Estonian Archbishop Eduard Profittlich may be canonised as the predominantly Protestant country's first Catholic saint, the public broadcaster ERR has reported.
Vatican's Congregation of the Saints has examined the documents about Profittlich's martyrdom and the canonisation may take place in two years, according to ERR.
“The Vatican is still examining every detail very carefully. They need to check the background of his death as to whether this was a martyr's death or were there some other precedents,” according to the Estonian Catholic Church's spokeswoman Marge Marie Paas.
Eduard Gottlieb Profittlich was a Jesuit German Catholic archbishop and was appointed the apostolic administrator of Estonia in 1931.
Following Estonia's occupation by the USSR, Profittlich was arrested by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, in 1941 and accused of anti-Soviet agitation and spying for Germany. He was sent to a prison in Kirov, Russia, and sentenced to death.
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