Konstantin Budkevich
Encyclopedia
Konstanty Romuald Budkiewicz (June 19, 1867 - March 31 or April 1, 1923) was a Roman Catholic priest executed by the Soviet Union
as part of their repression of religion. He remains under investigation for possible Sainthood. His current title is Servant of God
.
family of Szlachta
descent in Zubry manor near the town of Krāslava
in modern Latvia
. He completed his studies at the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, where he earned a doctorate in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1893 and taught in Pskov
and, from 1896, in Vilnius
.
on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg, becoming pastor there in 1908. In 1918, he became vicar-general to Bishop Jan Cieplak
(Tsieplak).
According to Francis MacCullagh,
with the Catholic Church. As Patriarch Tikhon was under house arrest
on false charges of "anti-Soviet and counterrevolutionary activities", this "conspiracy" implicated Cieplak, Mgr. Budkiewicz, (his Vicar General
), and Byzantine Rite Exarch
Leonid Feodorov
in Anti-Soviet agitation.
According to Father Christopher Lawrence Zugger,
New York Herald
correspondent Francis MacCullagh, who was present at the trial, later described its fourth day as follows:
Also according to MacCullagh,
On Palm Sunday
, 1923, Archbishop Cieplak and Monsignor Budkiewicz were sentenced to death. The other fifteen defendants were sentenced to long terms in the GULAG
. In the aftermath of sentencing, all were returned to their cells in Moscow's Butyrka prison
.
According to Father Francis Rutkowski, who was imprisoned with Mgr. Budkiewicz,
in the forests of the Sokolniki District
. A week afterward, a Roman Catholic requiem mass was offered for Monsignor Budkiewicz at St. Catherine's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Several foreign diplomats were in attendance.
Captain Francis McCullagh published the full text of the trial within a book entitled The Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity, which was swiftly translated into French, German and Spanish. News of the execution caused turmoil in France, whose Catholic population deplored the incident and saw it as an example of the excesses of the new government of the Soviet Union.
Constantine Budkiewicz's cause for sainthood was opened in 2003 and remains under investigation. His current title is Servant of God
. At St. Catherine's Cathedral, his stole is preserved as a relic
. A street in Warsaw
is also named for him.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as part of their repression of religion. He remains under investigation for possible Sainthood. His current title is Servant of God
Servant of God
Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...
.
Early life
Budkevich was born June 19, 1867 to a large PolishPoles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
family of Szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
descent in Zubry manor near the town of Krāslava
Kraslava
Krāslava is a major town in Krāslava municipality, in the Latgalia region of eastern Latvia.-History:* Krāslava was an important hillfort on the waterway from Variags to Greeks since early Middle Ages, part of the orthodox Principality of Jersika in 13th century.* In 1558 was mentioned for the...
in modern Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. He completed his studies at the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, where he earned a doctorate in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1893 and taught in Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
and, from 1896, in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
.
Saint Petersburg
In 1903, he served the parish of St. CatherineCatholic Church of St. Catherine
The Catholic Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Russia. It is part of the Archdiocese of Moscow headed by H.E. Msgr. Paolo Pezzi. It is located on the Nevsky Prospekt.- Construction :...
on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg, becoming pastor there in 1908. In 1918, he became vicar-general to Bishop Jan Cieplak
Jan Cieplak
Servant of God Archbishop Jan Cieplak was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and bishop.-Early life:...
(Tsieplak).
According to Francis MacCullagh,
"The Bolsheviks were not long in power before they realized that this polite and gentle-manndered Monsignor was the backbone of all the legitimate resistance offered to some of their impossible decrees by the Catholic clergy of Petrograd. They therefore persecuted him so persistantly [sic] that disguised in lay clothes, had for a time to carry out his work from a place of concealment. Then came a period of calm, but, towards the end of 1922, the Petrograd Reds lost all patience and determined to have Mgr. Budkiewicz's blood at all costs. They had their way, but, as we shall see later, they had not the satisfaction of seeing their victim falter or even lose colour when the sentence of death was passed on him."
The Cieplak Trial
He was arrested March 13, 1923 in connection with the case brought against the Catholic clergy, with Archbishop Cieplak at their head. The GPU feared that Archbishop Cieplak was planning to unite the Orthodox who followed Patriarch TikhonTikhon of Moscow
Saint Tikhon of Moscow , born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin , was the 11th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia of the Russian Orthodox Church during the early years of the Soviet Union, 1917 through 1925.-Early life:...
with the Catholic Church. As Patriarch Tikhon was under house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
on false charges of "anti-Soviet and counterrevolutionary activities", this "conspiracy" implicated Cieplak, Mgr. Budkiewicz, (his Vicar General
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
), and Byzantine Rite Exarch
Exarch
In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations....
Leonid Feodorov
Leonid Feodorov
Blessed Leonid Ivanovich Feodorov was Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church, in addition to being a survivor of the GULAG. After painstaking investigation, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001.-Early life:...
in Anti-Soviet agitation.
According to Father Christopher Lawrence Zugger,
"The Bolsheviks had already orchestrated several 'show trialShow trialThe term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
s.' The Cheka had staged the 'Trial of the St. Petersburg Combat Organization'; its successor, the new GPU, the 'Trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries.' In these and other such farces, defendants were inevitably sentenced to death or to long prison terms in the north. The Cieplak show trial is a prime example of Bolshevik revolutionary justice at this time. Normal judicial procedures did not restrict revolutionary tribunals at all; in fact, the prosecutorProsecutorThe prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
N.V. KrylenkoNikolai KrylenkoNikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Soviet legal system, rising to become People's Commissar for Justice and Prosecutor General of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.Krylenko was an...
, stated that the courts could trample upon the rights of classes other than the proletariatProletariatThe proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
. Appeals from the courts went not to a higher court, but to political committees. Western observers found the setting -- the grand ballroom of a former Noblemen's Club, with painted cherubsCHERUBSCHERUBS is a Non-Profit Organization. It was founded in February, 1995 for families of children born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, a severe and often lethal birth defect. It was founded and currently led by Dawn M...
on the ceiling -- singularly inappropriate for such a solemn event. Neither judges nor prosecutors were required to have a legal background, only a proper 'revolutionary' one. That the prominent 'No Smoking' signs were ignored by the judges themselves did not bode well for legalities."
New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
correspondent Francis MacCullagh, who was present at the trial, later described its fourth day as follows:
Also according to MacCullagh,
"My first glace at Mgr. Budkiewicz showed me clearly why the Bolsheviks were so infuriated with him that nothing but his death would satisfy them. Not only was he immovable himself, but (in the opinion of the Bolsheviks) he made others unmovable. Then his matter was, for a Slav, curiously cold and impassive. In speaking, he used no gestures, and did not move his body in the slightest; but in private life he was extremely humorous. Circumstances compelled him to restrain himself, but he conveyed, somehow, the impression of having it in him to pierce Bolshevism with a satire keener than a rapierRapierA rapier is a slender, sharply pointed sword, ideally used for thrusting attacks, used mainly in Early Modern Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.-Description:...
; and it surely is one of the ironies of life that while Leninism is being dealt with almost exclusively by non-Russians who do not know much about it, or by Russians whose absence abroad has made them equally ignorant, this accomplished man, who knew Red Russia through and through, should first have been prevented by his position from telling all he knew about it, and should then have had his brains blown out by an official assassin."
On Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
, 1923, Archbishop Cieplak and Monsignor Budkiewicz were sentenced to death. The other fifteen defendants were sentenced to long terms in the GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
. In the aftermath of sentencing, all were returned to their cells in Moscow's Butyrka prison
Butyrka prison
Butyrka prison was the central transit prison in pre-Revolutionary Russia, located in Moscow.The first references to Butyrka prison may be traced back to the 17th century. The present prison building was erected in 1879 near the Butyrsk gate on the site of a prison-fortress which had been built...
.
Martyrdom
According to Father Christopher Lawrence Zugger,"The VaticanHoly SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, Germany, Poland, Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
undertook frantic efforts to save the Archbishop and his chancellor. In Moscow, the ministers from the Polish, British, Czechoslovak, and Italian missions appealed 'on the grounds of humanity,' and Poland offered to exchange any prisoner to save the archbishop and the monsignor. Finally, on March 29, the Archbishop's sentence was commuted to ten years in prison, ... but the Monsignor was not to be spared. Again, there were appeals from foreign powers, from Western Socialists and Church leaders alike. These appeals were for naught: PravdaPravdaPravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
editorialized on March 30 that the tribunal was defending the rights of the workers, who had been oppressed by the bourgeouis system for centuries with the aid of priests. Pro-Communist foreigners who intervened for the two men were also condemned as 'compromisers with the priestly servants of the bourgeoisieBourgeoisieIn sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
.' ...Father Rutkowski recorded later that Budkiewicz surrendered himself over to the will of God without reservation. On Easter Sunday, the world was told that the Monsignor was still alive, and PopePopeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Pius XI publicly prayed at St. Peter's that the Soviets would spare his life. Moscow officials told foreign ministers and reporters that the Monsignor's sentence was just, and that the Soviet Union was a sovereign nation that would accept no interferance. In reply to an appeal from the rabbiRabbiIn Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s of New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to spare Budkiewicz's life, Pravda wrote a blistering editorial against 'Jewish bankers who rule the world' and bluntly warned that the Soviets would kill Jewish opponents of the Revolution as well. Only on April 4 did the truth finally emerge: the Monsignor had already been in the grave for three days. When the news came to Rome, Pope Pius fell to his knees and wept as he prayed for the priest's soul. To make matters worse, Cardinal Gasparri had just finished reading a note from the Soviets saying that 'everything was proceeding satisfactorily' when he was handed the telegram announcing the execution. On March 31, 1923, Holy SaturdayHoly SaturdayHoly Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...
, at 11:30 PM, after a week of fervent prayers and a firm declaration that he was ready to be sacrificed for his sins, Monsignor Constantine Budkiewicz had been taken from his cell and, sometime before the dawn of Easter Sunday, shot in the back of the head on the steps of the LubyankaLubyanka (KGB)The Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the KGB and affiliated prison on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. It is a large building with a facade of yellow brick, designed by Alexander V...
prison.
According to Father Francis Rutkowski, who was imprisoned with Mgr. Budkiewicz,
The days between March 25th and March 31st, until he was taken to a special cell, passed as if nothing special were likely to befall him. On Good FridayGood FridayGood Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
, March 30th, fellow prisoners read in the newspaper how the Archbishop's sentence had been commuted and how the Monsignor's sentence had been carried out. At this time, the Monsignor was not in the cell. When he returned, his fellow prisoners did not tell him at first that he had been refused grace; after a while, they told him and showed him the paper. Then he quickly said that it was not necessary to hide the fact from him, but that he was ready for everything. When on the invitation of the Archbishop, Mgr. Malecki privately suggested to Mgr. Budkiewicz that he might prepare for death, he answered that he was completely at peace, ready for everything, that he was little understood, and that God alone knew how he had offered himself for all his faults. On saying these last words, with tears in his eyes, he totally and completely surrendered himself to the Divine Will. On Holy SaturdayHoly SaturdayHoly Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...
, March 31st, about ten o'clock, he was taken from our cell to No. 42, which was used for solitary confinementSolitary confinementSolitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
. He quietly said goodbye to us all, forseeing that he would see us no more. That same evening, he sent back a Russian book which he had taken with him as he left us. He had written in it that he was alone in No. 42, that it was clean and warm there. Some secular prisoners who were with us, Russians and non-Catholics, and who had continually observed his behavior, wondered with great admiration at him because he was so peaceful; they called him happy because he suffered and died for a good cause. One of the prisoners who lived on the same corridor as Mgr. Budkiewicz told us how in the evening of March 31st, he bathed and had teaTeaTea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
. Around half past eleven at night, two men came, told him to take his things and led him to an automobile waiting in the yard. He answered that they did not give him peace even at night. He himself was completely at peace when he said goodbye to the prisoner in the corridor, gave him cigars, and went to the automobile. According to what we read in the newspapers, he was executed during the night of March 31st, between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. He was shot from behind, as he stepped down into the cellars of the Lubianka.
Legacy
In the aftermath of the Monsignor's execution, his body was loaded into a truck and driven to a communal graveMass graves in the Soviet Union
This page discusses mass graves in the Soviet Union.-Soviet repression and terror:The government of the USSR under Stalin murdered many of its own citizens and foreigners. These mass killings were carried out by the security organisations, such as the NKVD, and reached their peak in the Great Purge...
in the forests of the Sokolniki District
Sokolniki District
Sokolniki District is a district in Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia; located in the northeast corner of the city. Population:...
. A week afterward, a Roman Catholic requiem mass was offered for Monsignor Budkiewicz at St. Catherine's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Several foreign diplomats were in attendance.
Captain Francis McCullagh published the full text of the trial within a book entitled The Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity, which was swiftly translated into French, German and Spanish. News of the execution caused turmoil in France, whose Catholic population deplored the incident and saw it as an example of the excesses of the new government of the Soviet Union.
Constantine Budkiewicz's cause for sainthood was opened in 2003 and remains under investigation. His current title is Servant of God
Servant of God
Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...
. At St. Catherine's Cathedral, his stole is preserved as a relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
. A street in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
is also named for him.
Quotes
- "Our Church forbids us to make political speeches. For us to take any part in politics is to fall away from our Christian ideals. We defend ourselves only when it is our Christian teaching that is attacked. We distinguish between the parties on the side of the Government. We distinguish between the parties and the State. We draw a clear distinction between the social aims of Communism and its other tendencies, between the Communist theory and those principles with challenge the Christian faith. Christianity regards Communism only from a religious standpoint. It does not matter under what social order, under what form of Government we live. The Roman Catholic clergy are not concerned with the social system. The only thing that concerns them is religion."
- Monsignor Budkiewicz shortly before being sentenced to death.
Further reading
- Father Joseph Ledit, S.J.Society of JesusThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, Archbishop John Baptist Cieplak, Palm Publishers Limited, MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, 1963. - Francis MacCullagh, The Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity, E. P. Dutton and CompanyE. P. DuttonE. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...
, 1924. - Father Christopher Lawrence Zugger, The Forgotten: Catholics in the Soviet Empire from Lenin through Stalin, University of Syracuse Press, 2001.