John Mendriks

Jānis Mendriks (21 January 1907 – 1 August 1953) was a Latvian Catholic priest who was killed in a Soviet Gulag during the 1953 Vorkuta uprising.

Biography

Mendriks was born in Logocki, Kalupe Parish, in southern Latgale (then in Russian Empire). He attended Riga Seminary (Rīgas Katoļu garīgais seminārs) after which he was ordained a priest at St. James's Cathedral, Riga on 3 April 1938. He was a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers. After his ordination, he served as a vicar at the Marian parish in Viļāni.

In 1942, during the German occupation of Latvia, while he served a parish in Ostron, a German policeman died. He knew the man to be impenitent, and denied him burial in hallowed ground. This refusal required him to hide from German occupation authorities.

After the Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944, he resumed parish work.

Mendriks has been honoured by the Roman Catholic Church as a Servant of God since 2003.