Maria Beruski
Maria Aparecida Beruski, also known as Berushko,[note 1][1] 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
- 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.
- Religious Information Service of Ukraine Portal News, in Ukrainian
- Orthodoxy in Ukraine Portal, 15.10.2007, Ukrainian language
- Her ancestral Ukrainian name was Berushko, but it was derived as Beruski in Brazil. Posthumously, many prefer to address her by her ancestral surname.