Born in Sudova Vyshnja, a small town in Western Ukraine, Stefan Czmil entered the Salesians of Don Bosco, professing temporary vows in 1936. Ordained priest in 1945 by the Apostolic Visitator for Ukrainian émigrés in Western Europe, Msgr. Ivan Buchko, he followed up his studies with a baccalaureate in Pedagogy in 1947 at the Salesian Pontifical Athenaeum in Turin. Having been previously assigned as a tourist guide at the Catacombs of Saint Callistus in Rome under Salesian administration, he met scores of Ukrainian refugees, whom, because they couldn't return to their homeland for fear of being shot by the Communists who regarded them as traitors, he helped to find new abode. Assigned to the teaching staff of the Salesian school of Valdocco and an assistant in the Salesian Motherhouse of Valdocco to the Salesian missionaries who came from overseas for a period of rest, in 1948 he was sent by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches for a twelve-year period of apostolic and missionary work amidst tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants in Argentina
After his health started to deteriorate he returned to Rome where he extended his help to the local Ukrainian religious communities in Rome, becoming one of Cardinal Slipyj's closest collaborators and advisers. Endowed by the latter with the title of Archimandrite on December 6 1977 at the basilica of Santa Sofia, proffering to him the traditional mitre, pectoral cross and crozier, known to only a few, Slipyj consecrated Father Stefan to the episcopate in secrecy on April 2, 1978 in the monastery of the Studite Monks in Marino, near Rome. Till the end, the newly consecrated bishop never revealed this to anyone.
As his health continued to deteriorate, undergoing an urgent operation for the extraction of the bile-stone, after a successful period of recovery, when everything seemed to be going well, on the morning of January 22, 1978, even though he didn't feel well at all, he insisted on celebrating the Solemn Liturgy of 09.30. After Mass he fainted in the sacristy and the seminarians took him to his room, laid him on his bed, unaware that he died there and then.
The funeral services were held in the Seminary's chapel on the same day in the afternoon. Father Egidio Vigano, the newly elected General Superior of the Salesians, who were holding their General Chapter at that time, was the first to pay his last respects to Father Stefan, his very good friend. They had been infact classmates for some years.
The following day, Cardinal Paul Philippe OP., Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, with the Secretary of the same Congregation, Msgr. Mario Brini and others blessed the body of Father Stefan. The following day, in the Basilica of Saint Sophia, during the funeral services, presided by His Beatitude Josyf Slipyj, came the revelation that 'Father' Stefan was in fact 'Bishop' Stefan. His Beatitude was moved to tears by the death of Father Stefan, whom he deemed his best friend. Bent over the body, he cried: 'Oh Stefan! Oh Stefan! Why you and not me?'. As the lid of the coffin was about to be closed, His Beatitude exclaimed: "Place the omophor over his shoulders!" The omophor was more than a hint at Father Stefan being a bishop. Once the omophor was around the deceased's shoulders, the coffin was closed and sealed. His remains lie buried in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Sofia in Rome.
After his health started to deteriorate he returned to Rome where he extended his help to the local Ukrainian religious communities in Rome, becoming one of Cardinal Slipyj's closest collaborators and advisers. Endowed by the latter with the title of Archimandrite on December 6 1977 at the basilica of Santa Sofia, proffering to him the traditional mitre, pectoral cross and crozier, known to only a few, Slipyj consecrated Father Stefan to the episcopate in secrecy on April 2, 1978 in the monastery of the Studite Monks in Marino, near Rome. Till the end, the newly consecrated bishop never revealed this to anyone.
As his health continued to deteriorate, undergoing an urgent operation for the extraction of the bile-stone, after a successful period of recovery, when everything seemed to be going well, on the morning of January 22, 1978, even though he didn't feel well at all, he insisted on celebrating the Solemn Liturgy of 09.30. After Mass he fainted in the sacristy and the seminarians took him to his room, laid him on his bed, unaware that he died there and then.
The funeral services were held in the Seminary's chapel on the same day in the afternoon. Father Egidio Vigano, the newly elected General Superior of the Salesians, who were holding their General Chapter at that time, was the first to pay his last respects to Father Stefan, his very good friend. They had been infact classmates for some years.
The following day, Cardinal Paul Philippe OP., Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, with the Secretary of the same Congregation, Msgr. Mario Brini and others blessed the body of Father Stefan. The following day, in the Basilica of Saint Sophia, during the funeral services, presided by His Beatitude Josyf Slipyj, came the revelation that 'Father' Stefan was in fact 'Bishop' Stefan. His Beatitude was moved to tears by the death of Father Stefan, whom he deemed his best friend. Bent over the body, he cried: 'Oh Stefan! Oh Stefan! Why you and not me?'. As the lid of the coffin was about to be closed, His Beatitude exclaimed: "Place the omophor over his shoulders!" The omophor was more than a hint at Father Stefan being a bishop. Once the omophor was around the deceased's shoulders, the coffin was closed and sealed. His remains lie buried in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Sofia in Rome.
Born in Sudova Vyshnja, a small town in Western Ukraine, Stefan Czmil entered the Salesians of Don Bosco, professing temporary vows in 1936. Ordained priest in 1945 by the Apostolic Visitator for Ukrainian émigrés in Western Europe, Msgr. Ivan Buchko, he followed up his studies with a baccalaureate in Pedagogy in 1947 at the Salesian Pontifical Athenaeum in Turin. Having been previously assigned as a tourist guide at the Catacombs of Saint Callistus in Rome under Salesian administration, he met scores of Ukrainian refugees, whom, because they couldn't return to their homeland for fear of being shot by the Communists who regarded them as traitors, he helped to find new abode. Assigned to the teaching staff of the Salesian school of Valdocco and an assistant in the Salesian Motherhouse of Valdocco to the Salesian missionaries who came from overseas for a period of rest, in 1948 he was sent by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches for a twelve-year period of apostolic and missionary work amidst tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants in Argentina
After his health started to deteriorate he returned to Rome where he extended his help to the local Ukrainian religious communities in Rome, becoming one of Cardinal Slipyj's closest collaborators and advisers. Endowed by the latter with the title of Archimandrite on December 6 1977 at the basilica of Santa Sofia, proffering to him the traditional mitre, pectoral cross and crozier, known to only a few, Slipyj consecrated Father Stefan to the episcopate in secrecy on April 2, 1978 in the monastery of the Studite Monks in Marino, near Rome. Till the end, the newly consecrated bishop never revealed this to anyone.
As his health continued to deteriorate, undergoing an urgent operation for the extraction of the bile-stone, after a successful period of recovery, when everything seemed to be going well, on the morning of January 22, 1978, even though he didn't feel well at all, he insisted on celebrating the Solemn Liturgy of 09.30. After Mass he fainted in the sacristy and the seminarians took him to his room, laid him on his bed, unaware that he died there and then.
The funeral services were held in the Seminary's chapel on the same day in the afternoon. Father Egidio Vigano, the newly elected General Superior of the Salesians, who were holding their General Chapter at that time, was the first to pay his last respects to Father Stefan, his very good friend. They had been infact classmates for some years.
The following day, Cardinal Paul Philippe OP., Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, with the Secretary of the same Congregation, Msgr. Mario Brini and others blessed the body of Father Stefan. The following day, in the Basilica of Saint Sophia, during the funeral services, presided by His Beatitude Josyf Slipyj, came the revelation that 'Father' Stefan was in fact 'Bishop' Stefan. His Beatitude was moved to tears by the death of Father Stefan, whom he deemed his best friend. Bent over the body, he cried: 'Oh Stefan! Oh Stefan! Why you and not me?'. As the lid of the coffin was about to be closed, His Beatitude exclaimed: "Place the omophor over his shoulders!" The omophor was more than a hint at Father Stefan being a bishop. Once the omophor was around the deceased's shoulders, the coffin was closed and sealed. His remains lie buried in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Sofia in Rome.
After his health started to deteriorate he returned to Rome where he extended his help to the local Ukrainian religious communities in Rome, becoming one of Cardinal Slipyj's closest collaborators and advisers. Endowed by the latter with the title of Archimandrite on December 6 1977 at the basilica of Santa Sofia, proffering to him the traditional mitre, pectoral cross and crozier, known to only a few, Slipyj consecrated Father Stefan to the episcopate in secrecy on April 2, 1978 in the monastery of the Studite Monks in Marino, near Rome. Till the end, the newly consecrated bishop never revealed this to anyone.
As his health continued to deteriorate, undergoing an urgent operation for the extraction of the bile-stone, after a successful period of recovery, when everything seemed to be going well, on the morning of January 22, 1978, even though he didn't feel well at all, he insisted on celebrating the Solemn Liturgy of 09.30. After Mass he fainted in the sacristy and the seminarians took him to his room, laid him on his bed, unaware that he died there and then.
The funeral services were held in the Seminary's chapel on the same day in the afternoon. Father Egidio Vigano, the newly elected General Superior of the Salesians, who were holding their General Chapter at that time, was the first to pay his last respects to Father Stefan, his very good friend. They had been infact classmates for some years.
The following day, Cardinal Paul Philippe OP., Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, with the Secretary of the same Congregation, Msgr. Mario Brini and others blessed the body of Father Stefan. The following day, in the Basilica of Saint Sophia, during the funeral services, presided by His Beatitude Josyf Slipyj, came the revelation that 'Father' Stefan was in fact 'Bishop' Stefan. His Beatitude was moved to tears by the death of Father Stefan, whom he deemed his best friend. Bent over the body, he cried: 'Oh Stefan! Oh Stefan! Why you and not me?'. As the lid of the coffin was about to be closed, His Beatitude exclaimed: "Place the omophor over his shoulders!" The omophor was more than a hint at Father Stefan being a bishop. Once the omophor was around the deceased's shoulders, the coffin was closed and sealed. His remains lie buried in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Sofia in Rome.
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