Jan Sarkander (
Czech
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Places
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and
Polish
Polish may refer to:
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*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
: ''Jan Sarkander'') (20 December 1576 – 17 March 1620) was a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
-
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
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*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
.
Sarkander was married for a short period of time before he became widowed and pursued a path to the priesthood where he became active in defence of the faith during a period of anti-Catholic sentiment and conflict. He himself was arrested on false accusations as a means of silencing him and he refused to give in to his tormenters who tortured him for around a month before he died.
Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
beatified Sarkander at
Saint Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...
in 1860 and
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
canonized him as a saint in 1995 on his visit to the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
.
Life
Jan Sarkander was born on 20 December 1576 in
Skoczów
Skoczów (pronounced , german: Skotschau, cs, Skočov) is a town and the seat of Gmina Skoczów in Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland with 14,385 inhabitants (2019). The town lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia ...
,
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
(now in Poland) into a Silesian household as the son of Georg Mathias Sarkander and Helene Górecka. He had one sister and three other brothers: Nicholas (a priest himself), Paul, and Wenceslas.
His father died in 1589 and so his family moved to
Příbor
Příbor (; german: Freiberg n Mähren}) is a town in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,300 inhabitants. The historic centre of Příbor is well preserved and is protected by law as an ur ...
.
[ His mother remarried and gave birth to his half-brother Matthew. Sarkander intended to become a priest but dropped the idea and instead married. He and his wife then settled in ]Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
. The marriage was short-lived for his wife died one year later. There were no children. He then took up studies for the priesthood, convinced that God was calling him.[
Sarkander studied at the Olomouc college from 1597 until 1600 due to the plague which forced him to transfer to the ]Charles University
)
, image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg
, image_size = 200px
, established =
, type = Public, Ancient
, budget = 8.9 billion CZK
, rector = Milena Králíčková
, faculty = 4,057
, administrative_staff = 4,026
, students = 51,438
, undergr ...
in Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. He obtained his degree of master of philosophy at Prague in 1603.["Blessed John Sarkander". ''New Catholic Dictionary'']
CatholicSaints.Info. 15 August 2018 He continued theological studies in Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
from 1604. He later underwent theological studies at the University of Graz
The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria.
History
The unive ...
and passed his examinations on 21 December 1607. He was made a sub-deacon on 20 December 1608 and elevated into the diaconate
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
on 16 March 1609.
[Mershman, Francis. "Bl. John Sarkander." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
On 22 December 1607, he received the minor orders from Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein
Franz Seraph von Dietrichstein ( cs, František Serafín z Ditrichštejna, 22 August 1570 – 19 September 1636), of the Austrian and Moravian House of Dietrichstein, was Prince of Dietrichstein, Archbishop of Olomouc, Governor (Landeshauptmann) o ...
. The Bishop of Olomouc
The following is a list of diocesan bishops and archbishops of Olomouc. Not much is known about the beginnings of the Diocese of Olomouc. It was reestablished in 1063 and in 1777 it was elevated to an archdiocese.
Bishops of Olomouc
*''89 ...
Jan Křtitel Civalli ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
him to the priesthood on 22 March 1609 in Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
. Sarkander was assigned to work as a parish priest in Boskowitz
Boskovice (; german: Boskowitz) is a town in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The area of the historic town centre, Jewish quarter, château complex and castle ruin is well prese ...
and then sent to Holešov
Holešov (; german: Holleschau, he, העלשויא) is a town in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected ...
in 1616.[ Baron von Lobkowitz from Moravia supported Sarkander's efforts in the region but the rich anti-Catholic landowner Bitowsky von Bistritz opposed him to the extent that he wanted Sarkander killed. The ]Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
began in 1618 and it saw a bitter conflict between the Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and Catholics and this forced him to flee to Poland on 17 May 1619 for a brief period of time when the Protestants occupied Holleschau. He made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa
Our or OUR may refer to:
* The possessive form of " we"
* Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany
* Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium
* Our, Jura, a commune in France
* Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulato ...
, and passed a few weeks of retreat with the Minims, who had a house there. He also spent a few months in Cracow. Then he returned home.[
In February 1620 Polish auxiliary troops sent to the emperor by King Sigismund, passed through Moravia and committed many depredations on the lands of the Protestants, but spared Holleschau when John met them with the Blessed sacrament in his hands. The Jesuits helped him to reconcile 200 non-Catholics to the faith but other non-Catholics were severely angered by this.][
During the ongoing ]Bohemian Revolt
The Bohemian Revolt (german: Böhmischer Aufstand; cs, České stavovské povstání; 1618–1620) was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War. It was caused by both religi ...
—Protestant Moravian Estates (under von Bistritz) accused Sarkander of collaborating with Baron von Lobkowitz to bring the enemy into the territory. He was taken prisoner and brought to Olmütz where he was tortured. Sarkander was interrogated regarding who had called the troops into the country; what dealings had he in Poland, and with whom; and what had Lobkowitz confided to him in confession.[ He refused to divulge what was said under the seal of ]confession
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
under which priests are bound. The rack was used on him on 13 February and again on the 17th and 18th for up to three hours. Lit candles were applied to him and feathers soaked in oil, pitch, and sulphur strewn over his body and ignited.[ He lingered from the effects for a month and died in prison on March 17, 1620.][
]
Veneration
The beatification process opened under Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...
, but the process was interrupted and thus remained inactive following this. Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
approved the fact that Sarkander was killed ''in odium fidei'' ("in hatred of the faith") on 11 September 1859 and beatified him as a result on 6 May 1860.[ He is acknowledged as a martyr. ]Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
approved a miracle due to the intercession of Sarkander on 2 April 1993 and canonized him on the occasion of his visit to the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
on 21 May 1995.
Jan Sarkander's relics lie in Saint Wenceslas Cathedral
Saint Wenceslas Cathedral ( cs, Katedrála svatého Václava) is a gothic cathedral at Wenceslas Square in Olomouc, in the Czech Republic, founded in 1107. The square was named after Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia on the thousandth anniversa ...
in Olomouc
Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019).
Located on th ...
(Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
).[
A chapel dedicated to him stands at the top of Michael's Hill on the former site of the prison. The original torturing rack and Sarkander's gravestone are preserved here.
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkander, John
1576 births
1620 deaths
People from Cieszyn County
Czech Roman Catholic saints
Polish Roman Catholic saints
People from Cieszyn Silesia
Polish torture victims
17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
Palacký University Olomouc alumni
Charles University alumni
University of Graz alumni