Blessed Josaphat Kotsylovsky

Josaphat Joseph Kotsylovsky OSBM (Ukrainian: Йосафат Йосиф Коциловський; 3 March 1876 – 17 November 1947) was a bishop and martyr of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He was the bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Przemyśl–Warsaw from 1917 to 1947. Kotsylovsky was born 3 March 1876 in the village of Pakoszowka (then Austria-Hungary, now Poland), of the Lemko Region, Sianok district. Kotsylovsky was of Lemko origin, and Ukrainian national orientation. After graduating from the elementary folk school in Lesko he studied at the Sanok and Sambir gymnasia. From 1896 he studied at the law department of Lviv University. Soon he interrupted the studies and graduated from the school of artillery in Vienna, and in 1900 he was sent to serve in the Lviv garrison. After leaving the military service, and with the assistance of the Przemysl Bishop Kostyantyn Chekhovych, he began the philosophical and theological studies in Rome. He studied theology in Rome and graduated in 1907, later that year on 9 October he was ordained to the priesthood. Soon after, he was made vice-rector and professor of theology at the Greek-Catholic seminary in Stanislaviv. On 2 October 1911 he entered the Order of Saint Basil the Great. Kotsylovsky became a professed member on 16 May 1913 and took his solemn vows on 13 June 1916. On 23 September 1917 Kotsylovsky was ordained bishop in Przemyśl (Poland) by Andrey Sheptytsky. As bishop, he worked to improve the church's educational system and supported monastic orders. He also took steps to combat the rising Russophile movement by appointing Ukrainian priests and funding Ukrainian language journals. On 10 July 1941 he welcomed the Wehrmacht forces entering Przemyśl. On 4 July 1943 Kotsylovsky led a Mass in the name of the volunteers entering the 14th SS Division. At the end of World War II, Communist Poland assisted the Soviet Union with the liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.