Eugene Bossilkov

Blessed Eugene Bossilkov , born Vincent Bossilkov , was a member of the Passionist Congregation, Roman Catholic bishop of Nicopolis and martyr in the Communist campaign in Bulgaria against religion. He had studied in Rome for his doctorate at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and became a parish priest in the Danube Valley. After becoming bishop, in 1952 he was arrested, together with many other religious, and executed for ostensible crimes against the state. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

Vincent Bossilkov was born to a family of Bulgarian Latin Rite Catholics on November 16, 1900 in Belene, Bulgaria. After studies, he entered the Passionist Congregation at the age of 14. The Passionists are an Italian religious institute founded by Saint Paul of the Cross in the eighteenth century. They have practiced in Bulgaria since 1781. Bossilkov studied in Passionist houses in the Netherlands and Belgium and took the religious name Eugene. He professed his vows in 1920 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1926.

Source: Wikipedia