PELESZ, JULIAN. — Bishop, born in the region of the Lemki (Carpathians) in 1843 and died in Przmyslia in 1896. He pursued his studies at the Ukrainian Seminary of S. Barbara in Vienna.
Ordained a priest in 1867, from 1874 to 1883 he was rector of the Seminary and pastor of the Ukrainians residing in the city. During this period he wrote in German the fundamental two-volume work on the History of the “Union of the Ruthenian Church with Rome,” and in Ukrainian a substantial book on moral theology.
In 1885 he was elected the first bishop of the newly established see of Stanislavov in Galicia, and in 1891 of Przmyslia. He took part in the Synod of Leopoli (1891), which was highly important for the development of the Ruthenian rite in Galicia. P. suffered greatly on account of the political and religious difficulties, both in Galicia and in Vienna, as well as from the Congregation of Propaganda, which at that time was very inclined toward Latinism.