Servant of God Fabijan Abrantovich

Fabian Ivanovich Abrantovich (Fabijan Abrantovič; Chinese: 龐懷德, Belarusian: Фабія́н Я́навіч Абранто́віч, Russian: Фабиа́н Ива́нович Абранто́вич, Polish: Fabian Abrantowicz; September 14, 1884 – January 2, 1946) was a prominent religious and civic leader from Belarus. Abrantovich was a significant figure in the struggle for the recognition of the Belarusian language by the Roman Catholic Church, the revival of Catholicism within Belarusian culture, and to the further revival of Belarusian nationalism. Abrantovich was born in Vieraskava, in the Novogrudsky Uyezd of Minsk Governorate (present-day Navahrudak District, Belarus). He first studied there and then in Saint Petersburg at the Roman Catholic seminary and the Imperial Theological academy. He graduated with the degree of Master of Theology and was ordained to the priesthood on November 9, 1908. As one of the best students at the academy, Abrantovich received scholarship for study at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he received Ph.D. in 1912. Before World War I, Abrantovich was a faculty member at the Catholic Ecclesiastical Academy in St. Petersburg. There he became very active in the Belarusian movement. He organized several groups of students and initiated numerous Belarusian language publications. Abrantovich was the founder of the Belarusian Christian Movement and was the head of the first Belarusian Christian Union (Chryścijanskaja Demakratyčnaja Złučnaść) which was established in Petrograd (ex St. Petersburg) in May 1917. He was one of the Belarusian Roman Catholic priests who initiated the organization of the Belarusian political conference in Minsk in March 1917 and the conference of the Belarusian Roman Catholic Clergy, May 24–25, 1917. When a Roman Catholic Seminary finally opened in Minsk during the fall of 1918, Abrantovich was appointed rector of this institution. His time was divided between pastoral obligations, teaching, and Belarusian activities in Minsk.