Blessed Emilian Kovch
Blessed Emilian Kovch (born August 20, 1884 AD in Kosmach, Galicia, Ukraine; died March 25, 1944 AD in Majdanek concentration camp, Lublin, Poland) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest from Galicia who was arrested by the Nazis for helping Jews escape deportation and who died in the Majdanek concentration camp. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 26, 2001, in Lviv, Ukraine. His feast day is March 25.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Emilian Kovch
| Blessed Emilian Kovch | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | March 25 |
| Profession | Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest; parish priest at Przemysl (Peremyshl); rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust; prisoner at Majdanek concentration camp; martyr of charity; Galician Ukrainian-Polish border priest |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite; Uniate); Galician Ukrainian Catholic tradition; Righteous Among the Nations (Yad Vashem); 20th-century martyrs; Holocaust-era martyrs |
| Patronage | Ukraine; Galicia; Przemysl; Ukrainian Greek Catholics; those who risk their lives to help persecuted people; Jews; Holocaust remembrance; priests; concentration camp prisoners |
| Attributes | Byzantine-rite vestments; palm of martyrdom; March 25 feast (Annunciation); Star of David (honoring his rescue of Jews); Majdanek barbed wire |
| Birthplace | Kosmach, Galicia, Ukraine |
| Death Place | Majdanek concentration camp, Lublin, Poland |
| Cause of Death | Martyrdom; died in Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin, Poland, on March 25, 1944 (the feast of the Annunciation); he was arrested in December 1942 by the German Gestapo for baptizing Jews to give them Catholic identity papers that would protect them from deportation; he had hidden and helped hundreds of Jews in Przemysl (Peremyshl) during the German occupation; he was sent to Majdanek, where he continued to minister to fellow prisoners until his death; at Majdanek he wrote: "I thank God for his goodness to me. Of all the places on earth, apart from Heaven, I would choose to stay here"; he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 26, 2001, in Lviv, Ukraine, as one of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic martyrs |
| Primary Shrine | Lviv, Ukraine; Przemysl, Poland; feast March 25; beatified JPII June 26 2001 |
| Liturgical Class | Not in universal Roman calendar; March 25 feast for Ukrainian Greek Catholics and in the Polish Catholic tradition; noted that March 25 is also the feast of the Annunciation |
| Historic Class | Not in 1962 calendar |
Biography
Emilian Kovch was born August 20, 1884, in Kosmach, Galicia (then Austria-Hungary, now western Ukraine), into a family with deep roots in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic tradition.
He was ordained a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest and served as parish priest at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Przemysl (Peremyshl), a city on the San River on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
During the German Nazi occupation, when the Jewish community of Przemysl was subjected to mass deportation to the Belzec extermination camp, Father Kovch responded by baptizing Jews and providing them with Catholic baptismal certificates — identity documents that gave some protection from the racial deportation laws. He is estimated to have helped save hundreds of Jews through this and other means.
In December 1942 the Gestapo arrested him specifically for this activity. He was eventually sent to the Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin, Poland. At Majdanek he continued to minister to fellow prisoners as a priest. When offered release on condition that he promise to stop helping Jews, he refused and remained in the camp.
He died at Majdanek on March 25, 1944 — the feast of the Annunciation.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 26, 2001, in Lviv, Ukraine, as part of a large group of Ukrainian Greek Catholic martyrs. He was also recognized by Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial authority, as Righteous Among the Nations. His feast day is March 25.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Kosmach, Galicia, Ukraine
Death location: Majdanek concentration camp, Lublin, Poland
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Feast day
March 25
Veneration
Blessed Emilian Kovch (1884–1944) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest from Przemysl who rescued hundreds of Jews from Nazi deportation by baptizing them and providing false Catholic papers, was arrested by the Gestapo, and died in Majdanek concentration camp on March 25, 1944; beatified John Paul II in Lviv, June 26, 2001; also recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. Feast March 25.
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