Dominik Trčka (6 July 1886 – 23 March 1959), also known by his religious name ''Metod'', was a

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 *Czech (surnam ...

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 deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (

Redemptorists The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala ...

). Trčka was engaged in parish missions but went on to also serve

Greek Catholics Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

and cater to the needs of the Eastern Rite Catholics who often felt neglected and in great need of pastoral assistance; this was something that Trčka was more than willing to provide for he made serious inroads in terms of the pastoral aid he provided to those people. He is regarded as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

of the

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and was beatified in

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on 4 November 2001.

Life

Dominik Trčka was born in 1886 in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

as the last of seven children to Tomáš Trčka and Františka Šterbová. He entered the

Redemptorist The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scal ...

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

in Bilsko

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in 1902 and he made his profession on 25 August 1904 before returning to

Obořiště Obořiště is a municipality and village in Příbram District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants. Administrative division Obořiště consists of two municipal parts (in brackets population accordi ...

in his homeland so that he could pursue the required philosophical and theological studies needed for

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

. On 17 July 1910 he received his ordination in

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to the priesthood from Cardinal Lev Skrbenský z Hříště. He spent some time engaged in parish missions but in 1919 was sent to serve the

while he studied the Eastern Rite in

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. Eastern Rite Catholics were often overlooked in number and importance but Trčka worked to readdress the situation and one of his most significant achievements was organizing the establishment in

Michalovce Michalovce (; , , Romani language, Romani: ''Mihalya'', Yiddish language, Yiddish: מיכאלאָווצע ''Mikhaylovets'' or ''Mykhaylovyts''; ) is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia. Originally named after the Archangel St Michael ...

of a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

for those Eastern Rite Redemptorist members. During

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he tended to Slovenian and Croatian people and those wounded in the Pribram hospital. In 1935 - when the Redemptorist communities of the area were reorganized - he was appointed as the vice-provincial of the

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Redemptorists. With the Communist takeover of

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came a period of religious persecution and in 1950 religious communities were suppressed. On the evening of

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1950 (13 April) he was arrested along with several other Redemptorists. He was put on trial on 21 April and accused of attempting to obtain false papers in order to flee the nation and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. During his imprisonment he endured both torture and interrogation. One of his confreres who was released wrote that the religious were subjected to intense light non-stop. On 23 March 1959 he died at 9 am as the result of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

after having been placed in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

as a punishment for singing

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in 1958. His remains were buried at the prison but on 17 October 1969 were exhumed and placed in the Redemptorist vault in Michalovce.

Beatification

The beatification process commenced in

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in a diocesan process that concluded in 2001; the formal introduction came on 6 March 2001 after the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

issued the "

nihil obstat (Latin for 'nothing hinders' or 'nothing stands in the way') is a phrase traditionally used by Catholic Church authorities to formally declare that there is no objection to the publication of a book. It also has other uses. Publishing The ...

" and made him a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

confirmed that Trčka died in hatred of his faith on 24 April 2001 and the pope beatified him in

on 4 November 2001. The cause's progress lasted almost twelve months and was quite rapid. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Observed i ...

for this cause is the Redemptorist Antonio Marrazzo.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Redemptorists

Redemptorists.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trčka, Dominik 1886 births 1959 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Eastern Catholic martyrs Czechoslovak Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Czech Roman Catholic priests Eastern Catholic beatified people Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Beatified Redemptorists Czech beatified people Deaths from pneumonia in Czechoslovakia Redemptorists People from Frýdlant nad Ostravicí Czech Eastern Catholics