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Maria Beruski

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Maria Beruski
Icon of St. Maria Beruski by Michel Qapeluk, 2006
Martyr of Joaquim Távora
Bornc. 1959
Joaquim Távora, Paraná, Brazil
Died4 April 1986(1986-04-04) (aged 26–27)
Joaquim Távora
Venerated inUkrainian Orthodox Church
FeastApril 4
AttributesOrthodox cross and the eight students for whom she died

Maria Aparecida Beruski, also known as Berushko[note 1][1] (c. 1959 – 4 April 1986), was a school teacher who died saving her students in a school fire in Brazil. She may become the first Orthodox saint in Latin America.[2]

Maria, being of Ukrainian descent, was born in 1959, in Joaquim Távora, Paraná, Brazil.

When a school caught fire in 1986, Maria refused a chance to leave the building, instead she stayed inside and assisted her pupils in escaping. Beruski assisted in saving the lives of 5 children, but 8 children died together with the teacher in the fire.

The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Latin America already placed the issue of Maria's canonisation to the agenda.[3] It is expected the final decision to be made within three years.

A street in the Brazilian town of Curitiba has already been named after Beruski (Rua Maria Aparecida Beruski).

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Sanidopoulos, John (April 4, 2018). "Maria Berushko of Brazil and Eight Students who Died Trying to Save Children During a Fire in their School (+1986)". Mystagogy Resource Center.
  2. ^ Religious Information Service of Ukraine Portal News, in Ukrainian
  3. ^ Orthodoxy in Ukraine Portal, 15.10.2007, Ukrainian language
  1. ^ Her ancestral Ukrainian name was Berushko, but it was derived as Beruski in Brazil. Posthumously, many prefer to address her by her ancestral surname.