Bienheureux Émilien Kovc, prêtre et martyr
Omeljan Kovc (1884-1944) prêtre ukrainien mourut martyr au camp de concentration de Majdanek, près de Lublin en Pologne, l’an 1944 pour avoir lutté pour la foi.
Bienheureux Émilien Kovc
Prêtre ukrainien martyr (+ 1944)
Omeljan Kovc (1884-1944) prêtre ukrainien martyr au camp de concentration de Majdanek béatifié le 27 juin 2001 par Jean-Paul II à Lviv - homélie en français - biographie en italien
Au camp de concentration de Majdanek, près de Lublin en Pologne, l’an 1944, le bienheureux Émilien Kove, prêtre de Lvov en Ukraine et martyr, qui y fut déporté au cours de la seconde guerre mondiale et y perdit la vie pour avoir lutté pour la foi.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11536/Bienheureux-%C9milien-Kovc.html
Bienheureux Émile KOVCH
Nom: KOVCH (KOVC)
Prénom: Emile (Omeljan)
Pays: Ukraine
Naissance: 20.08.1884 à Kosmach (près de Kosiv)
Mort: 25.03,1944 au camp de concentration de
Majdanek
Etat: Prêtre marié (rite oriental) - Martyr
Note: Prêtre de l'Église gréco-catholique en 1911.
Ministère en Galicie et en Bosnie auprès des immigrés ukrainiens. Curé près de
Lviv. Défenseur des Juifs pendant l'invasion allemande. Meurt au camp de
concentration de Majdanek.
Béatification: 27.06.2001 à Lviv par Jean
Paul II
Canonisation:
Fête: 25 mars
Réf. dans l’Osservatore Romano: 2001 n.27 p.9-10
Réf. dans la Documentation Catholique: 2001 n.15
p.747-749
Notice
Emilian (Émile) Kovch naît le 20 août 1884 à Kosmach près de Kosiv en Ukraine orientale. Son père est un prêtre gréco-catholique de rite oriental. (Dans ce rite il y a des prêtres mariés; le bienheureux Emilian le sera aussi.) Il étudie philosophie et théologie à Lviv, puis à Rome au collège ukrainien et à l'Université urbanienne. Ordonné en 1911, il exerce d'abord son ministère sacerdotal en Galicie , puis en Bosnie (Yougoslavie) parmi les immigrés ukrainiens. En 1919, il devient aumônier de l'armée ukrainienne engagée contre les troupes bolcheviques. De 1921 à 1941, il est curé à Peremychlyony, village de 5'000 habitants des environs de Lviv. C'est un prêtre plein de zèle et son apostolat est dynamique. Sa maison connue comme "la maison où les anges volent sur le toit" offre toujours un abri aux enfants pauvres et orphelins, bien qu'il ait déjà lui-même six enfants. Au cours de la dure occupation allemande, il se prodigue pour combattre l'anti-sémitisme, car son village est peuplé en majorité de juifs. Il les aide et les baptise en masse sur leur demande pour mettre leur vie à l'abri de la persécution, mais l'occupant interdit cela. Il est arrêté en décembre 1942 et jeté en prison. De nombreuses personnalités, dont le métropolite André Cheptytsky, alors à la tête de l'Église gréco-catholique, font tout leur possible pour obtenir sa libération. Quant à lui, il ne faiblit pas comme en témoigne cet extrait de son interrogatoire par un officier de la Gestapo: "Est-ce que vous saviez qu'il était interdit de baptiser les Juifs? - Je n'en savais rien. - Et maintenant, vous le savez? - Oui - Est-ce que vous continuerez à les baptiser? - Bien sûr."
En août 1943, il est transféré dans un camp de concentration à Majdanek. Là il vit une expérience de communion dans la souffrance qui lui fait écrire: "Hormis le ciel, c'est l'unique endroit où je voudrais être. Ici nous sommes tous égaux: les Polonais, les Juifs, les Ukrainiens, les Russes, les Lettoniens et les Estoniens. Je suis le seul prêtre ici. Lorsque je célèbre la liturgie, ils prient tous. Chacun dans sa langue. Mais est-ce que Dieu ne comprend pas toutes les langues? Ici, je vois Dieu, Dieu est le même pour tous, en dépit des différences de religion qui nous séparent." Il écrit aussi: "Priez pour ceux qui ont construit ce camp et le système… Que le Seigneur prenne pitié d'eux." La veille de sa mort il écrit encore aux siens qui faisaient des démarches pour le libérer: "Je vous en prie, ne le faites pas. Hier ils ont tué 50 hommes. Si je n'étais pas là, qui les aiderait à supporter de telles souffrances? Que pourrais-je demander de plus au Seigneur? Ne vous inquiétez pas pour moi. Réjouissez-vous avec moi…" Il meurt brûlé dans les fours crématoires le 25 mars 1944. En 1999, il a été reconnu comme un "Ukrainien juste" par le Conseil des Juifs d'Ukraine.
(Pour le contexte historique, voir la notice des 25 martyrs d'Ukraine) 2
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/hagiographie/fiches/f0545.htm
Bx Omeljan (Émilien) Kovč
Prêtre ukrainien et martyr
Omeljan Kovč naît le 20 août 1884 à Kosmach près
de Kosiv en Ukraine orientale. Son père est un prêtre gréco-catholique de rite
oriental. (Dans ce rite il y a des prêtres mariés; le bienheureux Émilien le
sera aussi.)
Il étudie philosophie et théologie à Lviv, puis à Rome au collège ukrainien et à l’Université urbanienne. Ordonné en 1911, il exerce d’abord son ministère sacerdotal en Galicie, puis en Bosnie (Yougoslavie) parmi les immigrés ukrainiens.
En 1919, il devient aumônier de l’armée ukrainienne
engagée contre les troupes bolcheviques. De 1921 à 1941, il est curé à
Peremychlyony, village de 5000 habitants des environs de Lviv. C’est un prêtre
plein de zèle et son apostolat est dynamique. Sa maison connue comme « la
maison où les anges volent sur le toit » offre toujours un abri aux
enfants pauvres et orphelins, bien qu’il ait déjà lui-même six enfants.
Au cours de la dure occupation allemande, il se
prodigue pour combattre l’antisémitisme, car son village est peuplé en majorité
de juifs. Il les aide et les baptise en masse sur leur demande pour mettre leur
vie à l’abri de la persécution, mais l’occupant interdit cela. Il est arrêté en
décembre 1942 et jeté en prison. De nombreuses personnalités, dont le
métropolite André Cheptytsky, alors à la tête de l’Église gréco-catholique,
font tout leur possible pour obtenir sa libération. Quant à lui, il ne faiblit
pas comme en témoigne cet extrait de son interrogatoire par un officier de la
Gestapo: « Est-ce que vous saviez qu’il était interdit de baptiser
les Juifs? “Je n’en savais rien” - Et maintenant, vous le savez? “Oui” Est-ce
que vous continuerez à les baptiser? “Bien sûr”».
En août 1943, il est transféré dans un camp de
concentration à Majdanek. Là il vit une expérience de communion dans la
souffrance qui lui fait écrire: « Hormis le ciel, c’est l’unique endroit
où je voudrais être. Ici nous sommes tous égaux : les Polonais, les Juifs, les
Ukrainiens, les Russes, les Lettoniens et les Estoniens. Je suis le seul prêtre
ici. Lorsque je célèbre la liturgie, ils prient tous. Chacun dans sa langue.
Mais est-ce que Dieu ne comprend pas toutes les langues? Ici, je vois Dieu,
Dieu est le même pour tous, en dépit des différences de religion qui nous
séparent. »
Il écrit aussi: « Priez pour ceux qui ont
construit ce camp et le système… Que le Seigneur prenne pitié d’eux. » La
veille de sa mort il écrit encore aux siens qui faisaient des démarches pour le
libérer : « Je vous en prie, ne le faites pas. Hier ils ont tué 50 hommes.
Si je n’étais pas là, qui les aiderait à supporter de telles souffrances? Que
pourrais-je demander de plus au Seigneur? Ne vous inquiétez pas pour moi.
Réjouissez-vous avec moi… ».
Il meurt brûlé dans les fours crématoires le 25 mars
1944. En 1999, il a été reconnu comme un « Ukrainien juste » par le
Conseil des Juifs d’Ukraine.
Omeljan Kovč a été élevé à la gloire des autels
le 27 juin 2001, à Lviv (Ukraine) par le Bx Jean Paul II
(>>> Homélie en français).
Sources principales : abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/ ; vatican.va
SOURCE : http://blog.la-boutique-des-chretiens.com/bx-omeljan-emilien-kovc/
Bx Emilian Kovc, prêtre marié, martyr, bienheureux
*[25
mars
Bx Omeljan (Emilien) Kovč (Kovtch), prêtre ukrainien et martyr du
nazisme. Il est né le 20 août 1884 à Kosmach, dans la région de
Kosiv. Son père était prêtre. Il étudia la philosophie et la théologie à Rome,
au Collège ukrainien, tout en fréquentant l’Urbaniana. Il se maria et eut six
enfants. Après son ordination sacerdotale en 1911, comme prêtre de l’Eparchie
de Stanislaviv (actuellement Ivano-Frankivsk, en Ukraine), il commença son
ministère en Galicie, et ensuite, comme volontaire, en Bosnie, parmi les
émigrés ukrainiens. En 1919 il devint chapelain militaire dans l’armée
ukrainienne. De 1922 à 1941, il fut curé à Peremyschljany, dont les habitants
étaient en majorité juifs. C’était un prêtre plein de zèle apostolique. Il
aidait les pauvres autant qu’il le pouvait. De sa maison les paroissiens
disaient : « sur cette maison volent les anges ». Pendant
l’occupation allemande, il faisait tout pour combattre l’antisémitisme. Il
aidait les Juifs comme il pouvait, en les baptisant même, s’ils le demandaient,
pour les protéger. Pour cette raison, il fut arrêté et incarcéré dans une
prison de Lviv en décembre 1942. La Gestapo l’interrogea : « Est-ce
que vous saviez qu’il était interdit de baptiser les Juifs ? – Je n’en
savais rien. – Et maintenant, vous le savez ? – Oui. – Est-ce que vous
continuerez à les baptiser ? – Bien sûr. » Il fut transféré en août
1943 au camp de concentration de Majdanek, en Pologne. Il y célébrait
secrètement la sainte liturgie et confessait. Après avoir appris que sa famille
faisait tout ce qu’elle pouvait pour qu’il soit libéré, il leur écrivit :
« Je vous prie de ne pas le faire. Hier ils ont assassiné 50 hommes. Si je
n’étais pas avec eux, qui les aiderait à supporter de telles souffrances ?
Ne vous inquiétez pas pour moi. Réjouissez-vous avec moi ». De son
expérience de communion dans la souffrance à Majdanek il disait : « A
part le ciel, c’est l’unique endroit où je voudrais être. Ici, nous sommes tous
égaux, les Polonais, les Juifs, les Ukrainiens, les Russes, les Lettons et les
Estoniens. Ici, je vois Dieu, Dieu qui est le même pour tous, en dépit des
différences de religion qui existent entre nous. » Il mourut dans ce camp
le 25 mars 1944. Dans une lettre aux siens il avait écrit : « Priez
pour ceux qui ont organisé ce camp et ce système. Ils n’ont besoin que de
prière. Que Dieu les prenne en pitié. » Il a été reconnu le 9 septembre
1999 comme un Juste Ukrainien par le Conseil Juif d’Ukraine. Il a été
béatifié, avec 25 autres martyrs dont le Bx Mykola (Nicolas) Carneckyj, évêque
ukrainien Exarque Apostolique des Ukrainiens de Volyn’ et Pidljašja, de la
Congrégation du Saint Rédempteur, par Jean-Paul II le 27 juin 2001 en Ukraine
au cours de la Divine Liturgie en rite Byzantin. Fête le 2 avril.
Also known as
Omeljan Kovc
Emilian Kowacz
Profile
Greek Catholic. Seminarian at Lviv, Ukraine and Rome, Italy; graduated from the College of Sergius and Bachus in Rome. Married, and father of six. Ordained in 1911. Worked throughout Galacia, and with Ukrainian immigrants to Yugoslavia. Chaplain to Ukrainian soldiers fighting the Bolsheviks in 1919. Parish priest in 1922 at Peremyshliany, Ukraine, a village of 5,000, most of whom were Jewish. An active priest, he organized pilgrimages and youth groups, and welcomed poor and orphaned children of all faiths into his home.
When the Nazis invaded Ukraine, they began rounding up Jews. To save them, Father Emilian began baptizing them, and listing them as Christians. The Nazis were wise to this trick, and had prohibited it. Emilian continued, but was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1942. Deported to the Majdanek concentration camp in August 1943. There he ministered to prisoners, hearing confessions, and celebrating Mass when possible. Martyred in the ovens.
Recognized on 9 September 1999 as a Righteous Ukrainian by the Jewish Council of Ukraine.
Born
20 August 1884 near Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivs’ka oblast, Ukraine
gassed and burned on 25 March 1944 in the ovens of the Nazi death camp at Majdanek,
Lubelskie, Poland
24 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II at Ukraine
if you have
information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Emilian, contact
Ukrain’ska Greko-Katolits’ka Tserkva
pl.
Sviatoho Yura 5
L’viv 79000, UKRAINE
Readings
With the exception of Heaven, this is the only place I
wish to be. Here we are all the same: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians. I am
the only priest.
When I celebrate the Liturgy, they pray for
all, each one in his own language. Doesn’t God understand
all languages? – Father Kovtch
in a letter from the concentration camp to his children
Yesterday, fifty prisoners were
executed. If I wasn’t here, who would help them endure a moment like that? What
more could I ask the Lord? Don’t worry about me. Rejoice with me! – Father Kovtch
in a letter from the concentration camp to his children
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-emilian-kovch/
Husband, father, and priest, Blessed Emilian saved Jews, scorned Nazis, died a martyr
Meg Hunter-Kilmer - published on 03/23/17
A member of an Eastern Catholic Rite, this hero of the
Church is like another Maximilian Kolbe.
With its wars, persecutions, and oppressive regimes,
the 20th century was an era of saints — martyrs beyond number on every
continent.
Some of these martyrs were seized for living ordinary
Christian lives; others seemed to delight in defying the powers that be.
Blessed Emilian Kovch (1884-1944) was one of the
latter, a married Eastern Catholic priest and father of six who was persecuted
under Communism and Nazism because he refused to lie low while others suffered.
Emilian Kovch was a Ukrainian man, the son of a Greek
Catholic priest. (Though the Greek Catholic Church is union with Rome, it has
some different disciplines; married men in this rite may be ordained priests.)
Emilian was ordained the year after his marriage and
began to work in a parish as an ordinary parish priest. Early 20th-century
Ukraine was no place for ordinary men, however, and Fr. Kovch spent 1919-1921
as a military chaplain. He was captured and briefly held as a prisoner of war,
entirely unaware that this was training for what was to come.
After his service, Fr. Kovch returned to life as a
husband, father, and small-town priest. He cared for orphans and the poor,
organized Eucharistic congresses and pilgrimages, and worked in support of the
Ukrainian independence movement; this last made him a person of interest to the
reigning Polish government.
His house was searched some 40 times and on at
least one occasion he was fined and imprisoned in a monastery. Despite this
constant conflict, he preached passionately against any anti-Polish sentiment
and was heartbroken when some of his parishioners looted the homes of Poles
when the Soviets took over.
Though Fr. Kovch was arrested in the last days of Soviet
rule, he and his two daughters managed to escape, learning soon after that all
the prisoners in their group had been murdered by the Soviets as the Nazis
approached.
With the arrival of the Nazis, Fr. Kovch began to
remind his people that they had a duty to fight anti-Semitism, and soon came
the day to act.
SS troops had chased some local Jews into a synagogue
and were throwing firebombs inside. Without regard for his own safety, this
priest of Jesus Christ raced to the synagogue, blocked the doors, and angrily
ordered the soldiers to go away. To everyone’s shock, they did just that!
Having stared down a mob of Nazis, Fr. Kovch turned to
the synagogue and ran inside, directing the effort to save the people burning
within.
In an attempt to save them from the death camps, Fr.
Kovch began catechizing and baptizing Jews by the thousands, with the approval
of his archbishop, who was himself hiding 1,500 Jews. Despite pressures from
the occupying force (and the dangers incurred by a letter he wrote to Adolf Hitler
himself denouncing Hitler’s fascist policies), Kovch survived a year and a half
before being arrested in December 1942. At one point, his Nazi-defying courage
became evident in an interview conducted by a Gestapo officer:
Officer: Did you know that it is prohibited to baptize
Jews? Fr. Kovch: I didn’t know anything. Officer: Do you now know it? Fr.
Kovch: Yes. Officer: Will you continue to do it? Fr. Kovch: Of course.
Such defiance could only lead to a concentration camp,
where Fr. Kovch celebrated Mass, heard confessions, baptized prisoners,
and counseled men of all faiths and no faith. The only priest in his group of
prisoners, he was the light of Christ shining in the darkness, and when his
family attempted to have him released, he begged them to leave him there:
I understand that you are trying to get me released.
But I beg you not to do this. Yesterday they killed 50 people. If I am not
here, who will help them to get through these sufferings? They would go on
their way to eternity with all their sins and in the depths of unbelief, which
would take them to hell. But now they go to death with their heads held aloft,
leaving all their sins behind them. And so they pass over to the eternal city.
Many who tell the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe say he
was able to offer his life because he had no wife and children to mourn him,
but the life of Bl. Emilian Kovch proves otherwise. Kolbe, like Kovch, was free
to die because he was a follower of Jesus Christ.
Though Kovch surely lamented the grief his wife and
children would endure, he was a Christian first and a priest at that.
In the camp he remained, suffering and serving for
more than a year before dying on March 25, 1944.
Though his feast day is far overshadowed by the
Solemnity of the Annunciation celebrated the same day, Blessed Emilian stands
as a witness to married priests and to all who fight injustice.
Blessed Emilian Kovch, pray for us!
Blessed Omeljan Kovc, 1884-1944 Greek Catholic
Martyr & Righteous Among The Nations
“The Servant of God Fr Emilian Kovch was born on 20 August 1884, near Kosiv.
In 1911, after graduating from the College of Sts Sergius and Bacchus in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood.
In the spring of 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo for aiding Jews.
On 25 March 1944 he was burned to death in the ovens of the Majdanek Nazi death camp.
On 9 September 1999 he was honored with the title “Righteous Ukrainian” by the Jewish Council of Ukraine.”
Here is a translation of John Paul II's homily at the Divine Liturgy with the beatification of 28 Eastern Catholics, at the Lviv Hippodrome.
1. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).
This solemn statement of Christ echoes among us today with particular eloquence, as we proclaim Blessed a group of sons and daughters of this glorious Church of Lviv of the Ukrainians. Most of them were killed in hatred of the Christian faith. Some underwent martyrdom in times close to us, and among those present at today's Divine Liturgy there are some who knew them personally. This land of Halytchyna, which in the course of history has witnessed the growth of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, has been covered, as the unforgettable Metropolitan Yosyf Slipyi used to say, "with mountains of corpses and rivers of blood".
Yours is a living and fruitful community which goes back to the preaching of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, to Saint Vladimir and Saint Olga. The example of the martyrs from different periods of history, but especially from the past century, testifies to the fact that martyrdom is the highest measure of service of God and of the Church. With this celebration we wish to pay homage to the martyrs and to thank the Lord for their fidelity.
2. With this evocative rite of beatification, it is likewise my desire to express the whole Church's gratitude to the People of God in Ukraine for Mykola Carneckyj and his 24 companion Martyrs, as well as for the Martyrs Teodor Romza and Omeljan Kovc, and for the Servant of God Josaphata Michaëlina Hordashevska. Just as the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies in order to give life to the new plant (cf. Jn 12:24), so too did the Blessed offer their lives so that the field of God would bear fruit in a new and more abundant harvest.
As we remember them, I greet all who are taking part in this concelebration: Cardinals Lubomyr Husar and Marian Jaworski, with the Bishops and priests of the Greek-Catholic and Latin Churches. As I greet the present Major Archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians, I recall his predecessors, the Servant of God Andrey Sheptytskyi, the heroic Cardinal Yosyf Slipyj, and the late lamented Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivskyj, who died only recently. As I recall these Pastors, my heart turns with affection to all the sons and daughters of the Greek-Catholic Church of Ukraine, including those in other cities and countries who are following this event by radio and television.
3. The Servants of God who are today inscribed in the Book of the Blessed represent all categories of the ecclesial community: among them are Bishops and priests, monks, nuns, and lay people. They were tested in many ways by the followers of the infamous Nazi and Communist ideologies. Aware of the sufferings which these faithful disciples of Christ were undergoing, my Predecessor Pius XII, sharing in their anguish, expressed his solidarity with those "who are persevering in faith and resisting the enemies of Christianity with the same unswerving fortitude with which their ancestors once resisted". He praised their courage in remaining "faithfully joined to the Roman Pontiff and their Pastors" (Apostolic Letter Orientales Ecclesias, 15 December 1952: AAS 45 [1953], 8).
Strengthened by God's grace they travelled the path of victory to the end. This is the path of forgiveness and reconciliation, the path that leads to the brilliant light of Easter, after the sacrifice of Calvary. These brothers and sisters of ours are the representatives that are known out of a multitude of anonymous heroes - men and women, husbands and wives, priests and consecrated men and women, young people and old - who in the course of the twentieth century, the "century of martyrdom", underwent persecution, violence and death rather than renounce their faith.
How can we fail to recall the far-sighted and solid pastoral activity of the Servant of God, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, whose cause of Beatification is proceeding and whom we hope to see one day in the glory of the Saints? We must refer to his heroic apostolic activity if we are to understand the humanly inexplicable fruitfulness of the Greek-Catholic Church of Ukraine during the dark years of persecution.
4. In my youth I myself was a witness of this kind of "apocalypse". "My priesthood, even at its beginning, was in some way marked by the great sacrifice of countless men and women of my generation" (Gift and Mystery, p. 39). Their memory must not be lost, for it is a blessing. We admire them and we are grateful to them: like an icon of the Gospel of the Beatitudes which they lived even to the shedding of blood, they are a sign of hope for our times and for the times to come. They have shown that love is stronger than death.
In their resistance to the mystery of evil, the strength of faith and of the grace of Christ was able to shine brightly, despite human weakness (cf. 2 Cor 12:9-10). Their unconquered witness has shown itself to be the seed of new Christians (cf. Tertullian, Apol., 50, 13: CCL 1, 171).
Together with them Christians of other confessions were also persecuted and killed on account of Christ. Their joint martyrdom is a pressing call for reconciliation and unity. This is the ecumenism of the martyrs and witnesses to faith, which indicates the path of unity to the Christians of the twenty-first century. May their sacrifice be a practical lesson of life for all. This is certainly not an easy task. During the last centuries too many stereotyped ways of thinking, too much mutual resentment and too much intolerance have accumulated. The only way to clear the path is to forget the past, ask forgiveness of one another and forgive one another for the wounds inflicted and received, and unreservedly trust the renewing action of the Holy Spirit.
These martyrs teach us to be faithful to the twofold commandment of love: love of God, love of our brothers and sisters.
5. Dear priests, religious, seminarians, catechists and students of theology! For you in particular I wish to emphasize the shining example of these heroic witnesses to the Gospel. Like them be faithful to Christ unto death. If God blesses your land with many vocations and if the seminaries are full - and this is a source of hope for your Church - that is surely one of the fruits of their sacrifice. But it is a great responsibility for you.
For this reason I wish to say to those in charge: give careful attention to the training of future priests and of those called to the consecrated life, in line with the principles of the Eastern monastic tradition. On the one hand the value of celibacy for the Kingdom of Heaven ought to be emphasized, on the other the importance of the Sacrament of Matrimony with its connected responsibilities ought to be made clear. The Christian family - as the Council reminds us - is like a "domestic church", in which parents must be the first proclaimers of the faith to their children (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11).
I encourage all the Church's sons and daughters to seek with constant commitment an ever more genuine and profound knowledge of Christ. May the clergy be always eager to give serious evangelical and ecclesial formation to the laity. May the spirit of sacrifice never fail among Christians. And may the courage of the Christian community in the defence of those hurt and persecuted never grow weak, as it pays great attention to discerning the signs of the times in order to respond to the social and spiritual challenges of the moment.
In this context I wish to assure you that I will follow with interest the development of the Third Session of the Synod of your Church, which will take place in 2002 and will be devoted to the Church's reading of the social problems of Ukraine. The Church cannot remain silent when the safeguarding of human dignity and the common good are at stake.
6. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). The martyrs declared Blessed today followed the Good Shepherd to the end. May their witness not be simply a boast for you: rather, may it become an invitation to imitate them. In Baptism, every Christian is called to holiness. Unlike the newly beatified martyrs, not all are called to undergo the supreme trial of shedding their blood. But everyone is entrusted with the task of following Christ with daily and faithful generosity, as did Blessed Josaphata Michaëlina Hordashevska, co-foundress of the Handmaids of Mary Immaculate. She lived her daily dedication to the Gospel in an extraordinary way, in the service of children, the sick, the poor, the illiterate and the marginalized, often in difficult situations marked by suffering.
May holiness be the desire of all of you, dear Brothers and Sisters of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. On this journey of holiness and renewal, may you be accompanied by Mary "who 'precedes' us all at the head of the long line of witnesses of faith in the one Lord" (Redemptoris Mater, 30).
The Saints and Beati, who gained the crown of justice in this land of Ukraine, and the Beati whom we celebrate in a particular way today, all intercede for you. May their example and protection help you to follow Christ and faithfully serve his Mystical Body, the Church. Through their intercession, may God pour upon your wounds the oil of mercy and consolation, that you may be able to look with confidence to what awaits you, knowing in your hearts that you are the children of a Father who loves you tenderly.
[Original text: Ukrainian; translation by Vatican]
SOURCE : http://devotionsandprayers.blogspot.ca/2009/03/march-25-blessed-omeljan-kovc-greek.html
Omeljan Kovč (1884-1944)
Il Servo di Dio Padre Omeljan Kovč, martire della persecuzione nazista, sacerdote della Eparchia di Stanislaviv, era sposato e padre di sei figli. Egli nacque il 20 agosto 1884 a Kosmach, Regione di Kosiv. Suo padre era sacerdote. Studiò filosofia e teologia a Roma nel Collegio Ucraino, frequentando l'Urbaniana.
Dopo l'ordinazione sacerdotale (1911), esercitò il suo ministero prima in Galizia, e dopo – come volontario – in Bosnia fra gli emigrati ucraini. Nel 1919 divenne cappellano militare dell'esercito ucraino. Dal 1922 fino al 1941 fu parroco a Peremyschljany. Era un sacerdote pieno di zelo cristiano. Aiutava i poveri come poteva. Della sua dimora i parrocchiani dicevano: "Sopra questa casa volano gli angeli". Durante l'occupazione tedesca faceva di tutto per combattere l'antisemitismo. Aiutava gli ebrei come poteva, anche battezzandoli, se lo chiedevano. Per questo motivo fu arrestato ed incarcerato in una prigione di Lviv.
Nell’agosto del 1943 fu trasferito al campo di concentramento a Majdanek. Dopo aver saputo che i suoi familiari facevano di tutto per scarcerarlo, scrisse loro: "Vi prego di non farlo. Ieri hanno ucciso 50 uomini. Se io non ci fossi qui, chi li aiuterebbe ha sopportare tali sofferenze". Dell'esperienza di comunione nelle sofferenze a Majdanek disse: "Tranne il cielo, è l'unico posto dove vorrei essere. Qui tutti siamo uguali: i polacchi, gli ebrei, gli ucraini, i russi, i lettoni e gli estoni. Qui vedo Dio, Dio che è lo stesso per tutti, nonostante le differenze di religione che ci sono tra di noi".
Il Servo di Dio Omeljan Kovč morì il 25 marzo 1944. In una lettera ai suoi scrisse: “Pregate per quelli che hanno realizzato questo campo e questo sistema. Loro hanno bisogno soltanto di preghiera... Signore abbia pietà di loro”.
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/ns_lit_doc_20010627_kovc_it.html
Kosmach, Stanislaviv, 20 agosto 1884 - Majdanek,
Lublin, 25 marzo 1944
Nella solennità dell'Annunciazione la Chiesa ricorda
anche il sacerdote ucraino Emilian (Omeljan) Kovc, martire dei tedeschi.
Giovanni Paolo II l'ha beatificato a Leopoli nel giugno del 2001 insieme con
altri 26 martiri, stavolta del comunismo. Nato nel 1884, venne ordinato
sacerdote nel 1911, dopo aver studiato a Roma presso il Collegio dei santi
Sergio e Bacco. Sacerdote di rito greco, era sposato e aveva sei figli, si
prodigò per i suoi parrocchiani di Peremysljany, nel nord del Paese. Senza
distinzione di nazionalità in una zona dove i conflitti etnici erano acuti, tra
polacchi, russi e ucraini. Arrestato nella primavera del 1943, venne condotto
nel lager di Majdanek, dove venne bruciato vivo il 25 marzo del 1944. Aiutò
anche molti ebrei, cosa che gli è valsa la proclamazione nel 1999 a
"Giusto dell'Ucraina" da parte del Consiglio ebraico nazionale. (Avvenire)
Martirologio Romano: Nella cittadina di Majdanek
presso Lublino in Polonia, beato Emiliano Kovč, sacerdote e martire, che, in
tempo di guerra, deportato in un campo di prigionia, raggiunse la vita eterna
combattendo per la fede.
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/Detailed/90664.html
Den salige Emilian Kovc (1884-1944)
Minnedag: 25. mars
Den salige Emilian Kovc (Kovch, Kovtch) (Omeljan) ble
født den 20. august 1884 i Kosmach, en liten by nær Kosiv i Vest-Ukraina. Han
tilhørte den gresk-katolske «unerte» Kirken i landet og var sønn av en prest –
gifte prester tillates i de unerte og ortodokse kirkene. Emilian studerte
teologi i Lviv og deretter ved det ukrainske kollegiet Ss Sergius og Bacchus i
Roma. Han gikk også på det pavelige universitetet Urbaniana. Etter eksamen ble
han presteviet i 1911.
Først utførte han pastoral tjeneste i sogn i Galicia i
Ukraina før han ble sendt for å betjene ukrainske immigranter i Bosnia. I 1919
var han feltkapellan for de ukrainske soldatene i den galiciske hæren som
kjempet mot de bolsjevikiske troppene. I 1922 ble p. Kovc utnevnt til
sogneprest i Peremyschljany, en landsby i utkanten av Lviv. De fleste av de
5.000 innbyggerne var jøder. Takket være p. Kovcs arbeid fikk det pastorale
livet en bemerkelsesverdig dynamikk. Han organiserte eukaristiske kongresser,
pilegrimsreiser, guttespeiderklubber og studentungdomsgrupper. Og han ønsket
fattige og foreldreløse barn velkommen i sitt hjem, selv om han allerede hadde
seks barn selv.
Etter nazistenes invasjon begynte jødene å bli
forfulgt og utryddet. I slike øyeblikk døpte p. Kovc jøder en masse for
å redde deres liv hvis de ba om det, til tross for at slike tiltak var forbudt
under okkupasjonen. Han ble arrestert i desember 1942 og fengslet. Ledere som
metropolitt Andreas Septyckyj [Sheptytsky] (Andrij), som ledet den
ukrainsk-katolske Kirke fra 1901 til sin død i 1944, gjorde alt som var mulig
for å få ham løslatt, men forgjeves. P. Kovc sto fast, noe som vises i dette
utdraget fra et forhør som en Gestapo-offiser foretok: «Visste du at det er
forbudt å døpe jøder?» «Jeg visste ingen ting». «Vet du det nå?» «Ja». «Vil du
fortsette å gjøre det?» «Selvfølgelig».
I august 1943 ble p. Kovc deportert til nazistenes
konsentrasjonsleir Majdanek. Han fortsatte å feire den eukaristiske liturgien
der og å høre skriftemål. I et brev til sine barn skrev han: «Med unntak av
himmelen er dette det eneste stedet jeg ønsker å være. Her er vi alle de samme:
polakker og jøder, ukrainere og russere, estlendere og latviere. Jeg er den
eneste presten. Når jeg feirer liturgien, ber de alle, hver på sitt
språk. Forstår ikke Gud alle språk?»
I følge leirens arkiver døde han den 25. mars 1944.
Kvelden før skrev han til familien: «I går ble 50 fanger henrettet. Hvis jeg
ikke var her, hvem ville da hjelpe dem til å holde ut et øyeblikk som det? Hva
mer kan jeg be Herren om? Ikke bekymre dere for meg, men gled dere med meg!»
Hans lik ble brent i ovnene i Majdanek. Den 9. september 1999 ble han tildelt
tittelen «Rettskaffen ukrainer» av Ukrainas jødiske råd.
Den 24. april 2001 ble dekretet som anerkjente hans
martyrium promulgert i Vatikanet av Helligkåringskongregasjonen i nærvær av
pave Johannes Paul II (1978-2005). Dermed fikk han tittelen Venerabilis,
«Ærverdig», og veien til saligkåring var åpnet. Han ble saligkåret den 27. juni
2001 av pave Johannes Paul II (1978-2005) under hans besøk i Ukraina. Samtidig
ble også gruppen den salige Nikolas Carneckyj og
hans 24 ledsagere, en annen gresk-katolsk ukrainer, en rutensk biskop og to
latinske katolikker også saligkåret.
Hans minnedag er dødsdagen 25. mars.
Kilder: Patron
Saints SQPN, papalvisit.org.ua, Zenit, vatican.va, EWTN/OR,
santiebeati.it - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 2005-07-04 23:54
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/ekovc
Voir aussi : http://faithofthefatherssaints.blogspot.com/2006/01/blessed-emilian-kowcz.html
