A New Publication on St. Josaphat presented in Rome
On November 12, 2025, the feast of the Holy Martyr Josaphat Kuntsevych, the General Curia of the Order of Saint Basil the Great in Rome hosted the presentation of a new volume titled «Bishop, Monk, Saint: The Figure of St. Josaphat in the Heritage of the Uniate Church».
The book brings together 24 scholarly articles written by researchers from academic and cultural institutions in Italy, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the United States, as well as a catalogue of 134 items from exhibitions held in Lithuania and Italy on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of St. Josaphat’s martyrdom.
Among those present were Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Holy See; Andriy Yurash, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See; members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See; officials of the Roman Curia; religious; scholars; and invited guests.
The event opened with greetings from the Very Reverend Robert Lisseiko, OSBM General Superior (Proto-Archimandrite) of the Order of Saint Basil the Great, and Ambassador Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė.
Fr. Nikola Agnoli of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches then conveyed warm greetings from the Prefect of the Dicastery, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti. He stressed that the life and martyrdom of St. Josaphat express the struggle for ecclesial unity and demonstrate the richness and vitality of the Christian tradition.
After this, three scholars involved in preparing the book presented various aspects of the publication.
Rita Pauliukavičiūtė, Director of the Museum of Church Heritage and head of the Department of Inventory and Restoration of Church Treasures of the Archdiocese of Vilnius, explained that the core of the book is based on three exhibitions held in 2023: at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, at the Museum of Church Heritage in Vilnius, and at the Vilnius University Library.
“We remained faithful to the mission of the museum: to collect and document material heritage so that readers may see with their own eyes at least fragments of the real world in which St. Josaphat lived,” she noted.
She explained that the first part of the book contains scholarly articles on the liturgical heritage of the Uniate Church, along with a collection of liturgical vestments of its bishops – including an antimension and a series of portraits of hierarchs from the Lithuanian National Museum.
The second part is dedicated to the Order of St. Basil the Great of St. Josaphat, particularly the places where St. Josaphat served.
The third and largest part, she said, presents the events that took place after St. Josaphat’s martyrdom: the history of his beatification (1643) and canonization (1867), as well as the development of his veneration up to the present day.
This section includes early editions of his biographies, first iconographic representations and later artistic developments, and the tradition of venerating his relics.
“In the process of creating this book and the exhibitions, we discovered a new vision of Vilnius: a forgotten saint of the city suddenly emerged as one of its central figures — not only historically, but spiritually, even today,” she shared.
Next, Prof. Mintautas Čiurinskas of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore spoke. He recounted that he first encountered the Uniate Church while working on his doctoral dissertation on early biographies written in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
“The corpus of Uniate biographies from the seventeenth century – the first century of the Union — is an exceptional phenomenon, comparable, for example, to the rich biographical tradition of the Jesuits,” he said. He also discussed other biographies of St. Josaphat covered in the book.
The following speaker was Ona Dilīte-Čiurinskienė, Senior Researcher in Ancient Literature at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore and Associate Professor of Classical Philology at Vilnius University.
She presented an important but still understudied part of the written heritage connected with St. Josaphat – the poetry of his martyrdom – and shared several poetic texts glorifying his virtues.
The event concluded with words of gratitude from Ambassador Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė, who noted that there are at least five places in Italy that still preserve a living memory of St. Josaphat and remain closely tied to him.
Later that day, Basilian monks and scholars who contributed to the publication Bishop, Monk, Saint: The Figure of St. Josaphat in the Heritage of the Uniate Church took part in the General Audience with the Holy Father, where they presented the new volume and spoke about St. Josaphat.
“Today’s liturgy honours the memory of the holy bishop Josaphat, a martyr for his tireless zeal for the unity of the Church. I encourage everyone to recognise the gifts of grace they have received and to make them available to the community,” Pope Leo XIV said to the 40,000-faithful gathered for the Audience.
