Vasyl Vsevolod Velychkovsky (June 1, 1903 – June 30, 1973) was a priest, and later

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 c ...

, of the

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's ...

, one of the

Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...

communion with Rome Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, bu ...

. He is a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

of the

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 ...

, dying in 1973 of his injuries sustained while imprisoned by the

Soviet Union 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, ...

for his Christian faith. Velychkovsky was born in Stanislaviv, in then-

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. In 1920 he entered the seminary in

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 Ukrain ...

, then in Poland. In 1925 he took his first religious vows in the village of Holosko near Lviv in the

Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...

(better known as the Redemptorists) and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

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 partic ...

. As a priest-monk Vasyl Velychkovsky taught and preached in

Volyn Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...

, a Ukrainian-majority province in interwar Poland. In 1942 he became

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

of the monastery in German-occupied

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

. Because of religious persecution by the Communist Soviet Union he was arrested in 1945 by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

and sent to Kiev. The punishment of death was commuted to 10 years of hard labor."Beatification of the Servants of God on June 27, 2001"
accessed 17 October 2011 On release in 1955 he went back to Lviv, and was ordained a bishop in 1963. In 1969 he was imprisoned again for three years for his religious activities. Released in 1972, he was exiled outside the USSR. He died of his injuries from prison in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada on June 30, 1973, aged 70."Blessed VASYL VELYCHKOVSKY, C.Ss.R., Bishop and Martyr"
/ref> Thirty years after his death, Vasyl Velychkovsky's body was found to be almost

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...

(his toes had fallen off and were subsequently divided to be used as holy relics).

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 ...

in 2001, the intact remains of Vasyl Velychkovsky are enshrined at St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Today, his shrine is located at 250 Jefferson Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba.Bishop Velychkovsky Martyr's Shrine - Official Site
/ref>

References

External links

Biography of Blessed Vasyl on CSSR Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velychkovsky, Vasyl Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Soviet prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by the Soviet Union Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union 1903 births 1973 deaths Religious leaders from Ivano-Frankivsk People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians 20th-century Eastern Catholic martyrs 20th-century venerated Christians Eastern Catholic beatified people Beatified Redemptorists Redemptorist bishops Soviet expatriates in Canada Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Soviet beatified people Soviet Eastern Catholics Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic people Ukrainians in Poland Polish abbots Polish priests Ukrainian people exiled by the Soviet Union Victims of anti-religious campaign in the Soviet Union