Unable to intimidate Bishop Romzha, the Soviets decided to liquidate him, and staged a highway accident. A military truck rammed the horse drawn carriage in which the Bishop was returning home from the rededication of the parish church of Lavki, near Mukachevo. Bishop Romzha was badly injured, but survived; and passersby took him to the hospital in Mukachevo where, after a few days, he began to regain his strength. Then suddenly, early on the morning of November 1, 1947, he was found dead.
The night before Bishop Romzha’s death, the director of the hospital and a strange nurse, who disappeared the next day, were seen entering the Bishop’s room about midnight. The Soviet authorities announced that Bishop Romzha died from injuries suffered in his highway accident; but a later investigation showed that he had, in fact, been poisoned.
Blessed Theodore Romzha was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001. His relics are enshrined in Holy Cross Cathedral in Uzhorod, Transcarpathia.
(Read the whole bio at ww.eparchyofpassaic.com/romzha)
Sunday, October 31 –
