Stepan Vaprovych

Born in Ivane-Puste, Austrian-Hungarian Empire (present-day – Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine) in 1899 and was ordained a priest on 1926 by Blessed Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn.^[1] After ordination he served a short time in the village Tsenyava and then, from 1927, as missionary priest in Apóstoles, Argentina. After returning in Ukraine from 1935 until 1939 Fr. Vaprovych was a prefect in the Stanislaviv Theological Seminary, and from 1939 until 1941 served as priest in the Apostolic Exarchate of Lemkowszczyzna.^[1] He was arrested, because the Communist regime persecuted and abolished the Greek-Catholic Church, and exiled in Siberia in 1945. after returning he worked as carpenter and constructor and served as clandestine bishop until his death.^[1]

In April 1945 Fr. Vaprovych was consecrated to the Episcopate as auxiliary bishop. The principal and single consecrator was Blessed Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn, who a short time later was arrested and imprisoned by Communists.^[2]

He died in his native village on 2 March 1964.