24 Facts About Josyf Slipyj

Josyf Slipyj's father, Joannes Slipyj, was born 19 May 1846 in Zazdrist into a family of local Ukrainian farmers.

Josyf Slipyj was born in the village of Zazdrist, Galicia, then a crownland of Austria-Hungary.

Unlike most Ukrainian Catholic priests at the time, Josyf Slipyj Slipy did not come from a sacerdotal family, which was considered an elite, educated caste among Ukrainians, but had common roots instead.

Josyf Slipyj returned to Lwow, by then part of Second Polish Republic.

In 1926, Josyf Slipyj became a member of the supervisory board of the Lviv National Museum, and in 1931 Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Catholic Union.

On 22 December 1939, with the blessing of Pope Pius XII, Josyf Slipyj was ordained archbishop of Serrae and Coadjutor Archbishop of Lviv with the right of succession.

Josyf Slipyj did this on his own authority because there was limited contact with the Holy See, and it was not until December 1941 that he received a letter from the Vatican recognizing his appointments for the Soviet territory.

On 30 June 1941, Josyf Slipyj supported the Act of Declaration of Ukrainian State.

Josyf Slipyj became the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on 1 November 1944, following Sheptytsky's death.

Josyf Slipyj rejected any offers of conversion into Orthodoxy and was continuously sentenced in 1953,1957,1962, thus totally imprisoned for 18 years in camps in Siberia and Mordovia.

Josyf Slipyj spent five years in Maklakovo, where he wrote a multi-volume history of the Catholic Church in Ukraine.

Josyf Slipyj was devastated since the best years of his life in terms of productivity, Slipyj had to spend among criminals, investigators, and jailers.

Josyf Slipyj arrived in Rome on 9 February 1963 in time to participate in the Second Vatican Council.

In 1949 Josyf Slipyj had been secretly named a cardinal by Pope Pius XII, but this would have expired in 1958 when that pope died.

Josyf Slipyj was given a red koukoulion at the consistory as well as a galero.

Josyf Slipyj did not participate in the 1978 papal conclaves in August and October, being past the age of 80 then.

In 1968,1970,1973 and 1976 Cardinal Josyf Slipyj visited countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia in order to strengthen the ties with the Ukrainian diaspora overseas, and to reinvigorate the religious life of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church abroad.

In 1977, Josyf Slipyj consecrated Ivan Choma, Stefan Czmil and Lubomyr Husar as bishops without approval of the pope.

Josyf Slipyj published his ordinances in "Evangelicum of the Major Archbishop of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite" starting from 1964.

In 1963 Josyf Slipyj organized the Ukrainian Catholic University of St Clement with an academic publishing house.

Josyf Slipyj's body lay in state at the church of Santa Sofia on Via Boccea; Pope John Paul II visited to pay his respects.

Josyf Slipyj wrote a number of dogmatic works on the importance of the Holy Trinity, the origin of the Holy Spirit and Holy Sacraments, among which are:.

The parliament proposed to republish Josyf Slipyj's works, organize a conference in Kyiv on the topic "Patriarch Josyf Slipyj's role in Ukrainian state creation and the formation of national identity of Ukrainian people", and initiate measures to preserve and restore objects related to Slipyj activities.

Josyf Slipyj is sent to Rome, where an elderly pope makes him a cardinal.