Bl. Theodore Romzha

Theodore Romzha was born in 1911 in Veliky Bychkiv, in Transcarpathia, now in western Ukraine. He studied philosophy and theology in Rome from 1930 to 1937, then served as a parish administrator and, from 1939, taught philosophy at the seminary in Uzhhorod.

In 1944 he was made bishop of the Eparchy of Mukachevo. An eparchy is the word Eastern Catholic Churches use for a diocese. When the Soviet Red Army controlled the region, he defended the rights of the Catholic Church there without tiring. On October 27, 1947 the Soviets tried to kill him. Badly wounded, he was taken to hospital in Mukachevo, where he was poisoned. He died on November 1, 1947. John Paul II beatified him in 2001.

Theodore Romzha was beatified in 2001 by John Paul II.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.