Blessed Martyrs of Pratulin

The Blessed Martyrs of Pratulin are Wincenty Lewoniuk and twelve companions, lay Greek Catholics from Podlasie. On January 24, 1874, they died under the bullets of Russian soldiers while defending their church and their unity with the pope. The Roman Martyrology commemorates them on January 24, the anniversary of their martyrdom; in the Diocese of Siedlce their memorial is kept on January 23.

They belonged to the Uniate, that is, Greek Catholic Church, which came into being through the Union of Brest of 1596: it kept the Eastern liturgy and remained in unity with the Apostolic See. In the second half of the nineteenth century, under Russian rule, it survived only in the Diocese of Chełm, and the tsarist authorities decided to abolish it there as well. The bishop and the priests faithful to Rome were removed from their parishes, imprisoned, or deported to Siberia, and the faithful defended their churches themselves.

So it was in Pratulin. When the parish priest went into exile, the parishioners resolved not to hand over their church: to give it to a non-Catholic clergyman meant, for them, renouncing their faith. Soldiers arrived to force them to surrender the keys. They said goodbye to their families, put on their best clothes because, as they said, the holiest of matters was at stake, and stood around the church.

The commander could not make them leave, either by threats or by promises. When the soldiers used force, the defenders reached for stones and sticks. But when the shots rang out, they threw them away, knelt in the churchyard, and began to sing. Many were wounded, and thirteen lost their lives: some died on the spot, others soon died of their wounds. In Siedlce in 1999, John Paul II recalled their last words: “How sweet it is to die for the faith.”

They were farmers aged 19 to 50, most of them husbands and fathers: Wincenty Lewoniuk, Daniel Karmasz, Łukasz Bojko, Konstanty Bojko, Konstanty Łukaszuk, Anicet Hryciuk, Filip Geryluk, Onufry Wasyluk, Bartłomiej Osypiuk, Ignacy Frańczuk, Jan Andrzejuk, Maksym Hawryluk, and Michał Wawryszuk. Lewoniuk was the first to die. Karmasz, the head of the parish confraternity, stood at the front holding a cross that is kept in Pratulin to this day; after his death Frańczuk took it up. Osypiuk died at home, praying for the persecutors.

The soldiers buried the dead without their families present and leveled the grave, but the parishioners remembered the place. In 1875 the Uniates were enrolled in the Orthodox Church against their will. In independent Poland the grave was held in honor, and on May 18, 1990, the remains were moved to the parish church in Pratulin.

Bishop Henryk Przeździecki of Podlasie chose them to represent all the Uniates of Podlasie who gave their lives for the faith and the unity of the Church, and in 1938 he opened the beatification process. John Paul II beatified them on October 6, 1996, in Saint Peter’s Square. He said then that they had defended not only their church but also the Church that Christ entrusted to the apostle Peter.