Nicholas Charnetsky

Nicholas Charnetsky, or Mykolay Charnetsky (; December 14, 1884 – April 2, 1959) also known as Nicholas of Volyn was a member of the Redemptorists (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer), a religious congregation in the Byzantine Rite of the Catholic Church; he is considered a martyr by the Church.

Family background

Mykolai Charnetskyi was born in the village of Semakivtsia, a hamlet in Kolomyia Raion in western Ukraine, on 14 December 1884. He came from a large family and was the eldest of nine children. Alexander and Parasceva Charnetsky and their children were devout members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church which is in communion with the Bishop of Rome and is distinct from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Ukrainian seminary and priesthood From a young age, Charnetsky had expressed a desire to become a priest and when he was 18 years of age, the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Hryhory Khomyshyn (who was himself to be martyred) sent him to study at the Ukrainian College in Rome. In Rome, he was known for his love of the Eastern Fathers and tradition. After his ordination to the Catholic priesthood in 1909, Charnetsky returned from Ukraine to Rome so that he might complete a Doctorate in Theology, which he did the following year.

Ministry as a Redemptorist For some time, Charnetsky had desired to live a more austere life than that of a seminary professor. In 1913, the Belgian province of the Redemptorists had established a mission in Ukraine and this included a novitiate near Lviv for those interested in joining the congregation. Like Ivan Ziatyk who was to follow him some years later, Charnetsky entered the novitiate in 1919.

As he was already an ordained priest, after his first profession in 1920, Charnetsky immediately began working in a nearby parish before being sent to teach at the minor seminary (for students in their teens) run by the Redemptorists. His devotion to the people together with his tireless efforts at fostering Orthodox-Catholic relations caused Pope Pius XII to name him as titular bishop of Lebed and Apostolic Visitor to Ukrainian Catholics in the Volhynia region as well as those in Podlaskie (Ukr: Pidlashia) in southern Poland. He was ordained to the episcopacy by Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn in Rome on February 2, 1931. From 1931 to 1939, he ministered to the people of Volyn, Polisia, Pidliasia, and Belorussia. However, he made enough of a surprising partial recovery that he was able to pastor the Ukrainian Catholic community, which was then operating clandestinely. Although he lived under constant surveillance, one of his most important acts was to secretly prepare and ordain young men called to the priesthood.

On 2 April 1959 Charnetsky died and was buried in Lviv two days later. Due to many regarding him as a saint, people began visit his grave and to ask for his heavenly intercession immediately. Today people continue to claim that miracles happen through his intercession. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II during his pastoral visit to Ukraine on 27 June 2001. This date was significant as it is the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the patroness of the Redemptorists.

Testimony of Vasyl Voronovskyi “I saw him. He was a very humble person. The first time I came for instruction from the bishop, he was sweeping the house. I wanted to help him, to take the broom, but he didn’t let me. He himself swept. ‘Have a seat,’ he said. I was embarrassed that the bishop was sweeping, but I was sitting, because he wouldn’t let me. He told how many priests who had signed over to Orthodoxy, came to him to confess nearly 300 priests, they repented and came to him.” – From an interview with Father Vasyl Voronovskyi.