Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky, C.Ss.R., and Companions Modern Martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church: Modern Martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church

Edited by John Slanchuk, C. Ss. R. On June 27, 2001, Pope John Paul II beatified 27 martyrs for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Among them were four Redemptorists - Mykolay (Nicholas) Charnetsky, (184-1959), Vasyl (Basil) Vsevolod Velychkovsky, (1903-1941), Ivan Ziatyk, (1899-1952), and Zynoviy (Zenon) Kovalyk, (1903-1941). This book is a celebration of their stories. Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky was arrested by the Soviet Secret Police and spent 11 years in various prison camps where he ministered to other prisoners. When his health was broken, he was released and sent back to the city of Lviv where he died soon after. Father Zenon Kovalyk was arrested in a church while preaching a sermon in honor of the Immaculate Conception. In 1941 he was martyred by the Communists in a mock crucifixion. Bishop Basil Vsevolod Velychkovsky was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce his faith. His sentence was then commuted to ten years in a Siberian gulag. After being secretly consecrated a bishop in a Moscow hotel room, he was again arrested and sentenced to severe punishment in a psychiatric hospital. Upon his release, he went to Canada where he died in Winnipeg, one year later. Father Ivan Ziatyk was arrested by the Communists in 1950 and subjected to two years of torture and interrogation. He was sentenced to a Siberian labor camp and on Good Friday, 1951, he was clubbed with sticks, soaked in water, and left unconscious outside in the Siberian cold. He soon died of this treatment.