Jazep Hermanovich

Fr. Jazep Hermanovich MIC (also Yazep Germanovich, Belarusian Latin alphabet: Jazep Hermanovič; Belarusian: Язэп Гэрмановіч (sometimes also spelled Германовіч), Polish: Józef Hermanowicz, 4 March 1890 - 26 December 1978) was a Belarusian Eastern Catholic priest, poet and Gulag survivor.

Fr. Jazep Hermanovich MIC
Born4 March 1890
Halshany,  Russian Empire (now  Belarus)
Died26 December 1978
London,  United Kingdom
NationalityBelarusian
Other namesVincuk Advažny (literary pseudonym)
OccupationPriest, poet, writer

Early life

Hermanovich was born in Halshany into a Belarusian Roman Catholic peasant family. He studied at schools in Halshany and Ashmiany.

In 1913, he graduated from a Catholic seminary in Vilnius and was ordained priest.

Work in West Belarus

In 1921, he became a member of the Society of the Belarusian School, an organization promoting Belarusian-language education in West Belarus which was then part of the Second Polish Republic and where ethnic Belarusians faced active polonization by the Polish state. For some time, he held Belarusian language services at the Church of St. Nicholas in Vilnius (then Wilno).[1]

In 1924, Hermanovich joined the Congregation of Marian Fathers. He moved to the town of Druja where he was part of the community of Belarusian Marian Priests which was influential among Belarusian Catholics in interwar Poland.

While in Druja, Hermanovich started publishing his literary works under the pseudonym Vincuk Advažny (Vincuk the Brave).

Missionary work in Harbin, Gulag captivity

In 1932, Hermanovich was sent to Harbin, China, to do missionary work among the community of Harbin Russians with the Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Harbin.[2] He was head of the Catholic Lyceum of St Nicolas in Harbin, taking care of Russian orphans who lost their parents in the Russian Civil War.[3]

In 1936, Hermanovich returned to Poland because of health reasons.[3] In 1938, he and other Belarusian Marian fathers were deported from Druja to central Poland as part of a wave of repressions by the Polish state against Belarusian national activists.[3] After this, Hermanovich returned to Harbin.[3]

In 1948, Hermanovich was arrested by the communist Chinese authorities and handed over to the Soviet NKVD. After several months of interrogations and tortures, Hermanovich and other teachers of the Marian lyceum of Harbin were sentenced to 25 years of incarceration and labour in the Gulag concentration camps. Hermanovich was deported to concentration camps near Tayshet and then near Bratsk.[4] While in the Gulag, Hermanovich held undercover religious services among other inmates.[4]

Emigration to the United Kingdom

After Stalin's death in 1953, Hermanovich was released and as a former Polish citizen deported to communist Poland in 1955.[5] From there he was able to move to the Vatican and then to London where he joined the community of Belarusian Catholic priests (Ceslaus Sipovic, Leo Haroshka, Alexander Nadson and others) who had settled there after the Second World War.

Since 1960, Father Hermanovich resided at the Marian House in North Finchley, London, until his death on 26 December 1978. He is buried at St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery along with his Marian confreres.[6] While living in London, Hermanovich was teaching at St Cyril of Turau Belarusian school and was also an editor-in-chief of the Belarusian emigre Catholic journal Božym šlacham, sent to subscribers all over the world. In London he published a number of literary works as well as translated the Book of Psalms.

See also

Literary works
Cover of a storybook by Jazep Hermanovich (Vincuk Advažny) published in London in 1973
  • Як Казюк сабраўся да споведзі (How Kaziuk prepared for the confession), Vilnius, 1928; Minsk, 2011
  • Казюковае жанімства (Kaziuk’s wedding), Vilnius, 1929
  • Як Гануля зьбіралася ў Аргентыну (How Hanula prepared to go to the Argentine), Vilnius, 1930.
  • Адам і Анелька (Adam and Anelka), Vilnius, 1931
  • Канёк-Гарбунок (The Little Humpbacked Horse, adaptation of the tale by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov), Vilnius, 1932.
  • Бэтлейка (The batleyka), Vilnius, 1932.
  • Унія на Палесьсі (The Church Union in Polesia), Albercin, 1932; Brest, 2004
  • Беларускія цымбалы (The Belarusian cymbalo), Vilnius, 1933
  • Казка аб рыбаку і рыбцы (The tale of the fisher and the fish), Vilnius, 1935.
  • Хлапец (The boy), Vilnius, 1935.
  • Гануліны клопаты (Hanula’s worries), Vilnius, 1935.
  • Кітай-Сібір-Масква (China - Siberia - Moscow (memories)), Munich, 1962; Minsk-St. Petersburg, 2003 ISBN 5-94716-033-1
  • Пакутныя псальмы (Psalms of Agony, versed translation), Rome, 1964.
  • Przeżyłem sowieckie łagry. Wspomnienia (I survived the Soviet concentration camps. Memoirs), 1966
  • Князь і лапаць. Сучасная казка (The king and the bast shoe), London, 1964.
  • Байкі і іншыя вершы (Tales and other verses), London, 1973.
  • Выбраныя творы (Selected Works), Minsk, 2011

References
  1. Viktar Korbut. Vilnius — Vilnya: capital of Lithuania in Belarusian history, Sovetskaya Belorussiya – Belarus' Segodnya, 11 May 2015. Quote: The site of St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, built in the early 16th century. From 1901-1939, it was the only church in Vilnya where sermons were read in Lithuanian. From 1901-1906, its priest was Juozapas Kukta. The building kept a secret collection of editions published by Martin Kukhta’s publishing house. From 1921, services were offered each Sunday at 10am, with Belarusian language sermons. Until 1940, priest Adam Stankevich served there and, in the 1920s, its priests included Konstantin Stepovich (Kazimir Svayak), Wincenty Godlewski and Yazep Germanovich.
  2. Marianie w Harbinie (1928-1948) [The Marian fathers in Harbin] - official website of the Marian Congregation
  3. Ірына Багдановіч «Зайграю для Божае хвалы...» Да 120-годдзя з дня нараджэння Язэпа Германовіча (Вінцука Адважнага) [Iryna Bahdanovič. "I shall play for God's glory..." - to the 120th anniversary of the birth of Jazep Hermanovič (Vincuk Advažny)] - Наша вера [Nasha viera, official magazine of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev], №3/2010
  4. Biography on the website of the Marian Congregation (in Polish)
  5. 39 гадоў таму памёр Язэп Германовіч [Yazep Hermanovich Died 39 Years Ago] - official website of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, 26 December 2017
  6. https://hardzin.livejournal.com/64193.html
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.