Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych

In 1604, at the Convent of the Trinity in Vilna, Kuncewicz received the religious habit from the hands of Pociey, then Metropolitan of Kiev, and at the same time made his religious profession, according to the custom that had been introduced among the Basilians of the country, and which has rightly been abrogated since. In order to conform to another custom, still in force today in the Greco-Russian Church, he changed his baptism Josaphat Archbishop of Polotsk and martyr for the Union of the Churches. al name to that of Josaphat. From that day dates, so to speak, the Order of United Basilians of Poland; and this first novice was like the cornerstone of the house of Vilna, the cradle of the entire Order. The number of candidates for religious life was growing, but slowly, first because of the difficulty of the times, and then because of the complete indifference that the superior of the convent, Samuel Sentchylo, showed toward the interests of souls. Under an appearance of simplicity, the unworthy prelate hid intentions hostile to the Union and secretly favored the partisans of the schism. As for the religious entrusted to his care, he cared as little for them as for the material building intended for their habitation, which resembled a ruin rather than a religious house.

There was at the entrance of the monastery a small cell, hardly worthy of the name, which Josaphat cherished above the others because it was the closest to the church. It was in this vestibule of paradise, as he called it, that he buried himself to lead the life of an anchorite. His time was divided between prayer, penance, and study. A hundred times a day, you would have heard him repeat the ejaculatory prayer so familiar to the Orientals: "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Sometimes it escaped him in the middle of his sleep, as one of his confreres attested. Forgetting the rest of the night, Josaphat spent entire hours conversing affectionately with his God, sometimes in his cell, sometimes in the nearby cemetery where he often went, barefoot, despite the most intense cold. How many times was he found there kneeling on a slab or on the frozen snow, letting out this cry of love: "O my God! Take away the schism and give peace to your Church!" and mingling his innocent blood with his tears. It would be difficult to describe the holy rigors that the servant of God exercised upon his body. He seemed to have lost the feeling of pain: if his cracked feet were riveted to an icy stone, he hardly noticed it, so much was physical suffering absorbed by the pain caused him by the rupture of the Russian Church with the center of unity. His way of life and his whole manner of being bore the stamp of an uncommon austerity, which recalled Saint Basil, founder of the Order and his great model. A religious observer of the fasts, so frequent in the Eastern Church, he contented himself with coarse food, abstaining from fish, and forbidding himself all use of meat and wine. His sleep was of short duration, and even then he took it on bare boards. Besides a rough hair shirt that he never took off, he girded his loins with a belt furnished with spikes that penetrated the flesh. On the eve of great feasts especially, his austerities became more numerous and more cruel.

By this voluntary martyrdom, Josaphat prepared himself for the bloody sacrifice that was to crown his beautiful life. It was still in the midst of these thorns that the angelic virtue flourished in him, whose chaste candor was never tarnished. The integrity of his morals and the brilliance of his virtues became the object of conversation and of a more or less shared admiration. It happened that a young girl, of conduct nothing less than edifying, heard one day the praises given to the holy religious: "I will know for myself," she said, "if he is as holy as you say." Inspired no doubt by hell, she managed to penetrate into the cell of Josaphat, located, as has been said, at the entrance of the monastery; but a stick with which the chaste religious armed himself quickly put the impertinent visitor to flight, much mistreated and covered in confusion. Thus had the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, acted in a similar circumstance.

This incident increased the esteem in which Josaphat already enjoyed among the most influential people of the city. People began to seek his company and to solicit his conversations. The Blessed loved retirement too much to allow it to be disturbed by multiplied visits; he therefore left the cell he occupied and established himself in a small chapel of Saint Luke, located in the vestibule of the church and completely abandoned. He continued his hermit's life there, leaving it only to go to the choir offices and other community exercises. Yet his door was always open to his friend Joseph Routski; he ardently desired to count him among the number of his brothers and never ceased to a sk heaven for Joseph Routski Friend of Josaphat, Superior of the Basilians and Metropolitan Archbishop. this grace, which was granted to him two years after his entry into the novitiate (1606). He also had the happiness of seeing young men enter his Order, attracted by his discourses as much as by the example of his virtues.

While still only a deacon, Josaphat showed ardent zeal for the conversion of the non-united, and brought a good number of them back into the fold of the Church, some through discussion, others through prayer, tears, or acts of kindness. The adversaries of the Union professed such high esteem for his person that they said they were ready to drink the water in which he had washed his feet. They were convinced that the Union would be finished if he were to join their banner; thus, they tried more than once to win him over to their cause. To better succeed in their design, they persuaded the archimandrite Samuel to separate him from Rutsky, who was then in charge of the direction of the religious novices; and, as soon as the latter was removed, they pressed Josaphat to join them. As the Saint replied with a formal refusal, the archimandrite slapped him and ordered him to immediately send all the young religious to Joseph Rutsky, twenty leagues from Vilna, in order to deliver the house to the dissidents. Fearing both to break the order of his superior and to see the schismatics seize the convent, Josaphat went to confer with Father Fabricius, who advised him to inform Joseph Rutsky immediately. When the news of the peril reached the worthy master of novices, he was in the grip of a fever. No matter! He hurried, had the Te Deum sung upon his entry into Vilna, and the fever left him instantly.

That very day, the archimandrite came to reproach Josaphat for his disobedience. "What is the use," the latter replied, "of sending the novices to Joseph, since Joseph is in our midst?" These words were like a thunderbolt to the archimandrite. Trembling with indignation, the traitor tried another way to achieve his ends, and he entrusted the execution to three of his henchmen. Under the pretext of religion, one of them invited Josaphat to come to his home, where the other two were hiding. Through affectionate words, the master of the house convinced the religious who was accompanying Josaphat to separate from the Father. Then, they all showed themselves together and addressed the most flattering speeches to him. "The Ruthenian Church," they said, "awaits only a sign from you to raise its head; its life is in your hands; have pity on so many unhappy people!" While uttering these words, they threw themselves at his knees, begged him to yield to their desire, and redoubled their entreaties. Vain efforts! One of them ran to the door, locked it, and remained on the threshold to ensure the outcome; the other two, with raised hands, prepared for physical assault. Josaphat promised them he would give an answer the following day, after having consulted God, and obtained his freedom. Upon returning to the monastery, he found Rutsky in conference with the other religious, wavering between astonishment and fear: "I come from hell," Josaphat told them; "I have heard diabolical speeches that solicited me to betray the faith." The next day, as he was thinking of anything but returning to the schismatics, they reminded him of his promise in writing. "I promised you," the holy religious replied, "to consult God; I have done so, and the Lord has made known to me the impiety of your plans. May the peace of the Lord therefore be with you!" At the same time, the metropolitan was informed of everything that had happened; the unworthy archimandrite, convicted of treason, was deposed and his place given to Rutsky, whom Pociey also created his vicar general.

One can conceive of the anger of the dispossessed archimandrite and the rage of the schismatics. In concert with them, the apostate resolved to invade the Church of the Trinity, to seize the monks, and to take possession of the convent. But the Uniates had time to warn the local authorities and Prince Nicholas Radziwill himself, Palatine of Vilna, who was then absent. The Palatine immediately sent an order to Sentchylo to remain quiet under the most severe penalties, and enjoined the authorities to energetically repress the slightest attempt at disorder. At the same time, the Uniates were questioned about the ambush of which Josaphat had nearly been a victim, and the three culprits mentioned above were handed over to the courts.

Then the schismatics pushed their hatred to the point of wanting to shed blood. One day when the primate was crossing the public square with a large procession, an assassin named John Toupeka struck him with a saber on the nape of the neck. The blow was so violent that after having severed two fingers of the hand with which the prelate was trying to protect himself, it removed the ring and the episcopal chain, as well as the collar of the cassock. However, divine Providence willed that the wound should not be fatal. The venerable old man was carried to the palace of a senator, where the king himself came to visit him.

News of this attack filled the city with dread. As for Rutsky and Josaphat, they collected the fingers that the weapon had severed and placed these first fruits of martyrdom before the image of the Blessed Virgin. The murderer, condemned to be quartered, died full of repentance, thanks to the charity of Josaphat, who wished to assist him in his final moments.

The holy religious was, he too, the target of the hatred of the entire party. Neither outrages nor mistreatment were spared him. If he appeared in public, mud, stones, and insults rained down on him from all sides, along with the nicknames of ignorant, impious, and impostor.

These trials strengthened the virtue of the young deacon and prepared him admirably for the priesthood. To make himself more worthy of this high dignity and more useful for the salvation of his neighbor, Josaphat applied himself with incredible ardor to the study of philosophy and theology, under the direction of Father Fabricius. The disciple proved himself worthy of the master and profited perfectly from his lessons, thanks to the elevation of his mind, the solidity of his judgment, his happy memory, and above all the action of the Holy Spirit who seconded his natural gifts and facilitated his understanding of the mysteries of our holy religion.

It would be difficult to describe the zeal with which Josaphat, having been promoted to the priesthood, exercised the holy ministry. In church, at home, in the streets, in inns, in public squares—everywhere he set up a pulpit, explaining Christian doctrine with rare clarity and truly apostolic zeal. His words brought persuasion into the souls of his listeners, and rarely did they echo in the desert. Thus, the non-uniate clergy forbade their own from engaging in conversation with Josaphat, and while the Catholics testified to the high esteem they held for his merits by calling him the scourge of the schismatics, the latter, on the contrary, called him nothing other than a ravisher of souls (Duchokhoat). To discredit him in the opinion of the people, the schismatics had him painted between Archbishop Pociey and Joseph Rutsky in the form of a demon, with horns and armed with a pitchfork, as if to harpoon souls; at the bottom, one could read this inscription: Ravisher of souls. Josaphat made a title of glory out of it: "God grant," he said, "that I may be able to ravish your souls to present them to Him!" Insensible to these insulting remarks, he strove to invent ways to lead sinners to penance; he omitted no opportunity to urge them to confession, and while the schismatic priests made it odious to the faithful by turning it into an object of traffic, he, on the contrary, gave money to poor penitents to encourage them to return. One day while traveling, having arrived on the banks of the Neman, he found a large crowd waiting for the moment when the large ice floes would solidify, form a solid bridge, and allow passage to travelers. The apostolic man seized the opportunity to urge these people to confess,

All responded to his call, and immediately afterward they found their improvised route perfectly passable.

However assiduous the labors of the evangelical worker were, he never felt fatigue; charged with replacing the hegumen of the monastery, he filled the jobs of all by himself, being at once confessor, preacher, steward, beggar, sacristan, choir prefect, infirmarian, and exhorter. The more worthy he was of commanding, the more he hastened to the service of his inferiors. One day, having just preached with great vehemence, a considerable number of people begged him to hear their confessions. Prevented by very urgent business, he turned to one of his religious, a man of exemplary life but very frail health. The good monk excused himself due to his extreme weakness, but the Saint begged him on his knees not to refuse the faithful this act of charity, promising him that God would assist him in return. The religious, confused by such humility, did not reply further, and as soon as he entered the confessional, his weakness vanished; he was able to confess the entire multitude.

God seems to have granted His servant a particular attraction for assisting those condemned to death. He especially loved to visit the poor sick in the most obscure and repulsive corners. He administered the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist to them, procured remedies and food for them, and often even washed their feet, even though they were covered with ulcers.

Struck by so many virtues, the Lithuanian magnates vied with each other to attract him to their domains. Chodkiewicz, castellan of Vilnius, offered him the famous monastery of Supraśl; John Meleško, castellan of Smolensk, and the marshal of Slonim, Gregory Tryzna, whom Josaphat had won over to the Union, invited him to come and settle, the former in Zhirovitsy, the latter in Bytène. Out of humility, Josaphat declined Chodkiewicz's offer and accepted the monastery of Bytène. As this convent was occupied by Basilian nuns, Tryzna transferred them to Pinsk and gave the house to the monks of the same Order, who later established their novitiate there. After having completely organized the community of Bytène, Josaphat moved to Zhirovitsy, a place famous because of the miraculous image of Our Lady that is venerated there. The sanctuary was clothed in new splendor; devotion to the Mother of God was revived; pilgrims flocked there; nothing was omitted to make this place worthy of the august patroness. Not only Meleško, protector of Zhirovitsy, but also other lords, such as Leo Sapieha, Chancellor of Lithuania, enriched it with their largesse. Next to the sanctuary, Josaphat built a convent of which he was the first superior. The Blessed Virgin seems to have accepted the zeal of her pious servant by opening the treasures of her mercy; and these favors doubling Josaphat's zeal even more, he had the happiness of bringing back to unity a quantity of dissidents, for the most part gentlemen. Of this number was Soltan, the most fiery of all. Josaphat, having met him one day in a forest near the monastery, brought the conversation to the religious question, and despite the blasphemies that his interlocutor vomited, he touched him so much that the latter burst into tears, confessed his errors, and returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church.

While Josaphat was grazing the sheep of Christ in this charming solitude, thus realizing the name of Zhirovitsy, which means pasture, Hypatius Pociey, head of the Uniate Russian Church, went to receive in heaven the reward due to his labors, and Joseph Velamin Rutsky succeeded him in this dignity in the same year, 1614. The new metropol itan archbishop hastene Joseph Vélamine Routski Friend of Josaphat, Superior of the Basilians and Metropolitan Archbishop. d to recall Josaphat to the capital of Lithuania to entrust him with the monastery of the Trinity, which he could no longer govern himself, and which, constantly subjected to the attacks of the non-uniates, needed a valiant defender. A better choice could not have been made. Under Josaphat's government, the monastery became increasingly prosperous. As, at that time, the community of Vilnius consisted for the most part of young religious (there were sixty in all), it was upon the archimandrite that the whole burden of administration fell. Thus, he filled almost all the offices of the house here as well: and, astonishingly, he performed each job so well that he seemed to have been born for it alone. With that, he worked assiduously for the salvation of his neighbor, prayed day and night, and did not cut back on any of his ordinary austerities. Severe with himself, he was all heart for his brothers. He never reprimanded them harshly, but gave them warnings with a truly paternal affection.

His charity toward the poor was unequaled; thus they called him their dear father and constantly resorted to his liberality. One day, a poor widow, pursued by a ruthless creditor, implored the help of the servant of God. Josaphat told her to return a little later and went to the church. His prayer finished, as he was returning to his cell, an unknown young man came to meet him and handed him fifty gold pieces wrapped in paper, saying that his master was sending them to him as a gift. Questioned about his master's name, the young man remained silent and disappeared immediately. Meanwhile, the widow presented herself; Josaphat gave her the gold just as he had received it, without looking at it. The creditor satisfied, there still remained a fairly considerable sum that the poor woman came to return; but Josaphat did not want to accept what heaven had sent for her.

However, the conversion of the dissidents was even closer to his heart than the relief of bodily miseries. To bring the non-uniates back to the obedience of the Holy See, to ensure the triumph of the Uniate Church—such was the constant preoccupation of this apostolic soul. Thanks to his persuasive eloquence joined to a truly heavenly charity, he made numerous conquests, both among the people and among the nobility of Vilnius. But his greatest success was the conversion of the Palatine of Nowogródek, Theodore Skumin Tyszkiewicz, the most powerful Russian lord of Lithuania, and his son Janusz, secretary of the Grand Duchy. They became not only perfect Catholics but also distinguished benefactors of the Order of Saint Basil, and specifically of the convent of the Most Holy Trinity, not far from which they erected a sumptuous chapel intended to serve as a burial place for their illustrious family.

The appointment of Josaphat to the episcopal see of Pol Polotsk Episcopal see of Josaphat. otsk was to open a wider career to his zeal. The consecration took place in Vilna on November 12; a memorable date, for six years later, on the same day, Josaphat received the consecration of blood with the palm of martyrdom. The new bishop was thirty-eight years old; he had been in religious profession for fourteen years. Two months later, he went to Polotsk, where he was received with unusual honors. But the heart of Josaphat inclined toward sadness rather than joy, as if he had a secret premonition that these hosannas would one day be followed by the crucifigatur.

Once alone at the head of the diocese, Josaphat gave free rein to the zeal by which he was consumed. He began by suppressing the abuses that had been introduced into his Church, and notably among the clergy. Every year he celebrated a diocesan council and visited the churches entrusted to his administration. The Rules he composed for the use of priests, which are still in our possession, sufficiently testify to the care he took to restore and maintain ecclesiastical discipline. A pastor of souls must, according to him, work to acquire science and holiness above all else. Thus, he urged them to approach the sacrament of Penance often, and the holy Eucharist as often as possible. At his request, the Fathers of the Society of Jesus taught moral theology to the Greco-Uniate clergy.

The care with which Josaphat conformed to the canons of the Church and the Fathers, his fidelity in observing the traditions of the Greek religion in all their purity, without introducing the slightest change in the rite, caused great joy among his diocesans and deprived the disunited of any pretext to accuse him of Latinism. Divine worship regained its former splendor. The ancient cathedral of Polotsk was in such a pitiful state that it threatened to collapse; the zealous pontiff restored it entirely and at great expense, as well as the cathedrals of Vitebsk, Mohilev, Orcha, and Mstislavl, and several others of less importance. It is also thanks to his liberality that the Basilian convent of Polotsk emerged from its misery, considerably enlarged and generously endowed. People wondered where the money necessary to cover so many expenses could come from; for the archbishop's income was not sufficient, and upon his arrival in the diocese, the treasury was almost empty. It was also known that abundant alms went into the hands of the needy. Throughout the course of his episcopate, Josaphat never let a single day pass without having some of these suffering members of Jesus Christ, the object of his predilections, sit at his table. To help them, he sometimes stripped himself of the necessities. A poor, weeping widow came one day to ask him for help; having nothing in his strongbox, he pawned his omophorion (episcopal stole) and gave her the borrowed sum.

Love of poverty and the good administration of his modest income were what enabled him to make great expenditures as soon as the glory of God required it. For as much as he was liberal toward the poor and the temples of the Lord, he was parsimonious toward his relatives and especially toward his own person. In his episcopal palace, there was not the slightest trace of magnificence. The strictest frugality presided over his meals. He never permitted himself the slightest infraction of the laws of temperance; far from it, he continued, as in the past, to afflict his body with penances, without even keeping any measure. One day, while he was officiating pontifically, his iron chain gripped his loins so tightly that he felt faint and could barely stand. The liturgy finished, he retired to his quarters, and calling the archdeacon Dorotheus, he asked him to remove the cruel belt, with the command to say nothing of it to anyone. Such austere tastes were not meant to favor vain prodigality. The worthy prelate ensured that the goods of his Church were wisely administered; he also omitted nothing to reclaim those that were unjustly held by powerful lords of the land. However, "when, using his right, he resorted to legitimate means and summoned his adversaries before the courts, he acted with moderation and maintained in his proceedings I know not what paternal quality that translated into the gentleness of his language." Thus speaks Count Michel Tychkiewitch, who was not entirely disinterested in the matter.

While the Union was thus prospering in Polotsk, the schism was making its final efforts to destroy the work of God. We touch here upon a memorable event in the life of the holy bishop as well as in the annals of the Greco-Russian Church: the restoration of the non-united episcopate.

It was in 1620. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophanes, returning from Moscow, where he had gone on a political mission on behalf of the Sultan, passed through Ukraine and arrived in Kiev. There, at the insistence of the Cossacks, he consecrated as many schismatic bishops as there were sees occupied by Catholic prelates of the same rite, and to each was assigned the see of a Catholic bishop. That of Polotsk was given to Meletius, archimandrite of the Holy Spirit convent in Vilna.

The new measure threatened, along with the existence of the high hierarchy, that of the entire united Church. To carry out their plans, the dissidents chose the moment when the united bishops were at the General Diet of Warsaw. False news was spread everywhere about these prelates. They were, it was said, false pastors, renegades, wolves in sheep's clothing; the Diet had just deprived them of their sees, and one must not obey them. To give weight to these lying assertions, the usual scarecrow was brought forward: the Cossacks. Hence, troubles arose in all the dioceses, especially in that of Polotsk, which they absolutely wanted to take away from Josaphat. The principal architect of the disorders stirred up in Polotsk was Meletius Smotrytsky. The name of this personage Mélèce Smotritski Rival schismatic archbishop, instigator of the revolt, and later a convert. is so linked to that of Josaphat that we must pause there for a few moments.

Meletius had received a share of fine talents, which were enhanced by vast erudition; but he had the misfortune of putting them, in the expression of Urban VIII, at the service of the cause of Satan. Born in 1578 to Orthodox parents, he pursued his first studies under the direction of the famous Cyril Lucaris, later Patriarch of Constantinople, then a simple rector of the school of Ostrog, founded by Prince Constantine Ostrojski. From there, Meletius went to the academy of Vilna, which was directed by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and where the dissidents sent their children as well as the Catholics. His studies finished, he made a trip to Germany in the company of the young Prince Solomerytsky and returned fully imbued with Protestant doctrines; despite this, he remained hesitant for a long time. Finally, the non-united prevailed; Smotrytsky took the habit of a Basilian at the Holy Spirit convent, and three years later (1620) he was promoted to the dignity of archimandrite. We have seen how he was named the same year to the archiepiscopal see of Polotsk.

Consecrated archbishop in defiance of all civil and ecclesiastical laws, Smotrytsky hastened to address circular letters to all the cities of the diocese by which he urged the faithful to abandon the illegitimate pastor, the papist and apostate (this is how he called Josaphat), to render obedience to himself as the legitimate and Orthodox archbishop. These missives were entrusted to monks, who crisscrossed the country, lighting the fire of revolt everywhere. Thanks to the activity of the emissaries and the assistance of the brotherhoods, in a very short time the masses declared themselves for Meletius and renounced Josaphat, whose downfall was from then on resolved.

Upon returning to Polotsk, Josaphat therefore found minds completely changed. He was saddened rather than surprised, for he had been informed of everything while he was at the Diet. He even brough t a decree fr roi Sigismond King of Poland and protector of Josaphat. om King Sigismund, which forbade all his diocesans, under the most severe penalties, from having any communication with the usurper Smotrytsky, and enjoined them to obey only Josaphat, their true pastor. On the day indicated for the notification of this document, the archbishop went to the town hall; the Palatine Drutsky-Sokolinsky had the royal decree read, then Josaphat, taking the floor, made his profession of faith and begged those present not to abandon the true religion, but to put an end to religious dissensions. The leaders of the opposing party protested loudly against the King's orders, adding that they would prefer to die rather than obey Josaphat. The multitude echoed their declamations, and the innocent prelate would infallibly have been killed on the spot had he not been protected by the magistrates, who, pushing back the waves of the populace by force of arms, escorted him to the archiepiscopal palace.

Far from showing resentment against the aggressors, the servant of God treated them thereafter with paternal kindness; he invited the principal ringleaders to his table, spoke to them of Catholic doctrine, and conjured them to accede to the Union. A city councilor named Terlikowski, touched by so much gentleness, finally recognized his fault. When he presented himself at the cathedral to ask pardon of God and His minister, Josaphat went to meet him, pressed him to his breast, and leading him to the altar: "Lord," he said, shedding tears of joy, "here is a stray sheep that I have just found and whom I recommend to You." Another time, in the middle of a sermon in which he had demonstrated with great force the Catholic dogma of the procession of the Holy Spirit and the primacy of the Sovereign Pontiff, Josaphat burst into sobs and cried out that for this doctrine, the only true one, he was ready to shed the last drop of his blood. At this spectacle, several dissidents asked to return to the bosom of the Church.

The evangelical gentleness and disinterested zeal of the holy archbishop succeeded in bringing calm back to minds. Polotsk recovered its peace; but it was not so in other cities of the diocese; usually deprived of his presence, they were worked upon by his adversaries with all the more ardor as they were more irritated by the success of his word and the irresistible prestige of his holiness over all those who approached him.

During the month of October in the year 1623, word had spread in Polotsk that the archbishop intended to go to Vitebsk . Sever Vitebsk Place of the martyrdom of Saint Josaphat. al of his friends begged him to postpone the pastoral visit to a more favorable time, or at least to accept an escort. One of them, Count Michel Tychkiewitch, offered to accompany him himself with his men; the man of God would have no other escort than his own retinue, no other protection than that of heaven. At the moment of departure, he gave orders for a tomb to be prepared for him in the cathedral at the place he designated; then, kneeling before the high altar, he offered the following prayer: "Lord, I know that the enemies of the Union seek my life; I offer it to You with all my heart, and may my blood extinguish the fire caused by the schism!" And as these words frightened his own people: "My children," he added, "fear nothing; none of you will perish; I alone shall succumb." This said, they set out.

The inhabitants of Vitebsk received their pastor with feigned respect; for his days were numbered. Taking advantage of the absence of the main authorities, the Orthodox plotted a new conspiracy, in which two city magistrates and a large number of citizens took part. The archbishop was not unaware of this. Eight days before the perpetration of the crime, in a sermon he gave in honor of Saint Demetrius, martyr, on these words of the Gospel: "The hour is coming when whoever puts you to death will think he is doing a service to God," he spoke thus: "You desire my ruin; on the rivers, on the bridges, in the streets, in the cities, everywhere you set traps for me. Here I am now in your midst; may God grant that I may give my life for you, who are my sheep, for the holy Union, for the See of Peter occupied by the Sovereign Pontiffs, his successors."

In a session held at the town hall on November 11, the following day (it was a Sunday) was set to execute the crime, and the course of action was decided. That same evening, the archbishop was informed of everything by a city consul, Peter Ivanovitch, a good Catholic; but he would neither thwart the machinations of the conspirators nor take advantage of the darkness of the night to escape their blows. During the entire supper, he spoke of his imminent death as if it were a feast. The archdeacon Dorotheus interrupted him, saying: "My Lord, you should let us eat a little." — "Fear nothing," replied Josaphat, "it is not of your death, but of mine that I speak." After supper, he retired to his apartments and spent the greater part of the night in prayer.

The next morning, at the first sound of the bell announcing the hour of Matins, the pious archbishop went to the Church of the Holy Virgin, near his palace. While he was praying there, an apostate priest named Elias was arrested in the courtyard of the bishopric by order of Archdeacon Dorotheus. Here is the reason, as it was given later by the accomplices of the murder: "The non-uniates had erected two huts for their private meetings, one of which was located on the opposite bank of the Dvina, facing the episcopal palace. Although the Vladyka could hear from his windows the singing, shouting, and insulting remarks that came from them and were directed at his person, he pretended to know nothing; he was content to pray to God for the unfortunate ones, saying that they did not know what they were doing. The priest Elias had previously been under the obedience of Josaphat, whom he abandoned to join the rebel party. He crossed the bishop's courtyard frequently and without necessity, affecting airs of contempt and uttering provocative words. Despite the prohibition that had been given to him, he reappeared that day, and he was immediately arrested by servants of the palace and locked in the kitchen, without, however, being harmed in any other way. The conspirators were only waiting for this opportunity to accomplish their criminal designs. Immediately the tocsin was rung, and the crowd rushed from all sides toward the episcopal residence, filling the air with clamor, vociferations, and insults. A hail of stones, sticks, and bullets rained down on the servants who were guarding the palace, several of whom were seriously wounded.

Informed of the tumult, Josaphat ordered the detained priest to be set free; then, once Matins were finished, he returned to the palace through the mob. He had returned and had begun to pray again in order to prepare himself for the sacrifice of his life, when the riot revived; the number of rebels was growing and the attacks were becoming more lethal. Seeing especially that the bishop's servants were offering only harmless resistance, as their master had ordered them, the assailants redoubled their audacity, penetrated into the vestibule, and cruelly mistreated the prelate's officers who had taken refuge there. Archdeacon Dorotheus received eighteen wounds to the head and had all his limbs shattered. Emmanuel Cantacuzene, the palace steward, struck with thirteen wounds and drowned in his blood, was left for dead. Upon hearing the groans of the innocent victims, Josaphat interrupted his conversations with God, left his room, and walked calmly toward the assassins. After giving them his blessing: "My children," he said to them, "why do you mistreat my servants who have done you no harm? If you want my person, here I am." The hired killers remained motionless and stunned. Suddenly two wretches rushed through the crowd shouting: "Down with the supporter of the Latins! Down with the papist!" and threw themselves on the archbishop at the moment he was crossing his arms on his chest. One of the killers struck him on the forehead with a long pole; the other dealt him a blow with a halberd that split his head. The archbishop fell; the murderers overwhelmed him with blows and mistreated him with such barbarity that he no longer had a human face. Despite his wounds, he was still able to make the sign of the cross and utter these words, the last that came from his mouth: "O my God!" The executioners, seeing that the victim was still breathing, fired two shots at him, which pierced his skull. Thus expired Josaphat, on November 12, 1623. He was in the forty-fourth year of his age.

The crime accomplished, the assassins sacked the Vladyka's house, looting and devastating everything with unheard-of rage. Heated by drink (for they began by emptying the cellars), they returned to the victim, dragged him into the middle of the courtyard, and had the cowardice to insult the corpse. A faithful dog, which was defending the body of its former master, was killed, and its blood mingled with the blood of the martyr. That was not enough. Forgetting all modesty, the murderers stripped the body of its clothes. At the sight of the hair shirt and the iron belt that the holy prelate never took off, they were seized with surprise; their astonishment increased when they discovered a bloodstained discipline in a box. They began to fear that they had killed someone else in his place, and they interrogated the deceased's servant, Gregory Ouchatski, an eyewitness to his death, then a man named Jedlinski, a valet of Cantacuzene. Reassured and joyful, they lavished new outrages on the martyr: some soiled his hair and beard; others spat on his face or struck him with repeated blows. Women, children, old men, all took part in these infamous amusements. Fanaticism had taken away their modesty and the use of reason. In their madness, they tore off the hair shirt that covered his body, tied a long rope to his feet, dragged him through the streets of the city to a high place overlooking the Dvina, and from there they threw him into the river, shouting: "Hold fast, My Lord, hold fast!" Against all expectations, the body suffered no injury and reappeared on the waves. It was then placed on a boat, the hair shirt filled with large stones was tied tightly to his neck, and the holy remains were plunged into the deepest part of the river, known as Peskovatik. The victim buried in the waters, the parricides went away triumphant. But, as if to confound their rage, the sky was covered in mourning, and thick clouds turned day into night.

The Catholics made every possible effort to find the body of the martyr, without achieving any result for several days. Finally, on November 14, shortly before noon, the fishermen tasked with this mission saw what looked like a ray of light emerging from the depths of the waters; they arrived with their boats at that spot and indeed discovered the object of their search. Soon the holy remains were retrieved from the waters and brought to the shore. At the news of the discovery, a crowd of curious people rushed from the city to behold the blessed one. Among the spectators was a councilor of the city of Polotsk, named Jean Chodyka, whom business had brought to Vitebsk two days earlier. "While the two boats loaded with the body and stones," said Chodyka, "were moving in the direction of Vitebsk, I followed them, weeping, along the shore and up to the castle. There, the body was placed in the middle of the Church of Saint Michael, and it was only then that I was able to contemplate it at leisure. The face was smiling as I had never seen it during Josaphat's lifetime. This spectacle made such a deep impression on me that I immediately renounced the schism, lamenting the murder that had been committed."

The city was filled with mourning and lamentations. The body remained exposed for nine days in the castle church, dressed in pontifical vestments and spreading a celestial odor of lilies and roses. A considerable influx of clergy, nobility, and townspeople rushed from Polotsk to escort the body, which was transported with great pomp to that city. The inhabitants of Vitebsk accompanied the procession with their sobs and tears. The parricides detested the crime they had committed and asked for forgiveness. Calvinists wept bitterly, crying out: "Ah! Wretches! They have put to death an innocent man, a Saint!" Even the Jews showed signs of compassion. As for the witnesses who gave their legal depositions before the tribunal, they were unanimous in declaring under oath that Josaphat's devotion to the Roman Church and the Sovereign Pontiff had been the sole cause of his death. "I attest," said one of them (Jean Chodyka), "that the hatred and animosity we felt against the person of Josaphat had its source solely in the zeal with which he tried to bring us back to the Union and to submit us to the Sovereign Pontiff... It is submission to the Pope that destroyed Josaphat. If there had been any other cause for his death, it would certainly not have escaped me, since I was then in the schism, and not only were the plans and designs of my coreligionists not unknown to me, but I put my purse at the service of the common cause, with the goal of propagating the schism and stifling, along with the Union, Josaphat himself, who was its representative. But as much as I knew the designs and bad dispositions of my party, I knew that everyone rendered justice to the innocence of Josaphat, to his irreproachable and holy conduct; I knew that he was put to death for the Union, a thing moreover so notorious that no Catholic or dissident has ever denied it." Furthermore, the parricides themselves confessed that Josaphat had offered himself as a victim to God and the Sovereign Pontiff to bear witness to the primacy of Saint Peter and his successors.

When they arrived in Polotsk, the people rushed to the shore to contemplate the martyr pastor. It was a truly heartbreaking spectacle to see this multitude composed of people of every rank, every age, and every faith, giving themselves over to the most intense grief. Some sobbed; others beat their breasts; some implored divine mercy; others begged Josaphat to forgive them. The funeral chants were stifled by the groans, sobs, and cries for vengeance. The holy body was carried to the Cathedral of Saint Sophia, where it remained exposed for several months without undergoing any change or decomposition; his face was still beautiful, and he continued to exhale a sweet odor: his lips, of a brilliant purple, seemed ready to speak. The appearance of his face, which during his life brought sinners back to virtue, touched the most hardened hearts of the adversaries of the Union after his death, and it was impossible to contemplate his angelic serenity without feeling touched by divine grace.

From that moment, the glorious Martyr began to perform a quantity of wonders; the lame walked, the blind recovered their sight, and the hopelessly ill their health. The accounts of such miracles are read in the Lives of all the Saints: what interests us more are the wonders of grace; for, besides the fact that the Saints have no finer jewels in their crown, wonders of this kind add new trophies to the triumphs of their apostolate.

It was one of these miracles that was seen to occur in the person of Meletius Smotritsky, a declared enemy of the Union and instigator of the revolt of which Josaphat fell victim. By everyone's admission, the blood of another Saint Stephen obtained the conversion of this new Saul. From November 12, 1623, Meletius had no more rest until the hour whe n, after a four-y Mélèze Smotritski Rival schismatic archbishop, instigator of the revolt, and later a convert. ear internal struggle, he finally took the decisive step. The rest of his life was devoted exclusively to penance, prayer, and the defense of the Union.

Saint Josaphat has been depicted with his head split by an axe blow, and wearing the halo, and not the nimbus, because he was not yet solemnly canonized. He has also been painted carrying a chalice with which he turns toward the people. On the chalice, one can see the child Jesus; and a winged deacon accompanies the Blessed one during the holy sacrifice.

## CULT AND RELICS.

All of Poland, through the voice of King Sigismund III, his son Ladislas IV, and the entire Greek and Latin episcopate, claimed for this glorious Martyr the honors that the Church bestows upon its heroes. Urban VIII, acceding to their pious desires, pronounced the introduction of the cause, and, after a long procedure, the details of which would be superfluous here, he inscribed the name of Josaphat in the catalog of the Blessed, fixing his feast day on November 12, the anniversary of his birth into heaven. He decided at the same time that one could, at the first opportunity (quandocumque), proceed to his canonization. The first solemnities of the beatification took place, not at the Church of Saint Athanasius, whose enclosure was too narrow, but in the magnificent Church of the Gesu.

It was just that the illustrious Martyr should receive the first fruits of his cult within a society that rightly considers him its student and patron and to which he constantly lavished the marks of the most sincere affection.

Two centuries passed without the cause of canonization taking a single step, despite the lively insistence of several sovereigns of Poland. God, who has His own timing, probably permitted these delays to draw from them His greater glory as well as that of His servant. In reserving for Pius IX the honor of crowning the work begun by Urban VIII, He could not, it seems, choose a more worthy instrument or a more propitious era. Indeed, rarely has one seen on the chair of Peter a Pontiff as zealous for the union of the Churches as the august Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. Pope currently reigning. Furthermore, "while a conspiracy, hatched by men rebellious to all authority, strives to overturn the entire world and attaches itself above all to overthrowing the Apostolic See of the successors of Saint Peter, here is the blessed Josaphat who, from the height of heaven, comes to help us confound the perverse plots hatched in the shadows, he who had during his entire life defended the primacy of the Apostolic See and had sealed with his blood the union with the Church." Thus speaks the decree of the Rota, dated May 2, 1585, declaring that one can safely proceed to the solemn canonization of Josaphat. Finally, at this hour, the Uniate Church of Russia is in its death throes: a few more years, and perhaps it will have ceased to exist! What a consolation for this martyr Church to see its Abel, adorned with the most beautiful crown that a Christian can receive here below, and proposed for the veneration of the entire Catholic universe! What a powerful motive to hope that a day will come when, carried by long sufferings, it will be reborn in its first splendor, full of life, strength, and fruitfulness! Yes, June 29, 1867, has been for it a date forever memorable; it is the sure pledge of its coming regeneration.

You then, illustrious Martyr, who have given to the holy Union the triple testimony of word, example, and blood, continue to exercise from the height of heaven the same apostolate; protect the chair of all truth, as well as the one who has bestowed upon you the supreme honors, against the attacks of their perfidious enemies; but above all, do not cease to address to the God of mercies the prayer once so dear to your heart and in which your life is summarized entirely: "Lord, remove the schism, and give peace to your Church."

Saint Josaphat Kuncewicz was canonized by Pius IX on June 29, 1867. Russia responded to this canonization with the sacrilegious profanation of the Martyr's body. One read on July 17 in a Krakow gazette: "The relics of Saint Josaphat were in the parish church of Biala, in Podlachia. These last days, a military commission arrived in Biala, and, in the presence of an ecclesiastic who is only too well known, Father Liwczak, it broke the seals of the reliquary that contained the remains of the holy Martyr. After a meticulous examination of the body, the commissioners took it to Siedlce, from where it will be sent by the road from Warsaw to Saint Petersburg."

We owe this biography to Father Martinof; we have only abridged it.