Bl. Nicholas Charnetsky

Today I offer a Saint and a prayer for our brothers and sisters who are suffering from the war in Ukraine. As a secondary motivation, I want to do a post for our Pastor, Fr. Nic since I've done a post for Fr. Kyle and one for our seminarian, Matthew. So, I have today a Blessed who is named Nicholas as well as being Ukranian.  

Nicholas Charnetsky was born in western Ukraine in 1884. He was the eldest of nine children of a family who were members of the Ukranian Greek Catholic Church, which is in communion with the Bishop of Rome and distinct from the Ukranian Orthodox Church. From an early age, he expressed a desire to become a priest. He went to the Ukranian Seminary in Rome at the age of 18. 

Nicholas was ordained in 1909. After ordination he completed a doctorate in Theology and then he taught at seminary for 9 years. Wanting to live a more austere life than that of a Seminary Professor, he chose to join the Redemptorists. As a Redemptorist, he worked to promote better relations between Catholic and Orthodox Ukrainians. Because of this work, Pope Pius XII named him titular bishop of Lebed and Apostolic Visitor to Ukranian Catholics.

In 1939, Soviet armed forces invaded western Ukraine, causing the Redemptorists to flee Lviv. Nicholas was able to return two years later after Nazi Germany had taken control of the city. He taught at Lviv Theological Seminary. In 1944, the Soviets invaded a second time. A year later all the Ukranian Greek Catholic bishops were arrested as part of the Soviet plan to suppress the church and transfer its property to the state sanctioned Russian Orthodox church. Nicholas was arrested on April 11, 1945. He was charged with collaborating with and being an agent of a foreign power (i.e., The Vatican). During his time in prison, he endured many violent interrogations. Between his arrest and his release eleven years later, he was moved around to about thirty different prisons. It was reported that during this time, he maintained a dignified, gentle and calming presence in spite of the hundreds of hours of interrogation and torture. 

By 1956, Nicholas was in such poor health that a shroud had already been prepared. Prison authorities decided to release him so that he would die elsewhere. He made enough of a partial recovery that he was able to pastor the Ukranian Catholic Community, which was then operating clandestinely. He was also able to secretly prepare and ordain young men called to the priesthood. He died on April 2, 1959. His feast day is April 2.

Blessed Nicholas, pray for us.