by Katie Vasquez
Ovidiu Iorgovan has felt inspired to venerate a relic that is currently at Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church containing bones that once belonged to three of seven Romanian bishops who died for their faith. Four of the bishops were buried in a common grave.
“These people had a hard time, made a big sacrifice for their faith,” explains Iorgovan, who is a parishioner of St Mary Romanian Catholic Mission. “You know, there was no freedom of religion that we have today.”
Like many from the European country, he only learned of the bishops when he came to the U.S. because their stories were hidden.
When the communist regime moved in after World War II, the Romanian Greek Catholic Church was officially banned and the seven bishops were arrested in 1948.
The prelates were pressured to convert to the orthodox hierarchy but refused and all died while imprisoned. They were beatified by Pope Francis in 2019.
Father Radu Titonea is the administrator for St. Mary Romanian Catholic Mission and helped bring the relic to the Diocese of Brooklyn because he knew the bishops’ story was crucial for Romanian parishioners.
“You know, they are an example to follow,” he tells Currents News. “And faith being faithful doesn’t mean only happiness and only blue sky. Sometimes you have to be ready to sacrifice.”
The Romanian Catholic Diocese Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio, is taking the relics on a pilgrimage for the first time in the U.S. Bishop John Michael Botean of Ohio hoped the bishops would not only bolster pride among the Romanian community, but deepen their faith.
“Move a little bit out of the sense that we are just a cultural group, and witness the faith in action in a very courageous and heroic way,” is what he wants to see happen.
Elena Chinda, a parishioner of St. Mary Romanian Catholic Mission, says venerating these relics was a once in a lifetime experience that prompted her to think how she can live out her life differently: “They make me think about how do I accept certain changes in my life compared to theirs.”