Stefanovych, Oleksander

Stefanovych, Oleksander [Стефанович, Олександер; Stefanovyč], b 17 July 1847 in Ozeriany, Stanyslaviv circle, Galicia, d 23 May 1933 in Lviv. Greek Catholic priest, educator, and civic and political leader. After completing his theological studies at Lviv University and Vienna University he served as catechist of both the men and women teachers' seminaries in Lviv (1873–1907). He was a founder and leading member of a number of important Ukrainian organizations, such as the newspaper Dilo (1880), the Ridna Shkola society (1881), the People's Council (1885) in Lviv, and the National Democratic party (1899). After the First World War he was president of the Ukrainian Labor party (1922–3), and both the Prosvita and the Ridna Shkola societies elected him as an honorary member. In addition to contributing articles to Dilo and other newspapers he wrote a secondary-school textbook on the history of the Catholic church (1878; reprinted 1903) and the first prayer book in vernacular Ukrainian.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]