Jan Olszanski, M.I.C. ( uk, Ян Ольшанський; pl, Jan Olszański; 14 January 1919 – 23 February 2003) was a Ukrainian Roman Catholic prelate as the first diocesan Bishop of the reestablished

Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamianets-Podilskyi ( la, Dioecesis Camenecensis Latinorum) is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. Maksymilian Leonid Dubrawski O.F.M is the current bishop of the diocese. He was appo ...

from 16 January 1991 until his retirement on 4 May 2002. His cause for

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

has been initiated.2003 ''Hagiography Circle''
/ref>

Life

Olszanski was born in the peasant Roman Catholic family of Jan and Maria (née Boyko) Olszański in non existed today village Hutyska Brodski (present day a territory of Zolochiv Raion,

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast ( uk, Льві́вська о́бласть, translit=Lvivska oblast, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna ( uk, Льві́вщина, ), ). The name of each oblast is a wikt:Appendix:Glossary#relational, relational adjective—in Englis ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). After graduation of the primary school in his native village and a state gymnasium in Brody, Olszanski subsequently joined the faculty of theology of the

University of Lviv The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

and the Major Roman Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv in 1938 and was ordained as

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on November 15, 1942, for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv by Archbishop

Bolesław Twardowski Archbishop Bolesław Twardowski ( uk, Болеслав Твардовський; pl, Bolesław Twardowski; 18 February 1864 – 22 November 1944) was a Roman Catholic prelate, who served as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of ...

, upon completion of his philosophical and theological studies. During 1942–1944 he served as an assistant priest in his native archdiocese. In 1944 he was transferred to Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, where he continued to serve as a parish priest and during a period of the Polish population transfers (1944–1946) he remained in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Under the pressure of the Communist government he moved to

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

in 1946, but two years later was again forced to leave Lviv and returned in the Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi. Here he worked until 1991 under the Communist persecution of the

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. In the same time, he clandestinely joined the

Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary ( la, Congregatio Clericorum Marianorum ab Immaculata Conceptionis Beatissimae Virginis Mariae) is a Catholic male Clergy, clerical religious congrega ...

, were made a

profession A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...

in 1988. On January 16, 1991, he was appointed by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

as the first diocesan bishop of the reestablished Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi. On March 2, 1991, he was consecrated as bishop by Metropolitan Archbishop Marian Jaworski and other prelates of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Lviv The Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, usually called simply the Latin Cathedral ( uk, Лати́нський собо́р, pl, Katedra Łacińska) is a 14th-century Roman Catholic cathedral in Lviv, western Ukrai ...

. Olszanski retired from office, because of reaching of the age limit. He died in

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi ( uk, Ка́м'яне́ць-Поді́льський, russian: Каменец-Подольский, Kamenets-Podolskiy, pl, Kamieniec Podolski, ro, Camenița, yi, קאַמענעץ־פּאָדאָלסק / קאַמעניץ, ...

on February 22, 2003 in age 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olszanski, Jan 1919 births 2003 deaths Clergy from Lviv Oblast Ukrainian people of Polish descent Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception University of Lviv alumni 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ukraine 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ukraine 21st-century venerated Christians