Nicholas Bock

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Father Nicholas Bock (Russian: Николай Иванови�� Бок), SJ (13 November 1880, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – 27 February 1962, New York City, United States) was a Russian Empire diplomat who later became a Catholic priest.

Biography[]

Born in Saint Petersburg to diplomat Ivan Bock and Natalia Kossovich, Bock graduated Petrischule German school in 1899 and thereafter entered the law faculty of Saint Petersburg University.[1] In 1903, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 1912 was appointed secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission to the Vatican.[2][3][4] From 1916 to 1917, he acted as chargé d'affaires of the mission. After the October Revolution, he remained in Italy as chairman of the Committee for Assistance to Russian refugees.[1]

In 1924, Bock moved to Paris, engaging in small business there, and in 1925 adopted Catholicism, converting from Russian Orthodoxy.[4] In 1931, he married and moved to Japan,[4] teaching Russian, French and German in Takaoka. In 1943, Bock moved to the city of Kobe.[1] In spring of 1945, his house was destroyed during a raid by U.S. aircraft; in the same year, his wife died,[2] after which he went to the Jesuit Order.[1] In 1948, at the age of 67 years, he was ordained as a priest.[4]

Soon, he moved to the United States, living in California, where there were many Russian Catholics who had fled Harbin after Communists had come to power in China.[2][3] In San Francisco, Bock created the Byzantine Catholic parish of Our Lady of Fatima.[2][3] He was later transferred to the Russian center at Fordham University in New York City.[2] In 1950, he took part in the Congress of the Russian Catholic clergy in Rome, where he was deputy chairman of the Archbishop Alexander Evreinov.[2] Bock died on February 27, 1962 in New York.[2][4]

Family[]

His brother, Boris Bock, was Pyotr Stolypin's son in law.[5]

Bibliography[]

  • Osmidnevnye spiritual exercises. - New York, 1953.
  • Russia and the Vatican on the eve of the Revolution: Memoirs of a diplomat. - New York, 1962.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Николай Иванович Бок [Nicholas Bock] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Danilov, Viktor (2010). Российский католицизм [Russian Catholicism] (in Russian). Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Armstrong, Steven (1993). "Our Byzantine Parish". Western Jesuit. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e Голованов С.В. (2005). Биографический справочник деятелей русского католического апостольства в эмиграции 1917-1991 гг. (in Russian). Archived from the original on 12 February 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  5. ^ Foster, Ludmila (2010). Американский потомок столыпина [American descendant of Stolypin]. Русский вестник (in Russian). Retrieved 26 March 2008.
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