Józef Teodorowicz (; 25 August 1864 – 4 December 1938) was the last

Armenian Catholic Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

Archbishop of Lviv. All of his family were of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

origin and had lived for centuries in Poland. Teodorowicz finished a grammar school in

Stanislaviv Ivano-Frankivsk (, ), formerly Stanyslaviv, Stanislav and Stanisławów, is a city in western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as well as Ivano-Frankivsk Raion within the oblast. Ivano-Frankivsk also host ...

then studied with the faculty of law at

Chernivtsi University The Chernivtsi National University (named after Yuriy Fedkovych, full official title Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, ) is a public university in the city of Chernivtsi in Western Ukraine. One of the leading Ukrainian institutio ...

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

. During his studies he suffered a crisis of belief. A year later he enrolled in the Major Roman Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv. In 1887 he became a priest and, after the death of Archbishop Izaak Mikołaj Isakowicz of Lviv, in 1901 was named to succeed him. He is widely respected among Poles for his religious and social work. Teodorowicz died in Lviv, where he was buried at the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów. When the city was occupied by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

his remains were transferred to a family cemetery to save them from profanation. The first Soviet occupation of 1939–1941 prevented the nomination of a successor and during the subsequent occupations and destructive policies of Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union the city's 700-year-old Armenian community was completely destroyed. In 2008, the

Polish Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

recognized him as "heroic patriot". In 2011, his remains were transferred and reburied in the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów.

External links

Arcybiskup ormiański Józef Teofil Teodorowicz
— An article by

Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski Tadeusz Bohdan Isakowicz-Zaleski (; 7 September 1956 – 9 January 2024) was a Polish Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic and Armenian Catholic priest, author and activist. He was a leader of the anticommunist student opposition in Kraków in ...

.
Archbishop Józef Teofil Teodorowicz

Eminent Armenian archbishop reburied in Lviv

Armenian Catholic Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz reburied in Lviv (in Russian)
1864 births 1938 deaths Clergy from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Clergy from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Chernivtsi University alumni Austrian jurists Armenian Catholic archbishops of Lviv Armenian Austro-Hungarians 20th-century Eastern Catholic archbishops Polish bishops Polish Eastern Catholics Polish people of Armenian descent Burials at Lychakiv Cemetery {{Poland-reli-bio-stub