutsul Republic after World War I, and the birthplace of several promi ...

, Máramaros,

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, he emigrated at the age of eight to the United States and settled in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

with his widowed mother. He graduated from

St. Ignatius High School (Cleveland) Saint Ignatius High School is a private Roman Catholic, Society of Jesus, Jesuit high school under the Diocese of Cleveland, for young men, located in the Ohio City, Cleveland, Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. History Founded in 1886 b ...

in 1926. He graduated from St. Procopius College in

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and completed his seminary training in

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. Due to illness, he transferred to

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the B ...

Theological Seminary where he completed his studies. On September 30, 1934, Bishop Basil Takach ordained him to the priesthood and he served in parish assignments.

Episcopate of Bishop Ivancho

When Bishop Takach was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the 1940s, a request was made to the

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for the appointment of an auxiliary bishop. Monsignor George Michaylo and Father Stephen Gulovich were perceived to be leading candidates, but the Vatican announced the appointment of Ivancho, a dark horse. The 1946 official decree declared his status to be a "Coadjutor Bishop", mandating that he would automatically become Bishop Takach's successor. He was ordained as the first-ever Coadjutor Bishop of the Greek Catholic Exarchate of Pittsburgh on November 5, 1946. In order to accommodate the crowds, the ceremony was held at the Cathedral of Saint Paul of the

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in the

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district. Byzantine and Roman Catholic bishops and clergy attended, as did the

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and other members of the Imperial

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family of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Monsignor

Fulton J. Sheen Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in ...

was the homilist for the ordination. In May 1948 Takach died, and Ivancho became the new bishop. Some advisors urged that construction of a new cathedral church should be a priority. They believed a new cathedral—not the 1903 St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral—was needed in the post-

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era. More

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and a more central location in Pittsburgh, they argued, would better showcase the identity of the Eastern Catholic church. Ivancho, however, tackled the problem of seminary training. In a pastoral letter dated June 14, 1950, he announced plans for the construction and operation of the first Eastern Catholic seminary in the United States.

Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius The Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius is an American degree-granting school of theology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The seminary prepares candidates for priestly ministry to the Byzantine Catholic churches of North America. ...

was completed in October 1951. Ivancho resigned suddenly for personal reasons on December 2, 1954. According to a historical account by Serge Keleher, Ivancho was forced to resign once it was revealed that he had secretly married after his priestly ordination. He died in retirement in Florida in 1972.

External links

Daniel Ivancho bio sketch at Catholic-Hierarchy.org

The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh

Byzantine Catholic Church in America

References

Also: * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivancho, Daniel 1908 births 1972 deaths Ruthenian Catholic bishops People from Zakarpattia Oblast Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States Benedictine University alumni Eastern Catholic bishops in the United States American people of Rusyn descent Religious leaders from Cleveland