Bishop Sipovich new file

49 8. "Peoples of Russia" In 1951 there were six Belarusian Catholic priests in Western Europe. Four of them belonged to the Byzantine rite. They were: Leo Haroshka in France, Ceslaus Sipovich in England, Michael Maskalik in Northern and Uladzimier Salaviej in Southern Germany. Of the Roman rite priests, Father Francis Charniauski worked in Northern France and Peter Tatarynovich remained in Rome,where he was in charge of Belarusian programmes on Vatican Radio and published a religious quarterly journal Znic . In addition there were two students in Rome studying for the priesthood. Unfortunately there was no one in charge who could coordinate their work and represent them and their needs before the higher church authorities. During the first study week of the Belarusian Catholic University Union "Run" on 16-21 July 1951 at Chevetogne this problem was the subject of discussion between the priests who took part in the Week and Bishop Boleslaus Sloskans who was also present there. The result of these discussions was the petition on 11 September 1951 of Belarusian priests to the Holy Father, asking him to appoint Sloskans the Apostolic Visitor for Belarusians of both rites. Bishop Sloskans (1893-1981) was a Latvian who came from the province of Latgalia wich has a mixed Latvian-Belarusian population. It was said that his mother was Belarusian. In any case he spoke Belarusian fluently. Educated in the Mahilou Archdiocesan Seminary in St Petersburg, he was ordained priest in 1917 and then worked in the parishes in St Petersburg, Moscow and Vitebsk (Belarus). In 1926 he was secretly consecrated Bishop by dHerbigny and appointed Apostolic Administrator of Mahilou and Minsk. A year later he was arrested by the Soviet authorities and spent the next seven years in prison camps (including the notorious Solovki) or in exile in Siberia. In 1933 he was exchanged by the Latvian government for a Communist. After the Second World War he found himself in the West, and eventually settled at the Kaiserberg (Mont Céar) Benedictine Abbey at Leuven (Louvain) in Belgium. He was a holy man in the true sense of the word. The years of imprisonment, when he had to bear witness to Christ alongside Orthodox bishops and priests, followed by life in exile among ordinary Russians, gave him a profound knowledge and love of the Russian people and strengthened desire for the Union of Catholics and Orthodox. This did not prevent him from treating with equal love and respect other people, including Belarusians. A man of peace, far removed from politics, it pained him to see national antagonisms and conflicts. Incidentally Cardinal Tisserant was of the same opinion as the Belarusian priests. On 28 April 1951 Sipovich wrote to Tatarynovich that he had seen and read a private letter of Tisserant of 4 April to a correspondent in England. In it the Cardinal agreed that having two missions at Marian House had created an impossible situation, and said that he wished to remove the Russians. Then Sipovich continued: "Secondly, and more importantly, he has expressed an opinion in favour of uniting all Belarusians of Eastern and Latin rites under the jurisdiction of the Oriental Congregation, and his intention to speak about this to Monsignor Tardini before writing a formal letter. He makes mention of Bishop Sloskans who could be the Apostolic Visitor for all. He says literally: I think you are right when you say that it would be advantageous for Belarusians to be under one jurisdiction. It seems to me that Mgr Sloskans could be visitor for all" 32 . 32 "Je pense que vous avez raison, lorsque vous dites quil serait avantageux pour les Blanc-Ruthenes dêtre tous sous la même jurisdiction. Il me semble que Mgr Sloskans pourrait être visiteur pour tous".