A historical event took place 25 years ago on June 27th. The faithful gathered in the Hippodrome in Lviv, Ukraine where Saint John Paul II, Pope of Rome, beatified a number of martyrs for the Church. Among these martyrs was Mykola (Nicholas) Charnetsky and 24 Companions. Included in this group was Blessed Vasyl Vsevolod Velychkovsky whose holy relics are enshrined in Winnipeg. In his homily Pope John Paul II said: “These brothers and sisters of ours are the representatives that are known out of a multitude of anonymous heroes (men and women, husbands and wives, priests and consecrated men and women, young people and old) who in the course of the twentieth century, the ‘century of martyrdom’, underwent persecution, violence and death rather than renounce their faith."

I was blessed to be at this historic event, the first papal visit to Ukraine. Pope John Paul II made his pastoral visit from June 23 – 27, 2001. On June 25, I attended the Divine Liturgy at the Chayka Airport in Kyiv, where the Pontiff celebrated before some 250,000 faithful. The next evening, the Pope met with the young people from Ukraine in Lviv, before the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. As the program was happening that evening, it was raining. Pope John Paul II interrupted the program and began to sing a folk song in Polish, which asked the rain to go away. He just finished this short, beautiful song, and the rain stopped. The clouds parted, and the evening sun appeared, drying us. The next morning, over a million people gathered in the Hippodrome in Lviv, where the Pope celebrated the Divine Liturgy.

As we waited in the Hippodrome for the Pope to arrive for the 10 am Divine Liturgy, there was an introductory programme. The life stories of each person who was to be beatified that day were read. I listened particularly to the short reading of Blessed Vasyl’s life.

We heard biographies of Mykola Charnetsky and 24 Companion Martyrs (bishops, diocesan priests, religious and a lay person all killed between 1935 and 1973); Teodor Romzha, Bishop and Martyr (1911-1947); Omelian Kovch, Priest and Martyr (1884-1944) and Josaphata Hordashevska, co-founder of the Congregation of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate (1869-1919).

All of these lives were very informative and inspiring. It set the tone for the morning in which we witnessed a marvellous event.

As Pope John Paul II arrived at the Hippodrome in his pope mobile, a threehundred-voice choir sang “Welcome”- “Vitayemo” over and over as the people cheered. Patriarch Lubomyr Husar rode with the Pope. Before the Liturgy, His Beatitude welcomed the Pontiff. Besides all of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishops, some Roman Catholic hierarchy were also present. There were at least a thousand priests vested in identical vestments.

I shared this experience with Father Yaroslav Dybka, C.Ss.R. and Fr. John Fetsco, C.Ss.R. from the old Yorkton Redemptorist Province. The Divine Liturgy was glorious. Both the choir and the million people present sang together.

The beatifications took place after the Little Entrance with the Gospel book and before the troparion. Patriarch Husar presented the request to the Pope to beatify the four above-mentioned beatifications, reading a brief life of each. Then the Pope as the head of the Universal Church pronounced the Beatification. “Fulfilling the requests of our brothers Cardinal Lubomyr Huzar, the Major Archbishop of Lviv for the Ukrainians and many other brothers in the episcopacy and many faithful, and having heard the opinion of the Congregation of Saints, with Our Apostolic Authority We proclaim that from now and in the future the Servants of God Mykola Charnetsky and twenty-four Companion martyrs, Theodore Romzha, Omelian Kovch, and Josaphata Hordashevska be honoured as Blesseds and the Feast Days are to be celebrated yearly according to church directives. Mykola Charnetsky and 24 Companion Martyrs on June 27th. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The choir and the faithful responded with three “Amens” and three “Alleluias.” As the icons of the Blesseds were being carried into the sanctuary, the choir and the faithful solemnly sang the Exaltation: “We extol you, holy Martyrs, and we honour your suffering, which you bore for the sake of Christ.”

The ceremony was personally very moving. It was the first time I experienced the Apostolic Authority of the Pope being exercised. In the name of the apostles and of the whole Church, Pope John Paul II had the authority to elevate these holy ones to the rank of Blessed. Through his words, they shall be known both on earth and in heaven by this title. The Pope offered them and their lives to the Church for inspiration, as witnesses of Christ for the faithful and as fellow pilgrims on the road to sanctity. The Blesseds now pray with us and for us so that we too may be with them in the glory of the kingdom.

We are so blessed that here in Winnipeg, God so ordained, one of these martyrs Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky, is physically present to us through his holy relics, a fully intact body. His life and faithfulness in the face of persecution are an Inspiration for us all. His powerful prayer before the Throne of Grace has brought upon those who put trust in him many blessings, healings and graces. Blessed Bishop and Martyr Vasyl, pray for us!