May 30, Our Church Honors the Memory of the Blessed Martyr Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky

May 30, our Church honors the memory of the Blessed Martyr Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky On Sunday, May 30 our church honors the memory of the Blessed Martyr Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky. Mykolay (Nicholas) Charnetsky was born to a large and pious peasant family on December 14, 1884, in the Western Ukrainian village of Semakivka. Mykolay was the eldest of nine and received his primary education in the village of Tovmach before entering St. Nicolas Gymnasium in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk). Charnetsky discovered his vocation to the priesthood at a young age and soon declared his intention of becoming a priest. In 1903 Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn sent him to Rome for studies. On October 2, 1909,during Charnetsky’s short visit to Ukraine, Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn ordained him to the priesthood. Fr. Mykolay then returned to Rome to continue his studies and received a Doctorate in Theology. Fr. Charnetsky started as professor of Philosophy and Dogmatic Theology at the Stanislaviv seminary beginning in fall 1910. He was also the seminary’s spiritual director. Deep in his heart, however, Fr. Mykolay longed for monastic life. Hence, in October 1919, he entered the Redemptorist novitiate in Zboiska, near Lviv, and professed vows one year later October 16, 1920. Eager to work for the reconciliation of Christians and to convert the spiritually abandoned, the Redemptorists of the Lviv Province founded a missionary center in 1926 at Kovel in the Volyn Region. Fr. Charnetsky, being an ardent missionary, was sent there. Very soon he gained the utmost respect of the local people and even that of the Orthodox clergy. After opening a monastery and a church in Kovel, Fr. Mykolay did his best to preserve the purity of the Byzantine Liturgical Rite. In 1931, in recognition of Fr. Charnetsky’s devoted work, Pope Pius XI appointed him titular bishop of Lebed and Apostolic Visitor for Ukrainian Catholics in the Volyn and Pidliashsha Regions. In turn these regions became the field of Charnetsky’s activity for almost 14 years –first as a missionary and then as a bishop. As the first Ukrainian Redemptorist bishop he experienced persecution from the very outset of his activity. The Redemptorists were forced to leave the Volyn Region in 1939 during the Soviet occupation of Western Ukraine, and Bishop Charnetsky moved to a Redemptorist monastery in Lviv on Zyblykevycha (now Ivana-Franka) Street. After the revival of the Lviv Theological Academy in 1941, Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky joined the faculty as a professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Moral Theology. His calmness, based on a strong and unshakable faith, as well as his spirit of obedience and prayer gave his students good reason to consider him a saint. Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky was for them an exemplary figure, both as a monk and a virtuous person in general. In 1944 Soviet troops entered Galicia for the second time. This marked the beginning of Bishop Charnetsky’s “Via Dolorosa.” He was arrested on April 11, 1945 and held in the Soviet secret police prison on Lonskoho Street. There the bishop suffered many afflictions: interrogations in the middle of the night, cruel beatings, and torture. Bishop Charnetsky was later transferred to Kiev where he spent another year of suffering until his case was heard in court. Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment for the crime of being a “Vatican agent.” He served this term together with Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, first in the town of Mariinsk in the Kemerov Region (Siberia), and later at a number of other prison sites. According to credible sources, during the period of his imprisonment (from his arrest in Lviv in April 1945 until his release in 1956), Bishop Charnetsky spent 600 hours altogether under torture and interrogations, and hr was imprisoned in 30 different prisons and prison camps. Despite these incredible tribulations, the bishop always managed to find a word of consolation for his fellow prisoners. He supported them morally and he knew all by name. It is no wonder that Bishop Charnetsky was very popular among the prisoners, as he was their only source of consolation. Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky spent the last years of his imprisonment in a prison hospital in Mordovia. In 1956 his health declined to the extent that the doctors did not have any hope that he would survive. In fact, a burial robe used for prisoners had already been sewn for him. Taking into account the Bishop’s hopeless condition and that the Soviet regime could not avoid blame for causing his death, the prison administration decided to release him and send him to Lviv. Upon his return to Lviv in 1956, Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky was immediately hospitalized due to his contracting hepatitis and other diseases. Everyone was sure he would soon die, but the Lord had a different plan: He decided to prolong the life of a man whose faith and work was so valued and needed by the Ukrainian Church. Soon the bishop recovered and moved to an apartment located at number 7 Vechirnia Street together with Br. Klymentiy, CSsR. There Bishop Charnetsky continued his apostolate of endurance and prayer, spending most of his time praying and reading. Those who visited the bishop during that period often found him in a state of ecstasy. During his stay in Lviv, Bishop Charnetsky remained faithful to his mission as a good shepherd: he supported his colleagues spiritually, prepared candidates for the priesthood, and ordained more than ten priests. Unfortunately, Bishop Charnetsky’s “miraculous” recovery did not last long. On April 2, 1959, the bishop died in a state of holiness. His last words were a cry calling on the aid of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. The funeral of Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky took place on April 4, 1959. The description of the funeral kept in the archive of Yorkton Province of CSsR (Canada) ends with the following words: “We all think that the day of his canonization will come–for he was indeed a saintly bishop”. Everyone who knew Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky gave unanimous testimony of his sanctity. It was no surprise then that immediately after his death many started addressing their prayers to him. One gets the impression of sainthood and powerful intercession before God while praying at the bishop’s tomb in the Lychakiv Cemetery. Numerous people visit the place of Bishop Charnetsky’s burial to obtain his intercession with God for various favors. One woman, whose arm was about to be amputated, applied soil from the bishop’s grave to the appendage, resulting in a complete healing. Since then people have been taking soil from his grave to remedy various diseases. Taking into account the testimonies about Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky’s virtuous life, particularly his endurance, courage, and faithfulness to Christ’s Church during the period of persecution, the beatification process was started in 1960 and on April 24, 2001, the Most Holy Father John Paul II signed a decree for the beatification of Bishop Mykolay Charnetsky, a blessed martyr of Christian faith..

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