CCHA, Report, 24 (1957), 75-86
Metropolitan
Andrew Sheptyckyj
and the Ukrainians in Canada
by Bohdan
KAZYMYRA, B.L.S., L.Sc.Pol.Soc., Ph.D.
Metropolitan Count Andrew Sheptyckyj, who
for forty-five years governed the affairs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church,
occupies a special place in the history of the Ukrainian people. He was a man
of great religious and public importance. When in November 1944 the news of
Metropolitan Andrew’s death in Lviv became known, Ukrainians grieved deeply,
for they had lost a good father, and the Catholic Church one of its best sons
who was gone forever. Not long ago, steps were taken under the leadership of
Archbishop Ivan Buchko in Rome to have the servant of God, Metropolitan Andrew,
mentioned at the altars of the Catholic Church. Let us hope that it will happen
soon!
Metropolitan Andrew Sheptyckyj was the
scion of a famous Ukrainian princely family, whose origin goes back to the 12th
century.1 Although the
family was somewhat influenced by Polish culture, they kept Ukrainian
traditions and gave the Ukrainian Catholic Church such outstanding leaders of
the 18th century as Metropolitan Athanasius Sheptyckyj (1715-1746) and
Metropolitan Lev Sheptyckyj (1768-1779).
On July 29, 1865, just two years before the
birth of the Dominion of Canada, in the family of Ivan Count Sheptyckyj a son
was born, who later was to become Metropolitan Andrew. By baptism, he received
three names: Roman Maria Alexander.
Studying the chronicle of his family and
having often admired the portraits of his famous ancestors, who devoted their
lives to the Ukrainian cause and Church, young Roman decided to follow their
steps.
During his studies of law, he travelled in
many countries. During his first visit to Rome, Roman Sheptyckyj told Pope Leo
XIII of his intention to serve God. At this, he was told: “Optimam partem
elegisti, qua: non auferetur a te.”2 He fulfilled this intention
on May 28, 1888, by presenting himself to the novitiate of the Basilian Fathers
in Dobromyl, where he took the name of Andrew. After completing his studies of
philosophy and theology, he was ordained on August 22, 1892.
During the first seven years of priesthood,
he occupied various posts: he was prefect of the novices, he founded and
published the monthly paper Missionar (The Missionary), was abbot of the
St. Onufrey (Humphrey) monastery in Lviv, founded the Basilian printing-press
in Zovkva and helped the missions. He was also the protector of two known
Ukrainian missionaries in Canada: Rev. Navkratyj Kryzanovskyj, O.S.B.M. and
Rev. Sozont Dydyk, O.S.B.M.
In February 1899, the Holy See and the
Austrian government appointed Father Andrew Bishop of the Stanyslaviv diocese.
The consecration took place on September 17, 1899, and the enthronement on
September 20, 1899. A year later, Bishop Sheptyckyj was named Metropolitan for
Ukrainians in Galicia, Archbishop of Lviv and Bishop of Kaminetz Podilsky. The
solemn enthronement took place on Thursday, January 17, 1901.
Metropolitan Andrew became not only a
spiritual but also a national leader of the Ukrainians. He wielded great
authority among Ukrainian Catholics as well as among Ukrainians of Orthodox
faith. In 1913, he founded and endowed the National Museum in Lviv, and later
the Ukrainian Theological Academy in Lviv which had two faculties: arts and
theology. In 1930, he established a publishing company at Lviv, and was the
founder of the well known Assemblies in Velegrad (Czechoslovakia). He also
renewed the monastic order of St. Theodore Studyt, who after the Second World
War came to Canada and established their monastery in Woodstock, Ontario. In
addition, he looked after his flock overseas. The Ukrainians in Canada are
grateful because he helped them in many ways.3
The overpopulation of villages of Western
Ukraine in the past century, the limited possibilities of earning a living, and
extremely low wages for work done were the main reasons for the emigration of
Ukrainians to countries of Western Europe (Denmark, Norway, France, Germany,
England, etc.) and to the New World, particularly to South America (Brazil and
Argentina) and to North America (United States and Canada).4 Statistics towards
the end of the 19th century show that 42% of the peasant families of Galicia
and Volynia, and 457 of the Carpatho-Ukraine possessed less than 5 acres of
land, and 397 of farms in Galicia and Volynia and 30% in Carpatho-Ukraine owned
between 5 and 15 acres of land. Hence, it is easy to understand why the
Ukrainian farmer from Galicia would try to improve his lot by emigrating
overseas.
The Ukrainian peasant in Galicia learned
about countries overseas from labourers who returned from seasonal jobs in
Western Europe, and also from German colonists in Galicia and Jewish merchants,
who had friends in the New World.
The first Ukrainian settler to Canada,
Vasyl Eleniak, arrived in Canada in 1891 (he died on January 12, 1956 in
Chipman, Alberta, ninety-seven years old). He stated that his villagers learned
about Canada from German colonists. “From the Germans I learned about Canada,”
he said. “. . . The Germans from Canada were encouraging their relatives to go
there because much land and woods could be had in Canada.”5
The first official mention of Ukrainian
settlers in Canada can be found in the reports of the High Commissioner of
Canada in London. In 1893 he related that the Galician immigration was
“increasing.” It must, therefore, have started before his report was presented.
Ukrainians in Canada claim that the first Ukrainian settlers came to Canada in
1891, from the village of Nebyliv in Western Ukraine.6
When in 1896 the Liberal party of Wilfrid
Laurier came into power, the new Prime Minister initiated a plan to increase
the number of settlers from Europe. Canada needed people to settle its vast
territories.7
After the elections of 1896, Hon. Clifford
Sifton became the new Minister of the Interior. His policy was to encourage
immigration from Europe, especially from Slavic countries. When the peasants of
Galicia learned that it was possible to purchase from the Government of Canada
a homestead for only $10, many of them decided to emigrate to that land of
plenty. At first only a few family groups undertook the venture but as soon as
their letters confirmed the fact about the free land, the flow of landhungry
Ukrainian peasant settlers became a mass movement. By 1898 thousands of them
were already settled on homesteads in Manitoba and the North Western
Territories. The reports of that time stated that 60% of these pioneer settlers
made their homes in Manitoba and 40% ventured further West, into the
North-Western Territories.8 They became the pioneers who helped to open
the Canadian West and whose children and grand-children are today among the
best farmers of the prairies.
The Ukrainian pioneers had to face many
difficulties in the new country. The homesteaders had to use mostly primitive
tools because they didn’t have enough money to buy the necessary machinery.
Beside material needs there arose a great need for religious guidance. The
settlers encountered in Canada new religious problems to which they had not
been accustomed.
Although Ukrainians came from all provinces
of Ukraine, the majority came from Galicia which since 1772 was part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. At that time, the population of Galicia was almost
one hundred per cent Catholic of the Ukrainian (Eastern) rite. In Canada, to
their surprise and confusion they found that besides the Catholic Church there
existed also other religious denominations. They also noticed that the Church
and the State were separated. There was no official church or religion in
Canada.
Settling on the prairies, the Ukrainians
met with the Latin clergy, the majority of whom were Oblate missionaries. There
existed an organized hierarchy with its metropolitan centre in St. Boniface,
Manitoba. The Latin missionaries knew little or nothing about Ukrainians, and
especially about their Eastern Catholic rite and their religious traditions.
The situation was still more aggravated by the agitation of the Russian
orthodox mission, which wanted to attract Ukrainians to their Church, pointing
out that the Russian orthodoxy was much nearer the Ukrainian rite than the
Latin.
At the beginning, the Ukrainian settlers’
problems were taken care of by the Latin missionaries: Oblates and
Redemptorists. Only later, a few priests from Galicia, encouraged by their
Bishops and urgently requested by the immigrants, started to arrive in Canada.
It is interesting to note that several
Redemptorist Fathers from Belgium (A. Delaere, H. Buis, M. Decamp, K. Tesher
and others) and five secular priests (A. Sabourin, D. Claveloux, 0. Gagnon, A.
Desmarais, and Fr. Jean), inspired by the desire to serve the new arrivals,
adopted the Ukrainian rite and did missionary work among the Ukrainian
settlers. Thus they tried to make up for the lack of Ukrainian priests. But
this did not entirely solve the problem. The lack of priests of the Ukrainian
rite made some problems for the Latin hierarchy and Archbishop Adelard Langevin
in his memorandum of July 2, 1904, which he handed to the Austrian emperor
Francis Joseph, speaks clearly about this situation.9
The bishops of North Western Canada knew
that only Ukrainian priests, who could understand their people, could attend
efficiently to their spiritual needs. Therefore, in an effort to obtain
Ukrainian priests, Bishops Albert Pascal of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and
Emile Legal of St. Albert, Alberta, decided to proceed to Europe, in the autumn
of 1898. Bishop Legal went to Rome and Bishop Pascal went on a special mission
to Vienna, Lviv, and Rome. During his stay in Rome, Bishop Pascal handed to
Cardinal Mieczyslaw Ledochowski, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the
Propagation of the Faith, the first memorandum10 of the Canadian
Catholic Hierarchy concerning the spiritual care of the Ukrainian settlers. In it,
Bishop Pascal mentioned the question of Ukrainian missionaries for Canada and
subsidies for mission work. He also requested that Basilian Fathers be sent to
Canada.
Later, in the spring of 1900, Father A.
Lacombe, O.M.I., Vicar General of the Bishop of St. Albert, went to Europe on a
similar mission. He was sent by the Archbishop Langevin and the Bishops
Grandin, Legal and Pascal. Father Lacombe followed closely the intentions and
the plans of Pope Leo XIII. At that time already he came to the conclusion that
the Ukrainians in Canada should have their own Bishop. This was, in his
opinion, the best way to solve the religious problems of Ukrainian settlers.
But Archbishop Langevin was of a different opinion. In his letter of April 25,
1900 to Father Lacombe, he stated: “I would not like to have a Ruthenian Bishop
in my diocese.”11 From Rome, Father Lacombe went to Stanyslaviv to visit the Bishop
Andrew Sheptyckyj.
The visit of Father Lacombe confirmed the wish
of Bishop Sheptyckyj to visit Canada. Father Lacombe arrived at Stanyslaviv on
March 15, 1900 and explained the problems of the Ukrainian settlers who did not
have their own clergy. He related that Russian missionaries were trying to
influence them and that the confusion and disorientation resulted in more and
more losses for the Catholic Church. In his search for Ukrainian missionaries
Father Lacombe had not much success. Most of those willing to serve were
married and therefore were not eligible for missionary work overseas. To
present as clearly as possible the religious situation of Ukrainians in Canada,
Father Lacombe wrote on September 17, 1900 a memorandum which he handed to
Bishop Sheptyckyj .12
In his memoirs about his trip to
Stanyslaviv, Father Lacombe wrote:13 “I noticed that
the people and the clergy liked him (i.e. Bishop Sheptyckyj – B.K.). , He
promised to do all he could for his people. How delightful will it be when His
Excellency will be able to visit his dear flock in Canada, give them encouragement
and bless them.” On one occasion Bishop Sheptyckyj mentioned to Father Lacombe
his intention to visit Canada. He forwarded this good news to his hierarchy. In
his reply Archbishop Langevin wrote: “We are sending a letter to Bishop Andrew
in Lviv inviting him to visit Canada.”14
Metropolitan Andrew Sheptyckyj started to
make arrangements for his visit to Canada. But the invitation from the Canadian
Hierarchy was not sufficient. It was necessary to have also the permission from
Cardinal Ledochowski, as is clearly seen from the letter of the Apostolic
Delegate in Ottawa, Msgr. Falconio, to Bishop Grandin (on March 22, 1901):
“Monsignor Sheptyckyj would like to come to Canada, but all depends on the Propaganda,
where I have written three times already ...”15
Abbot Dom Grea noticed also the
unwillingness of Cardinal Ledochowski. “Dom Grea is of the opinion that
Cardinal Ledochowski, as all other representatives of the Polish aristocracy,
is not friendly to Ruthenians,” wrote Archbishop Langevin in a letter on May
25, 1900 to Bishop Grandin.16
On his return to Canada Father Lacombe
tried to help the Metropolitan to visit this country. In a letter to Father
Lacombe (Vienna, February 6, 1901) Archbishop Sheptyckyj thanked the Canadian
Hierarchy for these efforts. “As regards Ruthenian priests,” the Metropolitan
wrote, “there is eligible only my secretary, whom you know and who is willing
to go overseas ... Pray to God that we find another one, so that at least two
could remain in Canada.”17
Bishop Grandin on April 18, 1901 received a
letter from Msgr. Falconio, who declared: “. ..I just got a letter from
Propaganda. His Em. Cardinal Ledochowski did not welcome the idea of the visit
of Msgr. Sheptyckyj to Canada.”18
Metropolitan Andrew had no choice but to
postpone his visit and send his secretary, Rev. Basil Zoldak, to Canada in
September 1901. Father Zoldak was given a written message from Archbishop
Andrew to Father Lacombe (dated September 11, 1901) in which he said: “... I
learned that Cardinal Ledochowski instead of approving my project opposed it
and, therefore I am obliged to postpone my visit till next year. I expect to be
in Rome in November, and I shall talk then about my plans. If such is God’s
will, I shall come to Canada next year. In the meanwhile I am awaiting that
time...”19
Father Lacombe’s answer was: “... We
implore you again to come here ... Come and help us to save all those souls. We
are very sorry that Rome and the Austrian government do not understand the
situation and that they do not favour your coming, which is so much desired by
us. The longer we wait and postpone our plans, the harder it will be to bring
those poor people on the right path.”20
The visit of the Metropolitan was a
necessity. Everybody agreed that he was the only one who could help. For that
reason, Archbishop Langevin wrote on February 27, 1904 to Father A. Delaere,
C.Ss.R.: “The question of the Metropolitan’s visit will be settled in Rome,
when I will go there this year.’21
It seemed as though the Sacred Congregation
of the Propagation of the Faith for some reason did not wish the Metropolitan
to visit Canada. It was not until the International Eucharistic Congress in
Montreal in 1910, which the Metropolitan Andrew attended without asking permission
of the Sacred Congregation, that he was able to fulfil his intention.
As the number of the Ukrainian settlers in
Canada steadily increased, there increased also the need for clergy. The Latin
Hierarchy realized that the Latin clergy, even with best intentions, was unable
to serve satisfactorily the spiritual needs of Ukrainian Catholics of the
Oriental rite. Therefore, Bishop Legal went to Rome in the spring of 1898 and
requested that Ukrainian priests be sent to Canada. He approached also the
provincial of the Basilian Fathers in this matter but was informed that there
was a shortage of Ukrainian missionaries.
In that same year, Bishop Pascal also went
to Europe, where he visited Vienna, Lviv and Rome. At that time there took
place in Vienna a meeting of Catholic Bishops of Austria.22 In Vienna, Bishop
Pascal met one Ukrainian Bishop from Galicia (probably Bishop Chekhovych from
Peremysl, who was interested in the Ukrainian settlers in Canada). This Bishop
promised to help by sending his clergy. Bishop Pascal asked also that a
Basilian mission be started in Manitoba. The efforts of both Canadian Bishops,
Legal and Pascal, met with positive results. On October 21, 1899, the first
Basilian, Father Damaskin Polivka, arrived in Winnipeg, Manitoba.23
The hope of securing secular priests for
missionary work in Canada was not realized. That is why efforts were made to
bring more priests of the Basilian Order. That was the main reason why Father
Albert Lacombe, O.M.I., as already mentioned, went to Europe in 1900. On May
20, 1900, he and Bishop Dontenville of New Westminster, British Columbia,
called on Cardinal Ledochowski and the Austrian ambassador in Rome. Bishop
Dontenville submitted to Pope Leo XIII a memorandum about the need of
religious care for Ukrainians in Canada. It was the second memorandum presented
by the Catholic Hierarchy of North Western Canada.24
Father D. Polivka, O.S.B.M. left Manitoba
in 1900 for the United States and there was nobody to replace him. Metropolitan
Sheptyckyj and the Canadian Bishops again renewed their efforts to bring
Basilian Fathers to Canada. The Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the
Faith was in favour of the settlement of Basilian Fathers in Canada. Archbishop
Langevin was informed about this on January 21, 1901, by Cardinal Ledochowski.
To obtain a better picture of the situation in Canada, Metropolitan Andrew sent
over his secretary Father Basil Zoldak at the end of 1901. He studied the
question closely in order to be able to make a detailed report and after half a
year of his missionary work, he requested Bishop Legal to allow Father Alphonse
Jan, O.M.I., to go with him to Lviv and “to present the situation of souls
without care and to induce the clergy to take care of them.” The permission was
granted, and on June 17, 1902, Rev. A. Jan, O.M.I., and Rev. B. Zoldak left
Edmonton for Europe. In Lviv, Metropolitan Sheptyckyj welcomed them, and asked
the Provincial of the Basilian Fathers to send priests on missions to Canada.25 But the Father
Provincial, unfortunately, could not satisfy that wish.
The Metropolitan then made an appeal to
obtain permission from the Holy See to send Basilian missionaries to Canada. In
letters of August 20, 1902 and September 20, 1902, he wrote to Cardinal Gotti
that Father Zoldak “could get a few helpers, which I am ready to send to Canada
on a repeated request of the Hierarchy of the North-West, if your Eminence does
not refuse ... And so I ask for your permission. Ready to go are Fathers: Lomnyckyj,
Dydyk and Strockyj of the Basilian Order ...”26
Indeed on September 23, 1902, the first
Basilians, Rev. Platonid Filas, Rev. Sozont Dydyk, Rev. Antin Strockyj and Brother
Jeremia Janishevskyj, arrived in Montreal, Quebec. With them came also four
Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Conception.
In the archives of the archdiocese of St.
Boniface, Manitoba, there is a letter written by Very Rev. Peter Bapst, the
Provincial of Basilian Fathers, dated October 13, 1903, in which it is stated
that Metropolitan Andrew, with the approval of the Sacred Congregation of the
Propagation of the Faith, sent three Basilian priests to Canada. Those missionaries
were sent to the following dioceses: St. Boniface, Manitoba, St. Albert,
Alberta and to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. But because of the schism, which
was encouraged by the Russian mission and started to spread in the diocese of
St. Albert in Alberta, Ukrainian missionaries and Sisters went first to St.
Albert.
Metropolitan Andrew, following his duty as
a Bishop, preached the word of God, and where he could not do it personally, he
communicated his thoughts by letters. In his pastoral letters to the Ukrainians
in Canada, he wrote about dogmas and also about church news that would interest
them. A year later when he realized that it would be impossible for him to
visit Canada in 1900, he wrote his first pastoral letter, entitled “To the
Ruthenians, settled in Canada.” His next pastoral letter, “Truths of faith,”
was published in 1902.
In 1910 the Metropolitan was finally able
to visit the United States and Canada. This afforded him an opportunity to view
at close quarters the problems of his people. During this visit, he made a
promise to his faithful to send priests and to write a book, which would
contain all the doctrines of the Catholic Church. After his return to Lviv, he
wrote the promised book, a pastoral, under the title “To Ruthenian Canadians,” which
was published in 1911.
These pastoral letters are thus the three
special writings of the Metropolitan directed to the Ukrainians in Canada. In
them he stressed the most important points of the faith and the principles of
religion. The introductory instructions tell us many interesting facts about
the settling of Ukrainians in Canada, and about the efforts of the Metropolitan
to solve their religious problems.
One of his subsequent documents, the most
important one for its results and for its historical value, was written in Lviv
on March 18, 1911. It
is entitled an “Address on the Ruthenian question to their Lordships, the
Archbishops and Bishops of Canada.” This memorandum was written in English and
French.
When in 1921 the Metropolitan visited Canada
for the second time, he delivered an address to the clergy of the Toronto
diocese, during their retreat in St. Augustine’s Seminary. This address was
delivered on August 26, 1921. It was published later in the “Catholic Register”
of September 1, 1921.
Apart from pastoral letters, the
correspondence of the Metropolitan is also of great importance. It illustrated
his efforts concerning religious care for Ukrainian settlers in Canada. All
that correspondence, which I found in different archives in Canada, amounts to
some hundred letters. It can be divided into two parts: 1) correspondence with
non-Ukrainians, and 2) correspondence with Ukrainian Canadians.
It includes correspondence with the
hierarchy of North-Western Canada, i.e. mostly with Archbishop Langevin, Father
Lacombe, Father Delaere, and others. It is possible that the Metropolitan also
wrote letters to other Canadian Bishops, but I have not had an opportunity to
verify it. In his letters, he discussed the actual problems at that time: the
registration of churches, supplying Western Canada with Ukrainian priests and
his intended visit to Canada.
The Metropolitan corresponded frequently
with the newly appointed (1912) Ukrainian Bishop Nicetas Budka and with the
Basilian Fathers. In those letters, he answered and explained the questions he
was asked. In the archives of Rev. Father Josaphat Jean, O.S.B.M., there are
letters of the Metropolitan, which refer to his plan to colonize a part of
Abitibi, Quebec, with a million Ukrainians from Galicia, Volynia and
Yugoslavia, and to start there a mission of Studyt monks. In the archives of
the Basilian Fathers in Mundare, Alberta, there are preserved four letters,
which the Metropolitan wrote to Canada from his exile in Russia, during the
First World War.
I am convinced that there are many more
important letters written by Metropolitan Sheptyckyj yet to be discovered.
The International Eucharistic Congress was
to take place in Montreal between September 5th and 11th, 1910. Metropolitan
Andrew decided to take part in that Congress and at the same time to visit
Ukrainians in Canada and the United States.
He left Lviv on August 14, 1910 and arrived
in Montreal early in September where he was greeted by Archbishop Langevin,
Bishop Legal and Bishop Pascal. Archbishop Langevin again repeated his wish
that the Metropolitan would visit the Ukrainian settlers in Western Canada.
The Metropolitan travelled in Canada from
coast to coast. He stopped at large and small settlements where Ukrainians
lived. His longest stay was in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. He
celebrated Mass, he preached, he taught, he brought comfort to suffering souls,
he tried to speak with all, he heard confessions without rest from dawn till
night.27
The people greeted him warmly; they thanked
him for his coming and asked for Ukrainian priests and a Ukrainian Bishop. The
Metropolitan promised to help and indeed two years later, Pope Pius X named
the first Ukrainian Bishop Nicetas Budka, who came to Canada towards the end of
1912.
The two-months visit of the Metropolitan
brought great consolation to the faithful. Archbishop Andrew not only visited
Ukrainian settlements, he also discussed important matters with the Latin
Hierarchy and took necessary steps for the arrival of a Ukrainian Bishop.
On December 14, 1910, he returned to Lviv.
His visit to North America had lasted four months. In December 1911, he went to
Rome to present a brief on the religious needs of the Ukrainians in Canada.
We know now that one of the Metropolitan’s
important documents of great historical value was his “Address on the Ruthenian
question to their Lordships, the Archbishops, and Bishops of Canada” of March
18, 1911. In this memorandum, the Metropolitan discussed all the most important
problems concerning Ukrainian Catholics in Canada. He asked for the appointment
of a Ukrainian Bishop as the only remedy against all the dangers that
threatened the Ukrainian Catholic rite in this country.
Archbishop Langevin qualified this
memorandum as “important and necessary,”28 and stated that it
had a positive influence on Canadian Bishops. In a letter of December 30, 1911,
he informed the Metropolitan that he would send him a copy of the minutes of
the Bishops’ Conference, which took place on November 6, 1911, in Quebec, after
the consecration of Bishop Mathieu, and also all statements referring to the nomination
of the future Ukrainian Bishop.
The nomination of the Ukrainian Bishop was
discussed in letters which came from such centers as Lviv, Rome, St. Boniface
and Ottawa. There was some delay in choosing a person for that post. The
Canadian Hierarchy expected to have someone they knew from his missionary work
in Canada, such as for instance Very Rev. Platonid Filas, Provincial of the
Basilian Fathers in Galicia, who worked as a missionary in Canada. But his
modesty prompted him to refuse such a high post. There were also other
candidates. Finally, the Metropolitan chose the Rev. Nicetas Budka, prefect of
the Ukrainian Theological Seminary in Lviv. He was approved by the Holy See and
on December 6, 1912, Bishop Budka arrived in Canada.
This appointment came just in time. It was
the result of the pleadings of the Ukrainian Canadians, of the efforts of
Father Delaere and the Basilian Fathers, as well as of the representations of
the Bishops of North-Western Canada, but mainly owing to the persistent action
on the part of the Metropolitan and to his memorandum. “The memorandum was the
last alarming cry about the threatening situation,” wrote the Very Rev. Basil
Laba, professor of the Ukrainian Theological Academy in Lviv. “The new
Ukrainian Bishop had the necessary qualities and managed in a short time to
normalize religious life for his people.”29
The Metropolitan also helped the Ukrainians
who settled in new countries. As a result of his efforts there was founded in
1910 the “St. Raphael Association,” which took care of the Ukrainian
immigrants.
After the First World War the American
government imposed restrictions on settlers from Central Europe. The Polish
government also put obstacles in the way of emigration of Ukrainians. The overpopulation
in Galicia persisted. On February 14, 1925, the Ukrainians founded a new
association under the name “Care for Ukrainian emigrants,” whose aim was to
alleviate the problem of overpopulation in Galicia. They counted on the
possibility of emigration to Canada. But in the meantime the Canadian
government limited the number of immigrants from the Polish Republic. It was
necessary therefore to try to persuade the Canadian government to modify its
decision. Metropolitan Andrew hoped that Rev. Josaphat Jean, a Canadian
missionary among the Ukrainians in Yugoslavia, would be able to arrange this
matter. On March 7, 1925, Mykola Zayachkovskyj, president of “Care for
Ukrainian emigrants” Society requested Father Jean in a letter to proceed to
Canada and to submit to the Canadian government the request to allow a certain
number of Ukrainian immigrants to enter Canada as settlers.30
On April 3, 1925, Dr. Volodymyr Batchynskyj
from Lviv, former Member of the Austrian Parliament, and Father J. Jean from
Yugoslavia arrived in Canada. Their mission to the federal government was
successful and in May 1925 they received permission for a settlement of ten
thousand Ukrainians.
Father Jean also tried to fulfill other
wishes of the Metropolitan, especially concerning the foundation of a monastery
for Studyt monks. On June 29, 1925, the government of the province of Quebec
allotted in the Abitibi district 250 sq. miles of land for settlement. On it,
the Studyt’s monastery had to be built and around it Ukrainians from Galicia,
Volynia and Yugoslavia could settle. These lands comprised the cantons of
Castagnier and Vassal, and parts of Duverny and La Morandière. Each settler was
to receive a homestead of 100 acres for $10.
The decision about the foundation of the
Studyts’ monastery and the settlement of Ukrainians in Abitibi were
communicated in letters by Father Jean to Metropolitan Sheptyckyj and his
brother Clymentyj, abbot of the Studyt monks. In March 1926, three Studyt
brothers arrived in Canada. At the beginning of 1928, the first fifteen
families of Ukrainians settled near the monastery.
But soon difficulties arose. They were
caused by restrictions imposed by the Polish government and the depression
which hit the country. Thus the plans and hopes of Metropolitan Andrew and
Canadian and Ukrainian wellwishers did not attain the expected results.
In summing up the efforts of the Metropolitan Andrew Sheptyckyj for Ukrainian Canadians, three things have to be emphasized: first, his persistent efforts to secure Ukrainian missionaries for Canada; secondly, his great moral help to the Catholic Hierarchy of North-Western Canada, and finally, the nomination of a Ukrainian Bishop. The work of the Metropolitan Andrew for Ukrainians in Canada brought the desired results. The Ukrainian Church became stronger, the Ukrainian Catholics rebuilt their religious life, established themselves in Canada, entering its social, economic and cultural life on a par with other citizens. From the small number of sixty-five years ago they have increased to almost half a million; and by their work, their moral, cultural and material contributions they have helped to enrich their new country.
1See E. Borschak,
Un prélat Ukrainien – Le Métropolite Cheptyckyj (18651944), Paris, 1946,
p. 7.
2See “Bohoslovia”
(Quarterly), Lviv, 1926, v. 4, p. 24.
3For further
reference, see B. Kazymyra, Metropolitan Andrew Sheptyckyj and Ukrainian
Canadians, Toronto, 1954.
4L. Myshuha, Jubilee
book of the Ukrainian National Association, Jersey City, 1936, pp. 8 seq.
5See “First
Ukrainian immigrants in Canada,” in The Jubilee Calendar for Ukrainian
families for 1941, p. 83.
6W. A. Chumer, Memoirs,
1892-1942, Edmonton, 1942, p. 25.
7W. Petersen, Planned
migration, p. 119 seq.
8See G. A. Davidson,
The Ukrainians in Canada, Montreal, 1947, p. 5.
9A. Langevin, Mémoire
sur la situation des sujets ruthènes de Sa Majesté apostolique, l’Empereur
d’Autriche, dans l’Ouest Canadien, Vienne, le 2 juillet 1904; copy in the Archives
of the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, Man.
10Rome, December 19,
1898; photocopy in the Archives of the Basilian Fathers, Mundare, Alta.
11Archives of the
Oblate Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
12See Journal du
T.R.P. Lacombe: Voyage en Autriche; Archives of the Oblate Fathers,
Edmonton, Alta.
13See R.P. Lacombe en
Autriche et en Galicie, in Petites Annales de la Congrégation des
Missionnaires Oblats de Marie-Immaculée, Paris, 1900, p. 383.
14Archives of the
Oblate Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
15Archives of the
Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alta.
16Archives of the
Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alta.
17Archives of the
Oblate Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
18Archives of the
Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alta.
19Archives of the
Oblate Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
20Copy in the scrapbook
of Rev. Lacombe; Archives of the Oblate Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
21Archives of the
Redemptorist Fathers of the Ukrainian rite, Yorkton, Sask.
22See Letter of Rev.
Delouche, O.M.I., Belgian Provincial from Liège, to Archbishop Langevin,
Vienna, September 16, 1898; Archives of the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alta.
23For further
reference, see Jubilee Book of the Parish of St. Nicholas in Winnipeg,
1905-1955, Toronto, 1955, pp. 26 seq.
24Memorandum was
written in St. Boniface, Man., on June 30, 1900;. Archives of the Oblate
Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
25See letters of Rev.
A. Jan, O.M.I., to his Superiors in Rome. Copies of
these letters are in the Archives
of the Oblate Fathers, Edmonton, Alta.
26See Jubilee Book
of the Basilian Fathers in Canada, 1902-1952, Toronto, 1953, p. 69.
27Canada and its
provinces, v. 11, pp. 194-195.
28See his letter to
Metropolitan Sheptyckyj of December 30, 1911; copy in the Archives of the
Archdiocese of St. Boniface, Man.
29 See “Bohoslovia,” op.
cit., p. 238.
30In the Archives
of Basilian Fathers in Mundare, Alta.