Today, the Ukrainian Catholic Church honors the memory of Blessed Nykyta (Nicetas) Budka (1877-1949) in the Liturgy. He was a priest-martyr (hieromartyr) of the Church and St. John Paul II beatified him in 2001.

The Catholic Church in Canada remembers Blessed Budka on June 27, the day of his beatification along with other Ukrainians beatified. He died on 28 September 1949.

In history, Bishop Budka is an important figure in Ukrainian, Canadian, and Catholic history. His appointment, on 15 July 1912, was the first time the Church of Rome named an Eastern Catholic bishop with full jurisdiction outside of the old continent of Europe.

As such, he had concern, as an educator of the Ukrainian people who supported the aspirations of political and cultural freedom. He understood his mission was to sustain Canadian Ukrainian Greek-Catholics in their faith.

Bishop Budka attained from the government the recognition of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada as a legal entity. Facing the reality of assimilation –which could have meant the dissolution of the Byzantine Ukrainian Catholics– he encouraged his flock to become good Canadians and to be faithful to their Church. He also dedicated himself to preserving Ukrainian religious and cultural identity.

For 17 years the saintly bishop was a moral support and spiritually accompanied the many Ukrainians who suffered under oppressive Polish, Nazi and Soviet regimes. Together with his fellow Ukrainian Catholic bishops, clergy, religious, and laity, he was arrested, tried, and condemned by Soviet authorities. He died in a prison camp in far-away Kazakhstan.

Bishop Budka’s as a life of obedience, work, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s pilgrim people.

Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Hlib Lonchyna of London said Blessed Nykyta was an effective “silent witness,” despite his life being “a great failure” in human terms. His martyrdom, the ultimate witness, “shows how the cross of Christ is victorious.”