Members of the Ukrainian Catholic Synod of Bishops who were having their annual meeting in Portage during the week took time for a tour of the former Women's Correctional Centre on Thursday. The synod was holding its meeting in Manitoba this year to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainian Catholic Bishop in Canada — Blessed Bishop Nykyta Budka.
Bishop Budka was also known to have ministered to the prisoners at Portage's old jail.
There are three confirmed burials of prisoners in the present parking lot of the jail.
The bishops who were visiting the jail Thursday also planned to hold a quiet ceremony and prayer at the site to recognize those who were buried there.
Fr. Mark Gnutel, with St. Anne Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, was helping organize the tour for the bishops, who came from around the world for the synod in Portage.
"We are visiting the jail, because our first Bishop in Canada 100 years ago, Nykyta Budka, he had a great ministry to visiting those in prison," said Gnutel. "Of course, the jail here is historic for having some of the first executions at the beginning of the century. It just so happens, a Ukrainian fellow was one of the first who was to be executed here when the jail was first opened."
"So, Bishop Nykyta Budka came to minister to him -- to offer him the prayers, confession, and last rites," added Gnutel. "He ministered to him for several days before the man was hung, and then buried in the jail grounds."
During their tour of the jail, the bishops would also be visiting the actual cell where this man who was eventually executed was kept, and where Bishop Budka once ministered to him.
"He is actually still buried on the site," said Gnutel. "It's a parking-lot now. The prisoners were buried there. We will have a little memorial there. It is kind of an interesting history right here in town."
The visiting bishops also managed to track down the local newspaper articles about this Ukrainian man who was one of the first to be executed at the jail.
"We have dug up a lot of different articles about the man -- who he was, his trial, what his crime was, and that this priest came to minister to him, and the Bishop (Budka)," Gnutel said. "We found out the Bishop visited several people here. He came by train from Winnipeg, and ministered to some of those."
angela.brown@sunmedia.ca
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