Book of
Remembrance

Biographical Description: Constantine Romuald Iulianovich Budkiewicz was born on the 19th of June in 1867, in Zubry, Dvina Province. He finished Seminary and Theological Academy in St. Petersburg. He was ordained a priest in 1893. He was a Doctor of Theology. He was vicar and teacher of religion in Pskov and from 1896 teacher of religion in the boy's and girl's lycees in Vilna. From 1903 he served at the parish of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg, and after 1905 he was pastor. From 1908 he was dean of the Petersburg clergy. In 1918 he became prelate and Vicar General for Bishop Jan Cieplak, who served in Petersburg. He was an outstanding organizer and effective in his social action, particularly in the area of developing Polish instruction in the parishes of St. Petersburg and the surrounding area, and he was active in charity work and in organizing the clergy for the defense of the rights of the faithful. In 1918 he was active in working for the liberation of Metropolitan Eduard Ropp, who had been arrested by the Soviet authorities. From 1922 he was professor in the underground seminary, organized because of the impossibility of preparing candidates for the priesthood legally. On the 13th of March 1923 he was arrested in connection with the case against the Catholic clergy, with Archbishop Cieplak at their head. In an open court trial on the 21st to the 26th of March of 1923 he was condemned to be shot. He was shot in the night before Easter morning, on the 31st of March 1923. Source: See posting at www.en.catholicmartyrs.org