The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church will be on a national pilgrimage to Rome on June 25, 2017, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Canonization of Saint Josaphat Koncevitch (1584-1623), bishop and martyr.
The first saint of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, his mortal remains repose in Saint Peter’s Basilica. To celebrate this anniversary, Pope Francis has granted the pilgrimage’s participants the privilege to celebrate the Divine Liturgy from the altar of the Chair of Saint Peter in the Vatican Basilica, reported the Italian Catholic Agency SIR two weeks earlier.
The event will open on June 24 in the church of Saint Sophia in the Eternal City, with the papal vespers prayer presided over by Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kiev, head of the Greek-Catholic Church of Ukraine. Then a concert of sacred music will take place with the choir of seminarians of the Theological Seminary of Ivano-Frankivsk.
On Sunday, June 25, in addition to the Mass at 1:00 pm, the pilgrims will take part in the Angelus with Pope Francis at noon in St. Peter’s Square. According to SIR, the organizing committee invites Ukrainians residing in the country and in the diaspora “to take part in the pilgrimage to the relics of Saint Josaphat, martyr for the unity of the Church and of the people.”
Patron Saint of Ukrainian Catholics, Josaphat Koncevitch, Bishop of Polatsk devoted himself to unity between Catholic and Orthodox. Killed by opponents of the unity, he was canonized in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
