Exhibition, conference on 14 murdered Franciscans open in Prague

Prague, Sept 24 (CTK) - A conference and an exhibition on the 14 Franciscan friars who were tortured to death in Prague in the 17th century were opened Monday as the first in a series of events on the occasion of their beatification to be held on October 13.

In the summer, the friars' bodily remains were exhumed, followed by an archaeological research into the grave and construction adjustments in the chapel in the Church of Our Lady of the Snow in Prague centre where they were buried.

The expert conference will focus on the looting of monasteries and convents in Prague and the murdering of 14 Franciscans in the Our Lady of the Snow monastery on February 15, 1611, after the Passau army's invasion of Prague. The town's inhabitants then suspected the friars of collaboration and they killed them all.

The friars' bodies were buried in the monastery's cloister after four days and later in the chapel.

The exhibition entitled "The 14 Prague Martyrs: Place and Story" will be held in the cloister of the monastery of the of Our Lady of the Snow until November 25.

"A radical action of one side stirred up a counteraction of the other side and the innocent paid dearly for it. This can serve as a warning to us against radicalism and extremism," historian Dusan Foltyn told CTK Monday.

Along with the Franciscan Monastery, all other unprotected Catholic institutions in Prague became a target of Protestant attacks in 1611.

The group of 14 Franciscan friars from various European countries, including the French, Dutch, Germans and Italians, were sent to Prague, which was predominantly Protestant then, at the beginning of the 17th century to preach for the Catholic minority.

The first steps to their beatification were taken in the 17th century and the process was officially launched in the 1930s. However, it was interrupted by the communist regime (1948-89) for 40 years and reopened only after its collapse in 1989.

"This is the first beatification to take place in Prague and on all Czech territory," Antonin Klaret Benes, coordinator of the beatification's preparation, told CTK.

He added that all other beatifications of persons from the Czech lands were held abroad. Only two Czech saints, St Zdislava and St Jan Sarkander, were canonised in the Czech Republic, in Olomouc, north Moravia, in 1995 by Pope John Paul II, Benes recalled.

The programme accompanying the beatification of the 14 Franciscan friars will offer a concert in the Church of Our Lady of the Snow, an art-music performance by artist Petr Nikl and the Clarinet Factory band with Alan Vitous.

The ceremonial mass during which the 14 martyrs will be beatified, will be celebrated in St Vitus cathedral at Prague Castle, at 10:00, on October 13, by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

A concert of Hradistan band will be held in the church in the evening. Other events devoted to the 14 martyrs are planned at the church's yard on Sunday, October 15, and a literary and music programme on their death will be staged on October 21.