Theodore Romzha
Blessed Martyr Theodore Romzha | |
---|---|
Eparch of Mukacheve | |
Bishop) | |
Personal details | |
Born | 14 April 1911 |
Died | 31 October 1947 (aged 36) Uzhhorod, Ukrainian SSR |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 31 October (martyrdom); 28 June (translation of relics) |
Venerated in | Greek Catholic Churches Roman Catholic Church |
Title as Saint | Blessed Martyr |
Beatified | 27 June 2001 Lviv by Pope John Paul II |
Theodore George Romzha (
Early life
Theodore Romzha was born on 14 April 1911 in Nagybocskó, a village in Subcarpathia, Austria-Hungary (today Velykyi Bychkiv, Ukraine), inhabited by Rusyns and Hungarians.[1] In his baptism certificate, his name is recorded as Tivadar György, and his nationality as Hungarian.
His father, Pavel Romzha, worked as an official of the railroad. His mother, born Maria Semack, was a full-time homemaker. Like many ambitious families in the region, the Romzhas spoke the
Theodore was ordained a priest by Bishop
Episcopate
These were difficult years for the Church in Subcarpathia as the region, having been a part of Czechoslovakia since 1920, was returned to Hungary in 1938 as the result of the First Vienna Award, then briefly occupied by Nazi Germany before the arrival of the Red Army, eventually becoming part of the Soviet Union.
During these turbulent times, Theodore Romzha treated nationalities and languages as equal. To all his priests he spoke in their native language, and he used his name in the form of Tódor in Hungarian texts.
On 24 September 1944, with the region was under Nazi occupation, at the young age of 33, Romzha was consecrated bishop and appointed apostolic administrator of the Eparchy of Munkács (now
He organized a celebration of the
Soon after the brutal assault began, a civilian truck came upon the scene and the assailants fled. Romzha and his companions were taken to Uzhhorod, where they were hospitalized. Romzha was making good progress when, late on the night of 31 October, the nuns who were nursing him were suddenly dismissed and a new nurse was assigned to him by the regime.[4] A little after midnight Moscow Time, Romzha was found dead. The nurse had poisoned Romzha with an injection of curare provided by the head of NKVD Laboratory 12, Dr Grigory Mairanovsky.[5] According to research in Soviet archives by Yevgenia Albats, the Bishop's murder was personally ordered by Nikita Khrushchev.[6]
On 4 November 1947, a large crowd attended Romzha's funeral, despite Soviet efforts to shut down and block public transportation. He was buried in the crypt of the Holy Cross Cathedral in Uzhhorod. The Ruthenian Catholic Church was relentlessly persecuted and in 1949, it was officially suppressed.[7] All of its properties were allocated to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Feast day and relics
Romzha was beatified as a Martyr for the Faith by Pope John Paul II in
In 1998, the relics of Blessed Theodore were found in a tomb in the crypt of
Pavlo Sudoplatov's letter
In a letter from Pavlo Sudoplatov, General of state security, to delegates of the 23rd Assembly of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he stated that, "According to the instructions of the Kruschev, a member of the Politburo [Central Committee of the Communist Party] of Ukraine and the first secretary in Ukraine and approved by Khruschev, Romzha was eliminated in Mukachiv. The head of the Greek Catholic Church, he had actively opposed the uniting of Greek Catholics to Orthodoxy."[3]
Notes
- ^ "Bishop Bl. Théodore Georges Romzha". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
- ^ "Blessed Theodore Romzha", Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic
- ^ )
- ^ a b c d Mattei, Giampaolo (7 February 2001). "The Servant of God Bishop Theodore Romnza". L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English. Rome: 8.
- ISBN 0-8133-4280-5
- ISBN 0-374-18104-7, p. 33
- ^ Paul Robert Magocsi. "Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo". World Academy of Rusyn Culture. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
Further reading
- Magocsi, Paul Robert and Ivan Pop (2005). Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture. Toronto: ISBN 0-8020-3566-3.
- Fr. Laslo Puskas (2002). Theodore Romzha: His Life - Times and Martyrdom. Fairfax, Virginia: ECPublications.
- Fr. Christoper Zugger, Finding a Hidden Church, Eastern Christian Publications, Fairfax, Virginia, 2009.
External links
- Biography of Theodore Romzha, ewtn.com
- Official web page Vatican website
- Official web page Vatican, vatican.va (in Italian)