Eugene Bossilkov
Bulgarian Roman Catholic bishop, martyr and blessed (1900–1952)
Feast: 11 November (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Vincent Bossilkov was born at Belene, Bulgaria, on 16 November 1900 into the Latin-rite Catholic minority of the diocese of Nicopolis. At eleven he went to the Passionists' school, where his vocation grew through ten years of study in Belgium and the Netherlands.
As a Passionist and Bishop of Nicopolis, under a tyrannical regime he refused to renounce communion with Rome. Arrested in 1952, cruelly tortured and condemned in a show trial for high treason, he was secretly shot in Sofia prison on 11 November 1952 and thrown into a common grave.
The miracles
As a martyr, beatified without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A bishop who would not deny his communion with the Pope, and died for it.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Vincenzo Eugenio Bossilkov
- Wikidata Q1284685 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Eugene Bossilkov (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.