Josaphat was born in 1580 in Volodymyr -Volynskyi Ukraine of Orthodox parents. He later became a Catholic and entered the Basilian Order at Vilnius. He became archimandrite and later archbishop of Polotsk. As archbishop, he worked faithfully for the reform of the Church and unity between East and West. He faced much opposition and suffered martyrdom at the hands of an angry mob at Vitebsk Belarus in 1623. He was canonised in 1867. – CTS New Daily Roman Missal 2012, p 3141; Vatican II Weekday Missal 1975, p 1807
