Current Events: Order of Preachers in Ukraine

Readers here might be interested in this. I am sure you all are aware of the terrible destruction and killing Vladimir Putin is perpetrating on the Ukrainian people.  To me it rises to the level of war crimes, but we shall see what happens. 

This afternoon I received an email from the Dominican Province that was spread out across the Dominican chapters, both Lay and consecrated, to pray for the Dominican friaries in Ukraine. Apparently the Dominican Order goes back deep in Ukrainian history. First this is what the email said, written by Father Gabriel Gillen, O.P. who is the Executive Director at the Dominican Friars Foundation:  

 

"Our Dominican brothers in the Vicariate of St. Michael the Archangel live and serve the Lord and His Church in Ukraine.

 

They serve as parish priests, administer the St. Thomas Aquinas Institute of Catholic Theology in Kyiv, and run student chaplaincies and an orphanage.

 

Their ministries and lives are now in jeopardy.

 

The Dominican presence in Ukraine dates back to the early thirteenth century, when the first Dominicans arrived in Kyiv. Following the Second World War, Dominicans were expelled or executed.

 

During the Soviet period, a few Polish Dominicans arrived secretly to serve the people, who desperately needed pastoral care. Beginning in 1993, our Order officially returned to Ukraine, and then also to Russia, and the General Vicariate of St. Michael the Archangel was formed under the Polish Dominican Province.

 

Today, there are six Dominican residences in Ukraine."

And it came with this map.

But it occurred to me that I knew a little more history about the 13th century. I bet those 13th century Dominicans who first went to Ukraine were with St. Hyacinth of Poland. St. Hyacinth was an early Dominican under St. Dominic himself and went to Poland when St. Dominic dispersed the brothers across Europe. If you don't know St. Hyacinth, you can read about him at this St.Hyacinth Church website, here.  Here’s a brief history:

St. Hyacinth, the glorious apostle of Poland and Russia, was born of noble parents in Poland, about the year 1185. His early education was entrusted to the care of his uncle, a pious priest who later became Bishop of Krakow. Hyacinth manifested so much learning and piety that he was sent to complete his studies at the best universities in Europe.

 

In 1220 he visited Rome, and while there met St. Dominic. He became one of the first members of the newly-founded Dominican Order. Because of his spirit of prayer and his zeal for the salvation of souls, he was sent to preach and establish the Dominican Order in his native land, Poland. He journeyed also to Austria, Bohemia, and the shores of the Black Sea, and eventually on to China, Sweden, and Norway. Because of his evangelizing, multitudes were converted, and churches and convents were built. He worked numerous miracles, and at Kracow raised a dead youth to life.

And you can learn more at his Wikipedia entry here.

In fact, pertinent to Ukraine, his Wikipedia entry says this:

 

"One of the major miracles attributed to Hyacinth came about during a Mongol attack on Kiev. As the friars prepared to flee the invading forces, Hyacinth went to save the ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle in the monastery chapel, when he heard the voice of Mary, the mother of Jesus, asking him to take her, too.

 

Hyacinth lifted the large, stone statue of Mary, as well as the ciborium. He was easily able to carry both, despite the fact that the statue weighed far more than he could normally lift. Thus he saved them both. For this reason he is usually shown holding a monstrance (though they did not come into use until several centuries later)[4] and a statue of Mary.[5]

 

The Polish exclamation Święty Jacku z pierogami! ("St. Hyacinth and his pierogi!") is an old-time saying, a call for help in some hopeless circumstance.[6] It has derived from two legends. One of them is about his visit on July 13, 1238 to Kościelec. During his visit a hailstorm broke out, destroying crops and leaving people with the terrible prospect of poverty and famine. Hyacinth told them to pray. Next day the crops were miraculously restored. The people then treated Hyacinth to pierogi made from those crops as a token of gratitude. The second legend mentions Hyacinth feeding people with pierogi during a famine caused by the Mongol invasion of 1241."

Actually we should be praying to St. Hyacinth for Ukraine. I will start doing so.

St. Hyacinth of Poland, preacher and missionary to the Slavic world, member of the Order of Preachers since its founding and brother under St. Dominic himself, we implore you for your intercession for the protection the Dominicans there now, for the preservation of the Ukrainian nation, for aid and salvation of the Ukrainian people, and to change the hearts and minds of the Russian oppressors.  Through Christ, our Lord.