Bl. Theodore Romza - Martyr

Born in 1911, and ordained in 1936 after studying in Rome, Blessed Theodore Romzha was consecrated bishop of the Mukachevo Eparchy on September 24, 1944. A month later, the Soviet Army occupied the Mukachevo Eparchy, and within a year incorporated it into Soviet Ukraine.

The Soviets ordered the young Bishop Romzha to renounce his allegiance to the Holy See, to submit to the Patriarch of Moscow, and to encourage his flock to do the same. He replied "I would rather die than betray my Church!"

On October 31, 1947, at the young age of 36, Bishop Romzha was poisoned by a mysterious nurse in the Mukachevo hospital while recovering from a Soviet-staged highway accident. He was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on June 27, 2001. Click here to learn more!