The Pratulin Martyrs were a group of 13

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

men and boys who were killed by soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army on January 24, 1874, in the village of

Pratulin Pratulin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Rokitno, within Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. On 24 January 1874 the Imperial Russian Army killed a group of 13 Greek ...

, near Biała Podlaska. During the forced Conversion of Chelm Eparchy, the Russian authorities forcibly converted all Greek Catholics in Congress Poland and assigned their churches to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. In a protest against the Russification and confiscation of the church, the Greek Catholic community gathered in front of the church, but were fired upon by the Russian forces, killing 13 of the protesters. The Ruthenian Catholic Church has erected a shrine to their memory there. The massacre in Pratulin was the best documented among many such events that took place in the region of South Podlasie, and thus, to represent the martyrs considered to have given their life for faith and Christian unity during those times, the Latin Rite diocese of

Siedlce Siedlce [] ( yi, שעדליץ ) is a city in eastern Poland with 77,354 inhabitants (). Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously the city was the capital of a separate Siedlce Voivodeship (1975–1998). The city is situated b ...

chose to present the case for the

beatification 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 ...

of the victims in 1938. They were 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 October 6, 1996. In 1998, some of their relics were transferred to the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite church in nearby Kostomłoty, where the Shrine of the Martyrs of Pratulin was established.

References

External links

The Servants of God Wincenty Lewoniuk and 12 Companions
{{Authority control People from Biała Podlaska County 19th-century Eastern Catholic martyrs Eastern Catholic beatified people Eastern Catholics from the Russian Empire Polish Eastern Catholics Congress Poland Polish beatified people Belarusian beatified people Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Year of birth unknown Anti-Catholicism in Eastern Orthodoxy Anti-Catholicism in Poland History of Eastern Catholicism in Poland