22. On the other hand, during this same period the
Ruthenians enjoyed peace and tranquillity in the eparchies of Lvov and Przemysl, which had been united
to the empire of Austria at the partition of Poland. In 1807 the metropolitan title of
Halicz was restored there and permanently attached to the archdiocese of Lvov.
This province flourished so much that two of its metropolitans, Michael
Levitsky (1816 - 58) and Sylvester Sembratovitch (1882 - 98), who both
displayed great prudence and zeal in their rule, were honored for their
personal qualities and notable merits with the Roman purple, and appointed to
the supreme senate of the Church. Moreover, since the number of Catholics was
ever increasing, our predecessor Leo XIII formally erected a new eparchy, that
of Stanislavov in 1885. Six years later the prosperity of the Galician Church was consolidated in an
extraordinary manner when all the bishops with the legate of the supreme
pontiff and many other clergy met at Lvov to hold there a provincial council
and issue opportune liturgical and disciplinary regulations.
|