Catholic Martyrs of Communism

As history shows us, Communism is exceptionally proficient in murdering its citizens.   During Communist China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), upwards of 2 million people were killed.  Under Chairman Mao Zedong, as many as 60 million people in total died.  Soviet Premier Josef Stalin had over 1 million of his citizens executed during his reign.   Between 3 and 5 million Ukrainians died as a result of Stalin’s forced collectivization of agriculture in the 1930s.  Altogether, 40 to 50 million people died because of Stalin.   Upwards of 3 million people were killed by the Communist Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s.  Under Communist regimes, human life expectancy is in serious peril.  

Wherever Communism takes hold, religion and human rights are in grave danger.   In his May 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, Pope Pius XI wrote:

Communism teaches and seeks two objectives: Unrelenting class warfare and absolute extermination of private ownership. Not secretly or by hidden methods does it do this, but publicly, openly, and by employing every and all means, even the most violent. To achieve these objectives there is nothing which it does not dare, nothing for which it has respect or reverence; and when it has come to power, it is incredible and portent like in its cruelty and inhumanity. The horrible slaughter and destruction through which it has laid waste vast regions of eastern Europe and Asia are the evidence; how much an enemy and how openly hostile it is to Holy Church and to God Himself is, alas, too well proved by facts and fully known to all. 

(See https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno.html )

Over the course of its history, the Catholic / Christian Church has been persecuted by various regimes.  Communist regimes such as those in the Soviet Union and mainland China have been especially destructive and murderous towards the Catholic faith.  Countless Christian faithful have suffered martyrdom by these regimes.  

Blessed Methodius Dominic Trcka was a priest of the Redemptorist Order in Czechoslovakia.  During World War Two, he was persecuted by the Nazis.  After World War Two, Blessed Methodius was persecuted by the Communists.  Imprisoned in 1952, he suffered deprivations and frequent torture.  He died in solitary confinement of illness and mistreatment on 23 March 1959. 

Blessed Pavel Peter Gojdic was a Bishop of the Greek Catholic Church in the Slovak region of Czechoslovakia.  Like Blessed Methodius Trcka, Blessed Pavol was persecuted first by the Nazi occupiers of Slovakia and then by the Communists who came to power following World War Two.  He was imprisoned by the Communists in April 1950.  Intent on destroying the Greek Catholic Church, the Communists attempted to have him renounce Catholicism and offered to appoint as Patriarch of the Communist-controlled Orthodox Church in Presov.  He refused repeatedly.   The many years of ill treatment and abuse took its toll on the courageous bishop. He died in Leopoldov Prison on 17 July 1960.   

On 4 November 2001, Pope St. John Paul II beatified Methodius Trcka and Pavol Gojdic.  In his Homily, the Pope said, “Joined together in the generous and courageous service of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia, they passed through the same sufferings on account of their fidelity to the Gospel and to the Successor of Peter and now they share the same crown of glory.” See https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20011104_beatification.html 

Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko was a Catholic priest and courageous advocate for religious freedom and human rights in Communist-run Poland.  Because of this, he was subject to frequent harassment by government agents, police arrests and interrogations, and several attempts were made on his life.  Finally on 19 October 1984, Father Jerzy was abducted by government agents, brutally beaten and murdered.   Due to public outrage in Poland and around the world, Father Jerzy’s murderers were put on trial, convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 years to 25 years.  Father Jerzy was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on 6 June 2010.  

Bishop Vasil’ Hopko and Sister Zdenka Cecilia Schelingová of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross devoted their lives to the service of the Catholic Church in the lands that eventually became the Slovak Republic.  As a result, both suffered brutal persecution including long imprisonment and torture inflicted by anti-religious, atheistic Communists.  Both died as a result of illnesses and injuries caused by their abuse at the hands of the Communists.  Pope St. John Paul II beatified Bishop Hopko and Sister Zdenka on 14 September 2003.  “Both faced up to an unjust trial and an ignoble condemnation, to torture, humiliation, solitude, death,” said the Pope in his Homily.  “And so the Cross became for them the way that led them to life, a source of fortitude and hope, a proof of love for God and man. O Crux, ave spes unica!”  See https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2003/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20030914_bratislava.html 

During his June 2001 visit to the Ukraine, Pope St. John Paul II beatified 27 Greek – Catholic martyrs who were executed by the Communists or died as a result of mistreatment by them. These martyrs include bishops, priests, lay people and religious sisters.   Father and theology professor Andriy Ischak was murdered by Soviet soldiers in June 1941.  Basilian Father Severim Baranyk, Father Mykola Konrad, and lay cantor Volodymyr Pryima were murdered by the Soviet secret police NKVD that same month.  Sister Tarsykiya Matskiv of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate was murdered by Soviet soldiers in July 1944.  Redemptorist Bishops Vasyl (Basil) Velychkovsky and Nicholas Charnetsky died as a result of their imprisonment.  Redemptorist Fathers Ivan Ziatyk and Zenon Kovalyk were murdered by the Communists. 

See https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20010627_carneckyj_en.html  

There are hundreds of thousands of other faithful Catholics who have been martyred by Communists because of their faith.  While their names may not be known to us, their emulation of Christ is well known to Our Father in Heaven.  

The very existence of the Catholic Church is an existential threat to Communist regimes worldwide and so these Satanic regimes have sought every opportunity to oppress the Catholic Church and eliminate its influence.  That includes by killing members of the Church.