Zynoviy Kovalyk

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Zynoviy Kovalyk (

Redemptorist priest and martyr
.

Family background

Zynoviy Kovalyk was born in the village of

Catholic priesthood while he was still young. He was known to have a good singing voice, a joyful temperament,[1] and a person of strong character.[2]

Ministry as a Redemptorist

After teaching in a primary school for a short period, he entered the novitiate of the Redemptorists (Congregation of the Holy Redeemer). He was 25 years old then, which made him older than most novices of that period. He made his first religious profession on 26th August 1926.

After the novitiate, he studied philosophy and theology in Belgium. He returned to Ukraine and was ordained a priest on 9th August 1932, celebrating his first Liturgy in his village of Ivachiv on 4th September 1932.[2]

Kovalyk then travelled with Bishop

Mary. After several years he went to Stanislaviv (today Ivano-Frankivsk) to take up the post of provincial bursar, while being also very engaged in the traditional Redemptorist practice of conducting missions throughout the area.[3]

Immediately before the

Communist presence many clergy concentrated on spiritual matters when they gave a homily and avoided issues of freedom and justice. As a preacher, Kovalyk showed no reluctance to publicly condemn the ideology and atheist customs then being introduced by the Soviets, and to preach on matters affecting the everyday lives of the people. Even though he was warned by his friends that the Communist authorities were suspicious of him and that he should be less vocal, he is said to have replied, "If it is God's will, I am ready to die, but I cannot be quiet in the face of such injustice."[4] On the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God
, 15 August 1940, he gave a homily which reportedly drew some ten thousand faithful.

Arrest and death

On 20 December 1940, the Soviet secret police took Kovalyk from his monastery on account of the sermon he had preached on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December). He was accused of being a spy. For the six months of his incarceration at Brygidki prison, like many others, he was subjected to interrogation and torture. In prison, he continued his ministry by praying with the other prisoners, hearing confessions, giving spiritual exercises, teaching catechism classes, and comforting them with religious tales and stories from the Bible.[2]

On 22 June 1941, German troops began their offensive against the

human foetus inserted.[2] Official Soviet statements claim that Kovalyk was shot and not crucified.[5]

On 24 April 2001, along with several other Redemptorists, Kovalyk was recognised by the

patroness
of the Redemptorists.

Legacy

In his memoirs, Yaroslav Levytskyi recounts Kovalyk's sermons and the risk they invoked. '[His] sermons made an incredible impression on his listeners. But in the prevailing system of denunciations and terror this was very dangerous for a preacher. So I often tried to convince Father Kovalyk... that [he] needed to be more careful about the content of his sermons, that he shouldn't provoke the Bolsheviks, because here was a question of his own safety. But it was all in vain. Fathey Kovalyk only had one answer:"If that is God's will, I will gladly accept death, but as a preacher I will never act against my conscience."'[6]

References

  1. ^ Ukrainian Catholic Redemptorist website: Blessed Zenon Archived December 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b c d "Blessed Zynoviy Kovalyk (1903-1941)". cssr.com. Redemptorist Generalate. Archived from the original on 2017-09-23. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  3. ^ Canadian Redemptorist website: Kovalyk Archived December 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Yorkton Redemptorist website: Blessed Zenon Archived December 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Canadian Redemptorist website:Kovalyk Archived December 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. .

Other sources

German language biography * [1]