Jean, Josaphat Joseph

Jean, Josaphat Joseph, b 19 March 1885 in Saint-Fabien near Rimouski, Quebec, d 8 June 1972 in Grimsby, Ontario. Missionary priest. Upon graduating from the Grand Séminaire of Montreal, Jean was ordained in 1910 and departed for Galicia to study Ukrainian and the Eastern church rite in preparation for his work among Ukrainian settlers in western Canada. In 1912 he organized a school in Sifton, Manitoba, and served at a number of Ukrainian missions in Saint Boniface diocese. In the following year he returned to Galicia and entered the Basilian monastic order. During the First World War he served as a priest and chaplain of the Ukrainian Galician Army. In June 1919 he was appointed special secretary to the president of the Western Ukrainian National Republic (ZUNR). Then he served as a member of the ZUNR diplomatic corps in Warsaw, the Ukrainian delegation to the Riga Peace Conference (see Peace Treaty of Riga), and the Ukrainian mission in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1923 Jean was sent to Bosnia by Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky to establish a Studite monastery for the Ukrainians in the region, but encountered strong government opposition to the plan. Returning to Canada in 1925, he established Shepticky village (today Lac Castagnier) near Abitibi, Quebec, for emigrants from Galicia and Ukrainian refugees from Bosnia. The colony of some 50 families failed, however, and Jean served as priest in Ukrainian parishes of Montreal (1931–45). Immediately after the Second World War he worked in London and Paris aiding Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons and promoting immigration to Canada. He returned to Mundare in 1949 to teach at the Basilian novitiate. His valuable collection of rare books and historical documents is preserved in Mundare.

Andrij Makuch

[This article was updated in 2006.]