Shio Batmanishvili (in Georgian: შიო ბათმანიშვილი, born in 1885 in

Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe ( ka, ახალციხე ), formerly known as Lomsia ( ka, ლომსია), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region (''mkhare'') of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is situated on both banks of a small river Potskhovi (a left ...

, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire – November 1, 1937,

Sandarmokh Sandarmokh (russian: Сандармох; krl, Sandarmoh) is a forest massif from Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia where possibly thousands of victims of Stalin's Great Terror were executed. More than 58 nationalities were shot and bu ...

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) was a Georgian Greek Catholic, both a hieromonk and the superior of the

Servites of the Immaculate Conception There are a number of Roman Catholic religious orders or congregations with Immaculate Conception in their name. Several of them are discussed here. Order of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady (The Conceptionists) Founded in 1484 at Toled ...

, a survivor of the Gulag at

Solovki prison camp The Solovki special camp (later the Solovki special prison), was set up in 1923 on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea as a remote and inaccessible place of detention, primarily intended for socialist opponents of Soviet Russia's new Bolshev ...

, and a martyr during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.

Biography

Batmanishvili was born in 1885 in

, in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (today in Georgia).Dzwonkowski, Roman (1998). Losy duchowieństwa katolickiego w ZSSR 1917-1939: martyrologium (in Polish). Towarzystwo Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego. pp. 153, 579. .Чаплицкий, Бронислав; Осипова, Ирина Ивановна (2000). Книга памяти: мартиролог Католической церкви в СССР (Kniga pamiati: martirolog Katolicheskoi tserkvi v SSSR) (in Russian). Серебряные нити (Serebrianye niti). p. 19). He studied at the Seminary of Constantinople and later theology in Rome, being ordained a priest in 1912. He initially exercised his ministry at

Kutaisi Kutaisi (, ka, ქუთაისი ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia, traditionally, second in importance, after the capital city of Tbilisi. Situated west of Tbilis ...

and Akhaltsikhe, and from 1922 he was superior of the

's monastery at

Our Lady of Lourdes Church Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regula ...

in Constantinople. In 1925, Batmanishvili was received by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

, along with a group of Eastern Catholic priests, and was appointed Apostolic Administrator (other sources indicate that he was also appointed

Exarch An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος ''exarchos'', meaning “leader”) was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and ea ...

) for the Georgian Greek Catholic Church. On 16 October 1927, Batmanishvili was arrested in Tbilisi and on 16 January 1928 he was sentenced to ten years of hard labor without the possibility of amnesty, under Articles 58-6 and 58-12 of the penal code of the RSFSR, and was sent to the

, where he arrived on February 12. In July 1932, he was accused of

anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) (russian: антисове́тская агита́ция и пропага́нда (АСА)) was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. To begin with the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolu ...

, participating in secret liturgies and religious rituals, and transmitting information abroad on the persecution of Catholics in the USSR. As a result he was isolated from the rest of the prisoners. In May 1935, Batmanishvili was transferred to work on the Kirov railroad, and in June 1936, he returned to Solovki. On 14 October 1937, he was sentenced to death by the Directorate of the NKVD and executed on November 1, 1937 in Medvezhegorsk and buried at Sandormokh.Riccardi, Andrea (2000). The secular of martyrdom (in Italian). A. Mondadori. p. 52. .

References

External links

Book of Remembrance: Biographies of Catholic Clergy and Laity Repressed in the Soviet Union - Biography of Father Shio Batmanishvili
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batmanishvili, Shio 1885 births 1937 deaths 20th-century Eastern Catholic martyrs Catholic people executed by the Soviet Union Catholic priests from Georgia (country) Eastern Catholic monks Eastern Catholic priests Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholics Inmates of Solovki prison camp People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm People who died in the Gulag