The life and times of Father Ivan Wolansky, pioneer priest and Ukrainian patriot

by Nestor Wolansky

The Rev. Ivan Wolansky was the first Ukrainian Catholic priest in America, having been sent to the United States by Metropolitan Sylvester Sembratovych of Lviv in response to requests from Ukrainian immigrants in Shenandoah, Pa. He celebrated the first Ukrainian religious service on American soil on December 19, 1884.

Ivan Wolansky (whose name is sometimes written as John Wolansky, Wolanski, Wolanskyj or Voliansky) was born on July 2 1857, in Yabloniv, Galicia, in western Ukraine. His father, Yakiv Wolansky, was a Greek-Catholic pastor in Yabloniv, and his mother was Tekla Macelynska. Ivan was the sixth child in a family of seven.

After attending primary school in Yabloniv and graduating from high school in Ternopil, Ivan Wolansky went on to study theology in Vienna, following in the footsteps of his father (born 1803), his grandfather Roman Wolansky (born 1779), and his great-grandfather, Oleksander Wolansky (born 1745). The opportunities for higher education in Galicia were mostly closed to those who cherished their Ukrainian heritage and the Greek-Catholic faith by the unpopular Polish colonial authorities - civil and religious alike - who were determined to subjugate and Polonize the Ukrainian population.

Talented and ambitious Ukrainians were often forced to go to the tolerant city of Vienna to study, as they were later to study in Prague, during the repressive period between the first and the second world wars - and for the same reasons.

In addition to theology, Ivan Wolansky studied mathematics, the Middle Eastern languages (Hebrew, Old Chaldaic, Syrian and Arabic), as well as Latin, Greek, English, French and Portugese. Returning to Galicia, he married Pawlyna Hankewycz (1861-1896), the daughter of Julian Hankewycz, also a Greek-Catholic priest.

The curious preponderance of priests among the Ukrainians was the result of the centuries-old Polish policy of discrimination in all other areas of endeavor. The priesthood was one of the few professions the Ukrainians could enter with the full approval of the Polish authorities and the Polish Church, as they were barred from becoming doctors, lawyers, scientists and educators, unless they changed their birth certificates to show Roman Catholicism as their religion.

Married Greek-Catholic priests living in small towns and villages usually had families and large households and were affluent enough to send their sons, and sometimes their daughters, to be educated. Thus they helped to preserve the Ukrainian culture. The policy of the Polish Catholic Church to destroy the native aspirations of the Ukrainian people and their culture failed, but it did contribute to the Polonization of many Ukrainians. In spite of the Union of Brest-Litovsk of 1596, the Polish Catholic Church consistently trampled on the rights of the Ukrainian "Uniates" - in the Old and the New World alike.

After taking his vows, Father Ivan Wolansky served at various parishes in western Ukraine, and in 1884, at the urgent request of Metropolitan Sylvester Sembratovych (1836-1898) in Galicia, and the Ukrainian immigrants of Shenandoah, Pa., he departed for America. Chester A. Arthur was in the White House, Emperor Franz Joseph was on the throne of Austria-Hungary, Edward VII was the king of England, Wilhelm II was the emperor of Germany, and Alexander III was the tsar of Russia.

Arriving in New York in December of 1884, Father Wolansky stopped briefly in Jersey City, N.J., before continuing on to Pennsylvania - one of the largest centers of Ukrainian immigrants in America at that time, as there was work in Pennsylvania's coal mines and other industries.

He was eagerly greeted by the Ukrainian community as one of their own. The immigrants were often exploited by the Poles, Slovaks, Germans and the Irish, who arrived before them; to them the Ukrainians, known at that time as Ruthenians, were nothing more than job competitors and strike breakers. Those early Ukrainian immigrants were also known as Rusyns (not to be confused with Russians, who were not Rusyns), Rusnaks, Boykos or Lemkos, and many even claimed to be "Austrians," "Hungarians," "Slovaks" or even "Galicians." However, they often spoke the same Ukrainian language or its dialect and usually professed the same Greek-Catholic faith. The modern term "Ukrainian" was just beginning to be accepted into common usage at the end of the 19th century.

During that first, historic Greek-Catholic liturgy on December 18, 1884, in a rented, overflowing Shenandoah Hall, people came from all over Pennsylvania to participate in the celebration. On that cold winter day, men, women and children fell to their knees and cried, as the eloquent Father Wolansky addressed them in Ukrainian, a language they understood.

The months that followed kept Father Wolansky busy in Shenandoah - the first child to be christened was Maria Marusyn, the daughter of Mychajlo and Anna Marusyn, on December 25, 1884; the first marriage was between Michael Pringel, the son of Ivan and Maria Pringel, and Maria Ivanko, the daughter of Simeon and Dorotea Ivanko; the first funeral, of Maria Fedorchak, the young daughter of Oleksander and Maria Fedorchak, who had emigrated from the village of Ripka, near Sianok, in Galicia, was held on January 25, 1885.

The celibate Roman Catholic clergy in 1880 looked upon the married Father Wolansky as a "sinner" who had strayed away from the only true faith, Roman Catholicism. The image of a handsome, personable and married priest, who spoke Ukrainian, and a vivacious and attractive wife did not sit well with the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Philadelphia and New York. But, most of all, the hierarchy resented the lost revenues as the Ukrainians left Roman Catholic congregations to form their own.

During his brief stay in America (1884-1889), Father Wolansky founded numerous parishes - in Shenandoah, Shamokin, Hazelton, Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Olyphant and Freedland, Pa., Jersey City, N.J., Minneapolis, and other cities.

He founded brotherhoods and societies, such as the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, established on January 18, 1885, in Shenandoah, which offered help to the widows and orphans of the miners who had died in the frequent Pennsylvania mining accidents.

It should also be noted that the St. Nicholas Brotherhood, and other societies were sometimes appropriated or co-opted by Russophile priests who were on the payroll of the Muscovite Orthodox Church. They manipulated and deceived the newly arrived immigrants. In an effort to reach as many immigrants as possible, they called their chapters of the St. Nicholas Brotherhood "Orthodox-Catholic," although they professed nothing but hatred for the Catholics.

They altered the ancient Ukrainian colors of blue and yellow on the brotherhood insignia and certificates, symbolizing the Ukrainian sky and wheat fields, to the Russian national colors of white, blue and red, and soon changed the name "Rusyn" to "Russian."

One Greek-Catholic priest, Father Alexis Toth (1854-1909), a widower, insulted and browbeaten by the Roman Catholic bishops, in desperation switched from the Greek-Catholic to the Russian Orthodox Church, bringing with him many of the faithful, much to the delight of the Moscow clerics. As a reward for his service, father Toth was made a "saint" by the Muscovite Orthodox Church.

Other societies and brotherhoods also were founded by Father Wolansky, such as the St. Cyril and Methodius, Ss. Volodymyr and St. John the Baptist brotherhoods, and numerous cooperatives, where the Ukrainian immigrants were able to buy goods at lower prices, self-help organizations and credit unions, as well as church choirs, singing groups, dance ensembles, reading rooms, women's clubs, boy scout-style organizations, Sunday schools and theatrical groups, where Pawlyna Wolansky often took an active part, both in organizing and participating in the productions.

Not all projects were successful. Strife and dissention plagued the immigrants and often proved to be their undoing. Ignorant and stubborn, some immigrants followed their rigid regional loyalties brought over from the old country, or were swayed by the manipulative Polish, and later Russian-Orthodox, clergy, who promised and sometimes delivered more than others. (The Russian Orthodox were well funded by the Tsarist government explicitly for the purpose of promoting Russification among the immigrants in America).

But there was no turning back, once Father Wolansky and those who immediately followed him opened the doors. In spite of the many difficulties and barriers, the fledgling Ukrainian communities took root and prospered. Unfortunately, the relentless efforts of the hysterical Polish, Slovak and Irish bishops eventually paid off, and in June 1889 Father Wolansky, "that married priest," was forced to return to his native Ukraine by the edict of Pope Leo XIII himself.

In 1890 Father Wolansky once again came to America, continuing his work among the Ukrainian immigrants, staying for about a year.

In 1896 he was sent to Brazil to organize the Ukrainian communities there, and to investigate the appalling conditions that the immigrants had to endure. It was in Brazil, shortly after Father Wolansky's arrival, that tragedy struck. The day after their arrival in Rio de Janeiro, Father Wolansky and his wife took a cable car, recently built by an English company as a tourist attraction, to the top of the famed Corcovado, and hiked down on foot. It was on that very night that Pawlyna became violently ill and died of the then raging, mosquito-borne yellow fever, leaving Father Wolansky devastated.

During the following months, Father Wolansky continued to visit scattered Ukrainian communities, braving the Brazilian jungles, wild rivers, Indians with poisoned arrows and anacondas - on foot and on horseback - facing the same obstacles and animosity from the same groups. But he never tired of organizing the immigrant community, and offering encouragement and hope to the exploited and forgotten immigrants, by whom he was greatly revered.

Unlike in America, Father Wolansky's work in Brazil was more limited in scope and - of a brief duration, undoubtedly affected by the death of his wife - and therefore it is largely unknown and unappreciated among the Ukrainian Brazilians of today.

Father Wolansky returned to Ukraine in February 1897, via Tenerife and Genoa, never to set foot in the New World again. In the years that followed he made pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome.

As a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest and deacon, he was very active in organizing the Ukrainian communities in his native Galicia as well, founding Prosvita chapters (Ukrainian cultural and political organizations) in Ostrivka, Zubir and Slobidka-Strusivka, the Rusyn (Ukrainian) Pedagogical Society, the Ukrainian Library, various cooperatives, credit unions and, farmers' organizations. He successfully campaigned on behalf of Dr. Oleksander Kolessa, who was elected to the AustroHungarian Parliament in 1907 and in 1911.

During the Ukrainian revolution and the struggle for Ukrainian independence of 1918-1920, Father Wolansky was arrested by the angry Polish authorities, who frowned upon his nationalistic activities. He was imprisoned for two years in the Volyn region. He died in Dychkiv, on August 1, 1926.

In 1974, in recognition of his tremendous accomplishments in America and Brazil the Wolansky family of the U.S. and Canada dedicated a memorial plaque, designed by Gregory Wolansky (1909-1980) of Rochester, N.Y., the respected Ukrainian American architect, to honor Father Wolansky.

It originally had been hoped that the plaque might be placed on the wall of the St. Michael's Church in Shenandoah, Pa., the original site of the first Ukrainian Greek-Catholic church in America founded by Father Wolansky in 1884. However, due to the ignorance and hostility of certain members of the congregation at that time (reminiscent of the 1880s) and poor diplomacy during the negotiations on the part of the Wolansky family, the memorial plaque was rejected.

It ultimately found its resting place on the wall of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Philadelphia.

In a curious footnote to the story of the Wolansky plaque a few years after the events mentioned above, the beautiful, wooden St. Michael's Church in Shenandoah - for decades the pride of not only its congregation but of Shenandoah itself - was consumed by a spectacular and fateful fire, on Easter Sunday, April 7, 1980. The fire was witnessed by many in disbelief and sadly noted in the Shenandoah press. Many residents were fearful that the cinders shooting up in the air would set the whole town afire.

A new church has been built since, but as one Shenandoah resident put it, "It's not even 1 percent as beautiful as the old one."

Thanks to the technological age we live in today, the story of Father Ivan Wolansky has reached many people in the towns and villages of Ukraine. And, reportedly, one of the Wolansky family members on a recent teaching assignment in eastern Ukraine, much to his amazement, was once approached by his students after class and asked if he is related to the missionary Father Ivan Wolansky.

It has been rumored that a Ukrainian postage stamp honoring the achievements of this great 19th century pioneer priest and Ukrainian patriot might be in the works. And in Yabloniv, where Father Ivan Wolansky was born, a statue honoring its native son is being contemplated.

* * *

Some of the informationin in this article is based on the following two articles: "Stezhkamy Otsi Ivana Volianskoho v Ameryci," p.91-105, and "Stezhkamy Otsi Ivana Volianskoho v Brazyliyi" p.186-204 by Dr. Joseph Krawczeniuk in the 1994 Svoboda Almanac.

Nestor Wolansky of Berkeley, Calif., is a great-great nephew of Father Ivan Wolansky. He has been pursuing study of the genealogy of the Wolansky family, having inherited the gift from his father, Stephen Wolansky (1904-1999), and his cousin, Dr. Oleh Wolansky (1914-2003). Having worked for 27 years in the travel industry, Mr. Wolansky often combines research into family history with travel.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 3, 2005, No. 27, Vol. LXXIII

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