Josaphat Kuncewicz (1580–1623)

Biography

He was the son of a consul and educated in the schism of Photius and Cerularius. In 1595, at the age of 15, he began to work in a business and in his free time he dedicated himself to reading, especially the lives of the saints. In that same year, the Decree of Union of the Eastern Slavs with Rome was promulgated and Pope Clement VIII published the Constitution "MAGNUS DOMINUS" to celebrate it. Pius XI, in 1923 - on the third centenary of the death of Saint Josaphat - published the Encyclical "ECCLESIAM DEI". In it he praises Josaphat's interest in seeking in the Slavic Liturgy the reasons for the union between the Churches. Josaphat decided to unite with the Catholic Church, without renouncing the peculiarities of the East. On the contrary, he defended the conservation of the Eastern Slavic Rite and the monastic Order of Saint Basil, in the Universal Church. He himself became a Basilian monk in Vienna, and changed his name from John to Josaphat. There he gave himself to piety and the harshest penances. In a short time he became a teacher of all, in science, in religious discipline and in all the virtues. In 1614, already ordained a priest, he was named Archimandrite. The monastery flourished in desires for holiness and desires for union with Rome. Josaphat enthused and captivated everyone with his irrefutable dialectic. Many were his conquests; Even his enemies called him "the thief of souls." In 1618 he was appointed Bishop of Pólotzk. The example of his chaste, poor life and great generosity for everyone was the best strength of his apostolate. To help the poor, everything was given up, even the most necessary things. He writes several pamphlets on the baptism of Saint Vladimir, on the primacy of Peter and in defense of the Catholic faith. His fame grew and so did the hatred of the schismatics, who called him "the papist apostate." He is persecuted and suffers attacks. He remains in the gap and offers himself as a victim. The fearlessness of his zeal, the forcefulness of his arguments in controversies, the multiple and resounding conversions, increasingly angered his enemies who felt totally powerless before him. The only thing left for them was to eliminate him by violence. They wounded him with a bullet and he was finished off with a sickle. The saint had foreseen that it could not end any other way, by preaching the Truth with such courage in the face of so many enemies. But Josaphat knew that his Divine Master had also ended like this. The disciple could not be less, he wanted to faithfully follow in his footsteps. Twenty years after his heroic martyrdom, Urban VIII beatified Josaphat with the honorable title of "APOSTLE OF CATHOLIC UNITY." He was later canonized by Pope Pius IX.