Ladyka, Vasyl

Ladyka, Vasyl or Basil (Ладика, Василь; secular name: Володимир; Volodymyr), b 2 August 1884 in Drohobych, Galicia, d 1 September 1956 in Winnipeg. Basilian missionary and Ukrainian Catholic archbishop of Canada. Ladyka entered the novitiate of the Basilian monastic order in 1903 and took monastic vows in 1909, the year he was sent to Canada. He graduated from the Grand Séminaire in Montreal and was ordained in 1912. He worked as a missionary in Manitoba (1912–13) and in Saskatchewan and Alberta (1913–22), and as rector of Saint Josaphat’s Church in Edmonton (1922–9). He was consecrated bishop of Winnipeg and designated head of the Ukrainian Catholic church in Canada in May 1929, and was elevated to the rank of archbishop in 1948. He strengthened the church in Canada by promoting such lay organizations as the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood of Canada, the Ukrainian Catholic Women's League of Canada, and Ukrainian Catholic Youth, and by establishing Ukraïns’ki visti/Ukrainian News as the church’s weekly organ in 1929.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]