Ukrainian Canadians: For King and Canada

To the Rev. Clergy and all the faithful Ruthenians:

         Not long ago the world was stirred by the news that Austria is fighting with Servia. All other powers decided to wait and mainly England with all her might and efforts tried to make the war local and maintain peace.

        At the time when no state was endangered by war except Austria and Servia, when England did not call her citizens to defend their homes, then, we issued a circular in which we stated that Austria, through the Austro-Hungarian Consulate challenges her loyal subjects to stand under the Austrian flag. We also stated that the Ruthenians who arrived here only for a short period ought to bey the call of Austria and go to defend their homes and families.

... Our new home of Canada challenges her faithful subjects to gather under the British Standard and be ready to give their lives and properties for the British cause. Today all the nationalities living under the British flag send their sons to defend that flag.

           In this event when to us as loyal citizens comes England with appeal to have us gathered under her flag, when Britain needs our aid, we, today as faithful citizens of the part of the British Empire the Canadian Ruthenians have before us a great and solemn duty to flock under the flag of  our new land and under this standard give our lives and blood.

           Ruthenians,– Canadian citizens: It is our great duty to defend Canada, for it is the land that not only received us and gave us shelter under the Constitution of the Great Empire, but more than that, it gave us liberty in developing ourselves spiritually.

       Once more Ruthenians; it is our holy duty to be in readiness and offer everything for Canada.

      It isn our home to which we swore allegiance, for which we declared to give lives and all in its defence when necessity demands.

       It is our dear Motherland whereon our families, relatives, children, property, our hearts and future depend.

      Therefore, in these most critical times as now, we must remember that as true Sons of Canada bound y the Oath of Allegiance to our King, we must flock to the British Standard.

        Put aside all party and radical feelings, aside all indifference.

      We conscientiously and with deep feelings of loyalty and duty want and will help our new country when endangered by enemies.

         Ruthenians, Canadian Citizens: You that have already sown allegiance to be loyal to your King George 5^th, and you that intend to do so, remember that the present moment demands you. For any unloyal word or action here as in any other country in time of war death is punishment for treason.

          Loyalty binds you to deeds and sacrifice and when the Empire calls for this everyone must be ready even to put up his life.

          If it were necessary and possible to organize a regiment of the Canadian Ruthenian Citizens, it would be obvious sign that the Ruthenians in Canada are true subjects and are ready to sacrifice everything for their new home.

          Secondly we declare that we must fulfil our duties not only from the standpoint of the law but with deep feelings of duty.

          Only God knows how this war the greatest in history is going to end.

          Pray God that He may with His almighty power shorten this terrific storm and cause its end and that our new home may not suffer loss.

        In view of the fact when our former letter was issued then, the war was exclusively between Austria and Servia, and only few believed that it will spread over other Kingdoms; viewing the fact that there existed a peace in England and that England did not call her subjects to action, we declare emphatically that our letter of the 27^th of July, in view of the new altered political situation, is irrelevant and must not be read in public and churches.

        Instead we urge the clergy t read the present letter during the sermons in their parishes and inform accordingly the Ruthenians of their solemn duty to the Great British Empire.

— + Nicetas Budka, 6 August 1914

(English translation of the Bishop's Chancery, August 1914)

published in Kanadyiskyi Rusyn, 8 August 1914

Petro Kamenetsky: Priest, Patriot, Prisoner of War

(1891–1973)

In the Vatican Archives, Nunciature in Canada series, there is a fascile containing correspondence from the Prisoners of War Committee at the Vernon, BC internment camp to the Apostolic Delegate, dated April and May 1919. I was surpised to find that one of the documents had been notarized by Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest, Rev. Petro Kamenetsky, “himself a prisoner of war in this camp.” Although he was not the only Ukrainian Catholic priest arrested in Canada, during the First World War, Kamenetsky apperas to have been the only one to have been interned. For this reason alone, his interesting life-story deserves to be explored during this centenary of the outbreak of the war.

Born:  26 June 1891, Vikno, Skalat (Husiatyn), Ukraine

Arrived in Canada: 28 September 1913, Halifax, NS

Ordained priest: 23 March 1914, Toronto, ON

1st pastorship: 1 April 1914, Sifton and Ethelbert, MB

Interned: August 1918, Vernon, BC

First pastor of the following churches:

- 1917, St. George's Church (Cathedral), Saskatoon, SK

- 10 October 1937, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Toronto, ON

- 1962: Protection of BVM Parish, Toronto, ON

Appointed honourary canon: 1940

named domestic prelate (Monsignor): 1959

elevated to mitred archpriest: 1969

died: 31 January 1973, Toronto, ON

Full Biography published here

Budka Biography: Update

St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto 1913

The Bishop Budka biography was publicly announced by Bishop David Motiuk on 12 June 2012. This anticipated announcement was made even though the work was not completed, in order to coincide with the official celebration of the Budka centenary which, in turn, was made to coincide with Patriarch Sviatoslav's pastoral visit to Canada. Since then, the centenaries of Budka's nomination (15 July), ordination (14 October), arrival in Canada (6 December), and enthronement (22 December) have come and gone. Nevertheless Budka celebrations are continuing throughout 2013, to commemorate the first steps of his Canadian mission. Some of those events can be found on the Budka website. Below is is a brief summary of the stages involved in producing this thoroughly researched biography:

- July 2008: the Edmonton Eparchy commissioned a research paper/small booklet on the history of Nykyta Budka's nomination to Canada.

- 2009: The Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of Canada asked for the project to be expanded into a full biography.

- A team of historians from the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv (UKU) was brought on board the project to provide materials from Budka's early and later life, before and after his mission in Canada.

- 2009–2011: the author performed intense research in seven Vatican and Canadian archives.

- 2011–2012: a draft of a full biography was composed in eight chapters. Materials from UKU were translated and thoroughly reworked.

- April —July 2012: first draft of the book was corrected and edited by six linguists, scholars. historians, church advisors and editors.

- July 2012: The Metropolitan Sheptytsky Institute was asked to co-publish the work. As part of their procedure, they submitted the draft to three scholars specialized in Ukrainian Canadian history.

- August 2012: UKU historians provided clarifications of their contribution and further material.

- September—October 2012: The three Canadian scholars submitted their comments on the first draft to Sheptytsky Institute, which approved the publication.

- November—December 2012. The first draft was thoroughly edited according to the scholars' submissions.

- A second draft of the biography was completed in December 2012.

- A title was chosen for the book, God's Martyr, History's Witness: Blessed Nykyta Budka, the First Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishop of Canada.

- A foreword was contributed by Dr. Stella Hryniuk, the first scholar to treat Budka from an historical perspective in the 1980s.

- January 2013: copy-editing and layout of the manuscript commenced. Photographs were collected and their location in the text determined.

- February 2013: a draft layout of the first section of chapter was prepared.

- Due to serious illness, copy-editing and layout temporarily stopped.

- April 2013: copy-editing and layout resumed. a draft layout of the first chapter was completed.
- April–July 2013: The layouts of the entire book are completed.  Copy editing began.

- December 2013: First copy-edit and index are completed.
- May–June 2014: Final copy edit completed
- Sent to the printer 4 July 2014.

Patriotic Pastoral on Dominion Day

Bishop Budka's letter commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation - 1917

Despite accusations to the contrary by his opponents, the Government of Canada always considered Bishop Nykyta Budka to be a key collaborator, especially since he encouraged his fellow Ukrainian immigrants to become faithful and productive Canadians. Below is an English translation of a pastoral letter, written to his flock on 26 June 1917, to commemorate the 50th jubilee of Confederation:

On the first of July of this year, all Canada will celebrate the 50^th Jubilee of Confederation. On this occasion I write these few words to You, My Dear Faithful.

The first two hundred years of the known history of Canada were filled with conflicts over the possession of this new land, and they ended with the Treaty of Paris in the year 1763, when France renounced all rights to Canada and Canada became a British colony. The struggle over the the form of government and the efforts for the progress of Canada filled the next hundred years of history under the rule of Great Britain.  In the year 1840 the so-called Lower and Upper Canada (Ontario and Quebec) united in one entity by an Act of Union by the British Government and thenceforth parliaments and a governor have governed a united Canada. But certain statesmen, who are known as the Fathers of Confederation,  in each of the individual provinces of British North America, wanted to see all the provinces united in one entity.  When this idea became generally accepted, the sought-after British North America Act was issued by Queen Victoria, and it came into force on 1 July 1867.  [...]

Thus, the first day of July is called Dominion Day in Canada, as the British North America Act established the the constitution of Canada which is in force to this day.  On 1 July of this year 50 years will have passed since this important event, and this day will be thus solemnly commemorated everywhere in Canada. The British North America Act is the foundation of Canadian freedom, which has attracted millions of immigrant settlers here, among whom are we freedom-seeking Ukrainians.  In taking advantage of Canadian freedom, we also have the duty to  know her history and to rejoice in those advantages which developed from the wise and progressive foundations which were laid by Queen Victoria and the Fathers of Confederation.

This July 1 is the day when Canada will commemorate its fiftieth year of life as an independent country and as a free part of the British Empire. When we look back at those 50 years in the life of Canada, we see that her rapid  progress, in such a short time, is not found anywhere else in the history of nations. Railways, schools, cities, roads, commerce, manufacturing etc., indeed the whole appearance and life of Canada has so advanced in these 50 years that we can only attribute this progress to the particular blessing of God, to Whom we must render thanks on this 1 July.  In embracing this historical jubilee day, every citizen and resident of Canada can only thank God for a 50 year-achievement which shines in our eyes so brightly and in which light we live today. We thank the Giver of all good for all the things with which He has blessed the wonderful country in which we have the honor and good fortune to live.

And when we remember that, today, in the name and for the sake of our Dominion, thousands of her citizens have borne their breasts to fire and bayonet, we stand in solidarity with them Everyone must see that it is in the interest of all Canadian citizens that the sacrifice of her citizens will bring Canada the greatest glory and advantage.  Thus, on this jubilee day, we lay before the altar of the Almighty and Just God our ardent prayers, that He would deign to shorten the days of war to the glory and honour of all Canadians. On this day, let us forget where we came from and let us be only by citizens of our Dominion and rejoice in her first fiftieth jubilee.  May this be a day of rejoicing for all citizens of Canada, with a joy which unites one to another and all of us to the Dominion. May this be a true Dominion Day!

The Federal Government and all the provinces individually want this celebration to be marked especially in churches with thanksgiving for the past and with petitions for the prosperous future of Canada. Citizens should make every effort so that this jubilee Dominion Day will be long remembered. I desire that all of my Dear Faithful, especially children, worthily and actively celebrate this holiday.  And it is with this in mind that I am writing this letter explaining it to them.  Accordingly, I decree that:

On this day, let everyone celebrate together. Let the children go to the children’s hall of the school where they went during the last school year. Let everyone take part in the speeches, celebrations, parades, and processions which are scheduled in their areas on 1 and 2 July. And in the churches let us pray to God for Canada our home; for her and our happy future. On the Sunday the 1^st of  July, the Revrerend Pastors shall also add to the ordinary second intention and Ektene [litany] of Peace the intention of thanksgiving for the past blessings of Canada and a petition for her happy future, and the ektene for general intention of the citizens of Canada. After the [liturgical] celebration, let the children sing: God save the King.  A short lesson on the meaning of this jubilee Dominion Day is to be given at the Church services or preferably during the public celebrations, so that everyone would understand the reason for rejoicing and be edified.

May the Loving Lord bless You all with a happy future.      +Nykyta

Traveller's Guide: Bishop Budka's First Pastoral Letter

A new electronic library project has posted an online scan of Blessed Nykyta Budka's first pastoral letter Traveler's Guide for Ruthenians who are going to Canada (Дороговказ для Русинів, що ідуть до Канади). This document was published a hundred years ago on 5 April 1913 and was followed by a second pastoral letter on 20 April entitled On the Need to Organize (О потребі організації).  

The second letter is written in the form of a traditional pastoral letter and so it is often mistakenly referred to as Budka's first pastoral.  However, the Travellers Guide is clearly labelled "Pastoral Letter." on its cover and frontispiece. The reason for the confusion is that, unlike On the Need to Organize, Traveler's Guide is not written in the traditional form. Although it does fulfull the criteria of being a message on faith and morals, Bishop Budka chose to compose his first address to his flock in the style of a handbook for Ukrainian Greek-Catholic immigrants to Canada. This informal style was the tone with which he had been familiar while serving as consultant for Ukrainian emigration to the Archeparchy of Lviv and Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. 

Written in their own language and in a paternal but informal voice, this pamphlet cautioned against the tempting offers and free gifts of religious proselytizers and work-agents seeking to take advantage of the newcomer’s ignorance.  Bishop Nykyta advised his flock not to change their itineraries, and concluded by encouraging them not to neglect their spiritual welfare religious assistance: “Once you have settled in, find out where there is a Ruthenian priest.  Invite him to visit your settlement and to help you to organize a parish.” It is significant that, before setting out a formal pastoral program, Budka went to the heart of his people’s religious problems: the fact that they were being proselytized from the very moment they set foot in their new land.  

English translations of pastoral messages may be found in Pioneer Bishop: The Story of Bishop Nicetas Budka’s fifteen years in Canada. Published in 1990 by Knights of Columbus Council 5914, Regina, Saskatchewan.

Evolutio: A snippet of Budka's second pastoral letter, On The Need to Organize, was posted under the heading "For Your Good and Your Gain".

Bishop Budka's Enthronement

"Bishop Budka Enthroned on Sunday Last"

(22 December 1912)

With Father Dydyk, Toronto 1913

Immense Concourse of Ruthenian Catholics Assemble for the Ceremony at St. Nicholas Church and Thousands Failed to Secure Admission

 In last week’s issue we announced the arrival on Thursday morning of His Lordship Bishop Budka, head of the Ruthenian Catholic Church in Canada, and we recited in a general way the joy experienced by the Ruthenian Catholics at his arrival. He was met at the station by a representative delegation of priests and laymen and escorted to St. Nicholas presbytery. On Friday His Lordship paid a visit to St. Boniface. Since then he has been exceptionally busy and has accomplished a great deal.

Bishop Enthroned

On Sunday [22 December] Bishop Budka was enthroned in his new episcopal seat at St. Nicholas Church on MacGregor St. Wearing the gorgeous robe of the Ruthenian episcopate and with a crown on his head His Lordship Bishop Budka proceeded from the residence of the Basilian Fathers to the Church where he was received by the representatives of the congregation and where he was presented with the keys to the church by Rev. Father Filipow, Superior of the Basilians, as a token of submission. The church was packed to its utmost capacity at the pontifical High Mass which was celebrated and fully two thousand Ruthenian Catholics were obliged to remain outside during the services. His Lordship Bishop Budka officiated, assisted by Rev. Fathers Dydyk, Delaere, Kryzhanovsky, and Hura, the two later being from Mundare, Alberta, respectively. Rev. Father Sembratovych acted a Master of ceremonies and was assisted by the Bishop’s secretary Rev. Father Bala.

Eloquent Sermon

After taking his nomination Bulla Bishop Budka addressed the congregation in an eloquent sermon in which he recited the past achievements of the Ruthenian people and their heroic struggles for the Catholic Faith. After the ceremony the Te Deum was chanted and the procession re-formed and processed to the residence of the Basilian Fathers. [...]

Basilian Fathers as Hosts

In the afternoon a dinner was given by the Basilian Fathers in honour of the new bishop. Among the guests were His Grace Archbishop Langevin. The Pope, King George, and Archbishop Langevin were toasted by His Lordship Bishop Budka.

— Exerpts from Northwest Review (28 December 1912)

Blessed Nykyta and Saint Nicholas

St. Nicholas side altar in Budka's home parish,
Dobromirka, Zbarazh District, Ukraine

Providential Coincidences in the Life of Nykyta Budka

The life of Blessed Martyr Nykyta Budka is characterized by several interesting coincidences. Some of these have to do with coinciding dates of key events in his life.  Another coincidence is his connection with the person of Saint Nicholas, who is called the Wonderworker in the Byzantine tradition. 

Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycea, is a very popular saint in the Byzantine Churches.  Virtually every icon screen includes his image.  In Ukraine, many churches and monasteries have him as their patron and the Church celebrates him with two important feast days: December 6/19, known popularly as "winter Nicholas," and May 9/22, known as "summer Nicholas." The second commemoration was introduced by the Slavic Churches to commemorate the "transfer" of his relics by the Crusaders to Bari, Italy, where they are venerated until the present day.

Although he is known by the title of Myra in Lycea (Мир Ликійський), Saint Nicholas did not originate in Myra.  He was born in nearby Patara (Παταρευς), named after Apollo's son, Patarus, who was said to have founded the city. Patara is mentioned once in the Holy Scriptures, in the Acts of the Apostles, in a account of a sea journey to Tyre by Saint Paul the Apostle (Acts 21:1–3).

In August 1912 the Apostolic See of Rome designated the city of Patara as the titular (honourary) seat of Bishop Budka's bishopric.  The reason for this was that Budka had not been appointed bishop over a territory per se, since there were no Byzantine-Rite eparchies in Canada, only Latin dioceses. Budka was given personal jurisdiction over all Ruthenian Greek-Catholics in Canada and his diocese was called an "ordinariate" (later re-named apostolic exarchate in accord with Eastern Christian nomenclature).

Titular sees were bishoprics that had ceased to function as real dioceses.  Many of them were ancient Christian centres located in territories which had since fallen under Islamic Rule.  Often, as in the case of Patara in Anatolian Turkey inside the Ottoman Empire, there were no Christians living there at all.  Titular sees were given to curial bishops and auxiliary bishops who were not appointed to govern dioceses of their own, or to bishops such as Budka who held jurisdiction over certain faithful but not over a territory per se.

The possibility of creating a territorial diocese for Nykyta Budka had been discussed. This would have involved subtracting territory from an existing Roman-Rite diocese, perhaps where there was a large Ukrainian population, and giving it to Budka.  The reason why this option was rejected was that, in order to minister to Greek-Catholics outside that small territory, Budka would have still required additional, delegated jurisdiction from every Roman Catholic bishop in whose dioceses those faithful resided.  Instead, the Apostolic See of Rome, with its the universal jurisdiction, placed all Ruthenian Greek-Catholics in Canada under his spiritual care and assigned Budka a dormant titular see, designating the city of Winnipeg as his real seat.

Titular sees were a kind of legal fiction so, when composing the papal bull, the Apostolic Chancery used the following technical wording to have Pope Pius X nominate Budka: "because the church of Patara is numbered among the merely titular sees, We grant that you are in no way obligated to go to it nor personally reside there."

Saint Nicholas of Myra, the Wonderworker
St. Nicholas Church, Winnipeg

While not obligated to reside in Patara, Bishop Budka was indeed bound to take formal possession of his ordinariate at Winnipeg.  In doing so, three coincidences occurred:  The new bishop arrived in Canada on 6 December, the feast of Saint Nicholas according to the Gregorian Calendar.  He arrived in his de facto episcopal seat, Winnipeg, on 19 December, Saint Nicholas Day in the Julian Calendar.  Finally, Bishop Nykyta was enthroned in the parish church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on 22 December 1912.  It is also interesting to note that, from 1922 to 1928 drawn-out negotiations were taking place that would likely have made Saint Nicholas, the first Ukrainian church in Winnipeg, Bishop Budka's cathedral church. 

Two other key dates in the bishop's life of service were 28 September and 14 October.  Budka was ordained a deacon on 28 December 1905.  We now know that this was also the date of his birthday into heaven, the date that his Soviet captors in Kazakhstan recorded on his death certificate in 1949.  Further Blessed Nykyta was ordained a priest on the feast day of the Protection (Patronage) of the Mother of God, 14 October (Julian Calendar). This was the same date that he had chosen to receive the episcopal consecration in 1912.  Kazakhstani records also indicate that he was admitted to a military hospital on this day in 1947, his thirty-fifth episcopal anniversary.  It is not clear whether he ever left this facility before his death two years later.

From an historical point of view, these dates are simply interesting coincidences, From a Christian perspective, which sees God's hand working the human history, we can rightly refer to these dates a signs of Divine Providence in the life of Blessed Martyr Nykyta of Patara in Lycea, bishop of the Ruthenian-Ukrainian Catholics of Canada.

The First Biography of Bishop Budka

Bishop Budka, Fathers Jean and Bala.
Sifton, January 1913

In such a situation the responsibility before God and history is great.

– Budka to Cardinal Sincero, 14 January 1928

One-hundred years ago, on Friday, 6 December 1912, Bishop Nykyta Budka arrived in Canada.  He and his two priest companions, Lev Sembratovych and Yosyf Bala, had boarded the Canadian Pacific ship Empress of Britain at Liverpool, England, on 29 November and after a rough Atlantic crossing the ship docked at the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, one week later.  

Only a few months before, in August, the Empress of Britain had been forced to return to port after colliding with a cargo vessel, and the Titanic had sunk off the coast of Newfoundland in April 1912.  Neither Budka nor Bala had ever travelled on an ocean liner and both became very sea-sick during the crossing. The experienced Sembratovych had been across the ocean several times, having served as a missionary in the United States and Canada since 1907.  He was the nephew of two Ukrainian Catholic metropolitans, Yosyf (1821–1900) and Sylvester (1836–1898), the latter having been made a cardinal in 1895.  Father Lev was acting as a guide and advisor to the new bishop whereas the recently-ordained Bala had accepted Budka's invitation to be his secretary.

Sembratovych and Budka,
Kolomya 1912

On Saturday, 7 December the Empress of Britain continued on to St. John, New Brunswick, where Budka and his companions disembarked.  They continued on to Montreal and celebrated their First Divine Liturgy on Canadian soil on Sunday, 8 December.  Bala went on to Winnipeg to prepare for the bishop's enthronement while Budka and Sembratovych visited Canadian church and civil dignitaries in Ottawa and Toronto.  They arrived in Winnipeg on 19 December, the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker according to the Julian Calendar. Three days later, on Sunday, 22 December 1912, Bishop Budka was enthroned at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church.

After only three months in Canada, in March 1913, Budka sent Sembratovych back to Austrian Galicia (western Ukraine) to recruit priests to serve in Canada.  A year later, in January 1914, Bala asked to return to his homeland in order to enter the religious life as a Redemptorist.  Bishop Budka reluctantly gave Bala permission to do so on condition that he would return to Canada upon completion of his noviciate training.  However, when the First World War broke out in August 1914, neither Bala nor Sembratovych were in a position to leave Austria-Hungary, let alone come to Canada, a country with which this Empire was at war. Following the War Father Sembratovych returned to serve in the United States, and Father Bala kept his promise and, returned to Canada to served in the Eastern-Rite Redemptorist missions.

After Bishop Budka's return to Ukraine in 1929 he was somewhat forgotten in Canada. Father Yosyf Bala, however, had not forgotten him. As works began to appear describing the bishop in a negative light, Canadian Ukrainian Catholics decided to tell another side of the story of their first hierarch. And who better to tell it than the only living eyewitness to the beginning of that mission, Budka's first secretary. In 1952 Bala published the first biography of Nykyta Budka entitled Перший Український Єпископ Канади Кир Никита Будка: В сороклітній ювілей оснування українсько-католицької ієрерхії в Канаді (The First Ukrainian Bishop of Canada Kyr Nykyta Budka: on the Fourtieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Ukrainian-Catholic Hierarchy in Canada).  This book is now available online.  In his biography Bala described their sea crossing, their arrival in Canada, and the many challenges of their first year of missionary labour among the Ukrainian immigrants. 

Until  now Bala's work, a mixture of hagiography and history, had remained the only biography of Bishop  Budka. In 1991 the Bishop Budka Council of the Knights of Columbus in Regina, Saskatchewan, released Bala's work in English (with other articles) in a volume entitled Pioneer Bishop: The Story of Bishop Nicetas Budka’s fifteen years in Canada.

A comprehensive historical biography is soon to be released by the Eparchy of Edmonton and Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute.  It's title is God's Martyr, History's Witness: Blessed Nykyta Budka, the first Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishop of Canada.

Responsabilitas coram Deo et historia est in tali situatione magna.

Audience of the Saints and Blessed

One Hundred Years since Pius X received Nykyta Budka

Blessed Nykyta Budka often recalled his life-changing meeting with the reigning pontiff, Pope Pius X, on 7 November 1912. On his way from Austrian Galicia to Canada, Budka stopped in Vienna for an audience with his sovereign, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria-Hungary, and in Rome with the Pope. Pius X was a rigorous man with a gentle heart. The Servant of God, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, also had life-changing meetings with this saintly Pope. The following is Blessed Budka's account of the papal audience written on the occasion of his Ad limina apostolorum visit to Rome in December 1922:

The words of the Holy Father Pius X of worthy memory, spoken to me in blessing my mission, are truly the following: “Your diocese is the largest in the whole world. But I rejoice in seeing you so young. You have a very wide territory so you can fly. You cannot do everything, so do what you can. You cannot lose your people because you have two treasures. I well know thus about the Ruthenian people: your people loves the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and the Most Blessed Sacrament [of the Eucharist]. With these treasures, you cannot lose your people. Go with confidence. 

Five years later, in an official report to the Apostolic See, Budka again recalled the holy pontiff's words:

The words said to me by the Holy Father Pius X, of most pious memory, [...] are always in my ears and were a stimulus to me, a help, and consolation, and often an admonition to go forward more and more.

This was the first and last time Budka would meet the Pope who appointed him.  Budka was not able to return to Rome for another ten years.  Meanwhile, broken-hearted by the news of the outbreak of the First World War, Pius X died on 20 August 1914.  He was beatified in 1951 and canonized in 1954. 

[An sorter version post was published in 2010]

Blessed Budka Website

Natalia Radovetz, curator of the St. Volodymyr Museum of the Archepacrhy of Winnipeg, has launched the long-awaited Blessed Nykyta Budka website.  Am happy to have been a contributor.  Stay tuned for new content.

Blessed Budka's Birthday into Heaven

Blessed Nykyta Budka was arrested in Lviv by the Soviets on 11 April 1945 and transported to Kyiv the following day.  For the next twelve months he was interrogated and tried for 'crimes' against the Soviet Union and the Communist Party.  A military tribunal sentenced him to five-years imprisonment on 29 May 1946.  After that he vanished and, for over ten years, no one knew his whereabouts or even if he was alive.  It was rumoured that Budka was being held in Siberia.  Instead, he was among the many innocent people who had been sent to prison camps near Karaganda, Kazahstan.  After Stalin's death, Soviet authorities began to release the survivors. These men and women were finally able to tell the stories about those who had lived and died in the gulag.  Among the survivors from Kazakhstan were Blessed Bishops Ivan Liatyshevsky and Aleksander Khira, and future-archbishop, Father Volodymyr Sterniuk. In 1958 Soviet authorities finally confirmed that Nykyta Budka had died close to 1 October 1949, but more precise dates and details are still lacking to this day.  

Budka and other Ukrainian Catholics who had been criminalized by a criminal regime were politically rehabilitated in September 1991.  This occurred less than a month after Ukrainian independence, with the Soviet 'Union' still officially in existence and the Communist Party having been declared illegal.  Yet no official follow-up to the case has ever occurred, even though Canadian Ukrainians had asked their government for a redress to the Budka case in 1989.

Kazahstani authorities have only recently confirmed that Budka served out his sentence at the Karadzhar prison camp near Karaganda, where he died of heart disease on 28 September 1949. Additional documentation, obtained unofficially in 1995, further specifies that Budka arrived at the camp on 5 July 1946 and was admitted to a nearby hospital on 14 October 1947, the feast-day of his patron, the Protection of the Mother of God according to the Julian calendar.  That day was also the forty-second anniversary of his priestly ordination and the thirty-fifth of his episcopal ordination.  Even the date of his death occurred on  the forty-second anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate.

In 1988 Archbishop Stereniuk recounted a story that he had heard in the camps about Budka dying at a hospital and his remains being left in the forest never to be found.  The documents we now possess are contradictory: one states that he died in the Dzhartas hospital and his body was transported back to the prison camp to be examined and buried at the prison cemetery on 2 October.  This version would explain the origin of some of the legends about the disappearance of his remains from the hospital.  Other documents state that he died at the prison camp itself, still classified perhaps as a hospital outpatient. 

Resolving the discrepancies in the existing data and verifying existing documentation requires better cooperation between Ukrainian Catholic representatives and government institutions in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia. The best way to obtain the truth would be for the  Government of Canada to request a full investigation into the details of the imprisonment and death of a Canadian citizen now honored as a blessed-martyr by 13 million Catholics throughout Canada and 1 billion Catholics throughout the world.

Redress and Investigate the Bishop Budka Case

“I am writing to draw the matter to your attention, and to formally request redress by the Canadian government. [...] According to the Canadian Red Cross, Bishop Budka is known to have died in exile in Karaganda, Kazakhstan Soviet Socialist Republic on October 1, 1949 [28 September]. [...] 

The Ukrainian Catholic Council of Canada, following consultation with Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk, Archbishop of Canada, is requesting your assistance in making an official inquiry of Soviet officials as to the specific circumstances surrounding Bishop Budka’s death, and the location of his burial place. Furthermore we are requesting that the Canadian government seek formal acknowledgement from Soviet authorities that the Soviet regime arrested and sentenced Bishop Budka to hard labor in Siberia fully aware that he was, at the material time, a Canadian citizen. 

Our request is being made at this time in preparation for the Centennial celebrations of Ukrainian immigration to Canada in 1991. The laity, in conjunction with our Church hierarchy, intend to pay special tribute to the late Bishop Budka, as the first Ukrainian Catholic bishop for Canada, and to recognize him for his many outstanding achievements as our spiritual leader.  Because many Ukrainian Canadians consider Bishop Budka as a martyr and confessor of the Faith it is essential to present to all Ukrainian Catholics in Canada and abroad a full accounting of his death.”

– Robert Herchak, President of the Ukrainian Catholic Council of Canada, to The Right Honorable Joe Clarke, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Victoria, 26 May 1989.

Note: Through his beatification by Blessed John Paul II in June 2001, Budka was formally recognized “as a martyr and confessor of the Faith,” venerated by 1 billion Catholics worldwide, including 13 million Canadians (being the largest religious denomination in Canada).

Budka was appointed by St. Pius X as Bishop for the Ruthenian-Ukrainian Catholics of the Byzantine Rite (Greek-Catholics) one hundred years ago today, on 15 July 1912.

An Overview of the History of the Ukrainian Catholic Church

In the wake of the ad limina visit by Eastern Catholic bishops from the USA, Ann Schneible interviewed me for ZENIT on the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church:

DISCOVERING AN EASTERN CHURCH: Historian Explains History and Significance of the Ukrainian Church

Bishop Budka's Real Name

Nykyta, Mykyta or Victor?

On 15 July 1912, Pope Pius X appointed thirty-five year old priest, Nykyta Budka, as the first bishop for Ukrainian Greek-Catholics in the vast Dominion of Canada. Budka was born on 7 June 1877 in the village of Dobromirka, in the Zbarazh district of what is now the Ternopil province of Western Ukraine. At the time it was part of "Kingdom" of Galicia and Lodomiria which was part of Austria-Hungary. His parents Michael and Maria chose for his patron saint, the Greek martyr Nykyta (Nicetas).

As a child and later as a young man he excelled in his studies. In 1897 he graduated from the Ternopil gymnasium (high school) with honors after which he studied law for four years at the University of Lemberg (Lviv). He wanted to enter the seminary and begin theological studies but first he had to to perform his mandatory military service in Vienna.

1901 was a turbulent and eventful year in Austrian Galicia. In the capital city of Lemberg, Ukrainian students walked out of the University in protest against discrimination by the Polish administration. The newly-enthroned Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky supported them in their quest and withdrew his seminarians from the University, sending them instead of the prestigious Jesuit-run Canisianum college in Innsbruck. Nykyta Budka completed his military service the following year and, resuming his priestly formation, he too was sent by the metropolitan to the Canisianum. There he joined the ranks of fellow Ukrainian seminarians, some of whom were destined to play leading roles in the Ukrainian Church. Among their number we Yosyf Slipyj, future head of the Church, Kazimierz Sheptytsky, the future Father Klymenti, brother of Metropolitan and archimandrite of the Studite monks; Yosyf Botsian, the future bishop of Lutsk; Konstantyn Bohachevsky, future metropolitan of the United States; Ivan Latyshevsky and Andri Ischak, who were to share Budka's fate of arrest, imprisonment and the crown of martyrdom for the Catholic Faith.

In Innsbruck, Budka appeared to have changed his name, which seems strange since secular clergy do not take religious names. The college academic records list him not under his baptismal name of Nykyta but as Viktor, which is simply a Latin translation of Νικήτας (Nicetas), a victor. The name derives from νίκη (victory).  It was often the custom in Jesuit universities to take Latin names.  The founder of the order itself, Iñigo Loiolakoa, who took the name Ignatius de Loyola, after the ancient Church Father, when entering the university.  So too the namesake of the Canisianum, St. Peter Canisius, is probably a latinization (canis) of the Dutch de Hondt.

Upon arriving in Canada the anti-Catholic Ukrainian press began to make fun of the new bishop and to look for anything that would limit his authority among the Canadian Ukrainian population. In one issue of the notorious but short-lived Kropylo Budka, who was actually a very patriotic Ukrainian, was chided for his lack of Ukrainian identity. Among other things, Kropylo accused him of changing his name from the modern Ukrainian form Mykyta to the archaic ecclesiastical form Nykyta. Universally, at the time and even today, ecclesiastics often use or retain the archaic slavonic version of their names. Notably, Metropolitan Sheptytsky never adopted the modern-Ukrainian Andriy but always retained the older Andrey. The same is true for Konstantyn Bohachevsky, who never adopted Kostyantyn. If the journal had known about the Innsbruck documents, then there might have been even more controversy over Bishop Budka's name.