Saint Josaphat
12 November · Memorial · Red
The archbishop lies on the ground by the church wall in the moonlight, his eyes turned up and a little blood at his temple, and a young cleric in gold kneels to hold his head. At the left a man in a white shirt grips an axe and a man in a fur hat levels a pistol; at the right the mourners hide their faces. Józef Simmler paints the moment between the axe and the bullet: Vitebsk, 12 November 1623.
Josaphat Markevyc, “St. Josaphat Kuncevyc”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1910): newadvent.org
Józef Simmler
c. 1861, oil on canvas, National Museum in Warsaw, MP 686
The photograph's record
His life
He was born at Volodymyr in Volhynia in 1580, or by some accounts 1584, and baptised John. At twenty-four he entered the Basilian monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna, a monk of the Ruthenian Church in communion with Rome, and he was soon known for his extraordinary zeal in the service of souls. On 12 November 1617 he was, against his will, consecrated bishop of Vitebsk, and the next year became archbishop of Polotsk. He gave his clergy a catechism with orders that it be learned by heart, never slackened in prayer and penance, and firmly opposed the chancellor Sapieha when he wished to make concessions to those who had broken with Rome.
Its leading figure was Meletius Smotrytsky, and its most celebrated victim was Josaphat: at Vitebsk, on 12 November 1623, an axe-stroke and a bullet brought him his martyr's crown. Five years later his body was still incorrupt. He was beatified in 1643, twenty years after his death, and canonised in 1867; on the three hundredth anniversary Pius XI wrote the encyclical Ecclesiam Dei about him. He was killed for wanting the Church to be one; Christ asked for the same thing the night before He died, and asks it of us.
Josaphat Markevyc, “St. Josaphat Kuncevyc”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1910): newadvent.org; Pius XI, Ecclesiam Dei (12 November 1923)
In Scripture
20And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me. 21That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
John 17:20–21, Douay-Rheims (Challoner).
In painting
Aleksander Tarasewicz
second half of the 17th century, engraving, hand-coloured, National Library of Poland (Polona)
The photograph's record
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The day in the next three years
| 2026 | Thursday 12 November |
|---|---|
| 2027 | Friday 12 November |
| 2028 | Sunday 12 November: not kept this year; it is the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. |
Near this day
The saints of the year · The feasts · The Rosary
Written and checked by the Monstrance editors; sources cited. Scripture in the Douay-Rheims (Challoner). Every painting is in the public domain, and each caption follows the record of the institution that holds it.
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