Josaphat Kuncewicz/Kuncewycz was born in 1580 at Wlodzimierz (now Vladimir) in Volhynia; Ukraine; and he was baptized John. His parents were of noble descent. Josaphat's father was town councillor and burgess of a family called Kunsevich/Kuncewicz, who sent John to school, then made him the apprentice of the merchant of Vilna. John was not interested in trade. Instead he began to learn Church Slavonia to help with divine worship. He met Peter Arcudius, who was then the rector of the oriental college at Vilna, and the two Jesuits (Valentine Fabricus and Gregory Gruzewsky) who took an interest in him. Josaphat was the first leader of the Ruthenian Catholics, or Uniates, the schismatics who returned to the Roman Church through the treaty of Brest-Livovsk in 1595. He entered the Order of St. Basil at age twenty (20).
John then decided to become a monk. In 1604, he entered the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna and was admitted to the Basilican Order. John Kunsevich/Kuncewicz was ordained deacon and priest and made himself a good reputation as a preacher. He led an austere life. His new mission was to found new houses in Poland. Josaphat became abbot at Vilna in 1614. He visited The Caves at Kiev, a community of two-hundred (200) monks, they threatened the Catholic reformer (they were said to wish to throw him into the River Dnieper).
In 1617, Abbot Josaphat was co-adjutor of the archbishop of Vitebsk, with the right of succession to Polotsk. The old bishop died a few months later. His promoted union with the Roman Church made his hated by the Orthodox Poles, who nicknamed him "robber of souls."
By 1620, the area was largely Catholic. However, the Union of Brest made Meletries Smotritsky archbishop in Polotsk, and he turned the Ruthenians back to the Orthodox.
St Josaphat was murdered on November 12, 1623; by Orthodox fanatics at Vitebsk. The crowd attacked him shouting: "Kill the Papist!" They hit him on the skull with a halberd and pierced him with a bullet. His mangled body was then dragged off and cast into the River Divina. St Josaphat was beatified in 1643, canonized in 1867.
He is venerated in Ruthenia, Vilnis/Vilnius, and Lithuania. His 17th century portrait is in the Jesuit College in Vilnius.
Sources:
Jockle, Clemens. Encyclopedia of Saints. London: Alpine Fine Arts Collection LTD., 1995.
Walsh, Michael. Butler's Lives of the Saints (concise edition). New York: Harper San Francisco, 1991.
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