Saint Josaphat

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Saint Josaphat was a Basilian monk. He then became a priest. In 1595, the Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk, in present-day Belarus, and five other bishops representing millions of Ruthenians, sought reunion with Rome.

Josaphat, who had become both bishop of Vitebsk and archbishop of Polotsk, was faced with the reality that most monks did not want union with Rome because they feared interference in liturgy and customs. Through synods, catechetical instruction, clergy reform, and personal example, however, Josaphat won the greater part of the Orthodox in his area to the union.

The next year, however, a dissident hierarchy was set up, and his opposite number spread the accusation that Josaphat had “gone Latin” and that all his people would have to do the same. When Josaphat had a dissident priest shut up in his house, the opposition rang the town hall bell, and a mob assembled. The priest was released, but members of the mob broke into the bishop’s home. Josaphat was struck with a halberd, then shot, and his body thrown into the river. His body was later recovered and is now buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.