Nicholas Charnetsky and 24 companions

In 1926, the Redemptorists founded a mission in Volhynia to foster ecumenical dialogue. Father Charnetsky was appointed Apostolic Visitor for Byzantine-rite Catholics in Volyn, Polissia, Kholm, and Pidliashia. On February 2, 1931, Pope Pius XI appointed him titular bishop of Lebedus and Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainian Catholics in Volyn and Pidliashia. He was consecrated bishop on February 8, 1931. After the Second World War, the Stalinist regime launched a campaign to eradicate the Greek Catholic Church. On the night of April 11, 1945, Bishop Charnetsky was arrested by the KGB (NKVD) along with Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj. Imprisoned in Lviv and tortured, he was sentenced to forced labor and spent eleven years in Soviet camps, notably in Siberia, where he provided spiritual support to his fellow prisoners. Released in 1956 because he was considered moribund, he returned to Lviv, where he clandestinely led the Church and secretly ordained priests before passing away on April 2, 1959.

From the moment of his death, Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky was considered a holy bishop and a martyr by the Ukrainian faithful. His grave in Lviv became a place of pilgrimage. After the fall of the Soviet regime, the beatification process was officially opened. The diocesan inquiry concluded on March 2, 2001. The file was transmitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican. On April 6, 2001, the theological commission recognized his martyrdom, a decision confirmed by the Assembly of Cardinals on April 23, 2001. On April 24, 2001, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing his martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith).

On June 27, 2001, during his apostolic journey to Ukraine, Pope John Paul II celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine rite at the Lviv Hippodrome. Before a vast crowd, he proclaimed Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky and 24 companion martyrs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, victims of communist persecutions between 1935 and 1973. This group includes 7 bishops (Hryhorij Khomyšyn, Josaphat Kocylovskyj, Symeon Lukač, Vasyl Velyčkovskyj, Ivan Slezyuk, Mykyta Budka, Hryhorij Lakota), 6 diocesan priests (Mykola Konrad, Andrij Iščak, Roman Lysko, Mykola Cehelskyj, Petro Verhun, Oleksa Zaryckyj), 7 religious priests (Klymentij Šeptyckyj, Severijan Baranyk, Jakym Senkivskyj, Zynovij Kovalyk, Vitalij Bajrak, Ivan Ziatyk, Leonid Fëdorov), 3 religious sisters (Tarsykija Mac’kiv, Olimpija Bida, Lavrentija Harasymiv), and 1 layman (Volodymyr Pryjma).

The spirituality of Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky is based on abandonment to Divine Providence and the imitation of the suffering Christ. Nicknamed the "healer of souls," he distinguished himself by his gentleness, humility, and heroic patience in the face of persecution, impressing even his gulag guards. His legacy is inseparable from the survival of the underground Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. By maintaining the episcopal ministry in the catacombs and secretly ordaining priests, he enabled the preservation of the Catholic faith in Ukraine. His relics were transferred in 2002 to the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lviv, where they continue to attract many pilgrims.