Peter Vitchev, also known as Kamen Vitchev, was a Bulgarian Eastern Catholic and an Assumptionist priest who was martyred by the Bulgarian communist regime. He was beatified 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 ...

on 2002.

Biography

Early life and priesthood

Vitchev was born on May 23, 1893, at Srem, near

Topolovgrad Topolovgrad ( bg, Тополовград , ; ) is a town in south-central Bulgaria, part of Haskovo Province, situated at the northern foot of the Sakar Mountain. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Topolovgrad Municipality. Etymolog ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and came from a peasant

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

family. In 1910, he joined the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption, beginning his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

in Gempe,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and taking the

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for a religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should ...

''Kamen''. He pursued his studies of philosophy and theology in

Louvain Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic c ...

, Belgium. He was ordained a priest in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

on 22 December 1921. After a brief period teaching at St. Augustine College in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and at a high school seminary in

Kumkapı Kumkapı (meaning 'sand gate' in Turkish) is a quarter in Fatih district of Istanbul. It is located along the northern shore of Marmara Sea. Up to recent times, Kumkapı is the center of the Armenian community of the city, boasting a school an ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, he returned to

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, to complete his studies and obtained a doctorate in theology in 1929.

Bulgarian communist regime

Very knowledgeable in the history of the Bulgarian church, Vitchev published several articles in the review known as ''Échos d'Orient''. In 1930 he was appointed professor of philosophy and dean of studies at St. Augustine College in Plovdiv and maintained this position until the school was closed by the Communist regime on August 2, 1948. After this prestigious institution founded and maintained by the Assumptionists was closed, Vitchev became superior of the Assumptionist seminary in Plovdiv which housed a small number of students. That same year all foreign members of religious orders were expelled and Vitchev was named Vicar-Provincial of the remaining Bulgarian Assumptionists. They numbered 20 and staffed 5 Eastern Catholic and 4

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

parishes. As a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

satellite, Bulgaria suffered from the wave of anti-Catholic legislation that swept the bloc in the years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(e.g. the arrest of

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Aloysius Stepinac in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in 1946, of

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

József Mindszenty József Mindszenty (; 29 March 18926 May 1975) was a Hungarian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Esztergom and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 1945 to 1973. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in 1948, of

Josef Beran Josef Beran (29 December 1888 – 17 May 1969) was a Czech Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Prague from 1946 until his death and was elevated into the cardinalate in 1965. Adam Beran was imprisoned in the Dachau concentr ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1950, and of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in 1953).

Death

Highly esteemed and respected by the influential young graduates of St. Augustine College, Vitchev posed a threat to the Communist authorities in Bulgaria and was arrested on July 4, 1952. After what international organizations universally considered a show trial which began on September 29, 1952, and ended with a guilty verdict and a death sentence on October 3, Vitchev, two of his Assumptionists companions,

Josaphat Chichkov Robert-Matthew Chichkov (9 February 1884 – 11 November 1952) in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, was a priest, rector and teacher who was sentenced to death in the early 1950s. He came from a large and fervent Latin rite Catholic family. He entered the Assump ...

and

Pavel Djidjov Pavel Djidjov (19 July 1919 – 3 October 1952) was a Bulgarian theologian who was executed after a show trial and beatified in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. Education, career Pavel Djidjov was born to a Latin rite Catholic family in Plovdiv. He w ...

, and a Passionist bishop,

Eugene Bossilkov Eugene Bossilkov, born Vincent Bossilkov (b. 16 Nov 1900-11 Nov 1952), was a member of the Passionist Congregation, Roman Catholic bishop of Nicopolis and martyr in the Communist campaign in Bulgaria against religion. He had studied in Rome for ...

, were shot to death, without public notice, at approximately 11:30 PM the evening of November 11, 1952.

Beatification

Vitchev was declared a martyr for the faith and

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

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 ...

in Plovdiv on May 26, 2002. On July 28, 2010, the Bulgarian parliament passed a law officially rehabilitating all of those who had been condemned by the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1952, including Vitchev.

References

*Guissard, Lucien. ''The Assumptionists: From Past to Present'', Bayard Publications, 2002 (). *Gallay, Pierre. ''The Martyrdom of the Three Bulgarian Assumptionists'', Bayard Service Edition, 2002. *Royal, Robert. ''The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History'', The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, 2000 (). *Holzer, Bernard and Michel, Jean-Baptiste, ''Les Rideaux Rouges de Sofia'', Editions Bayard, 2003 (). *Pope John Paul II
homily delivered in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
May 26, 2002.

External links

* http://kae-bg.org/?act=content&rec=111 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitchev, Kamen 1893 births 1952 deaths People from Topolovgrad Converts to Eastern Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Bulgarian beatified people 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Bulgarian Eastern Catholic priests Former Bulgarian Orthodox Christians People executed by the People's Republic of Bulgaria Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Executed Bulgarian people People executed by Bulgaria by firing squad