František Daniel Merth

Grave of František Daniel Merth

František Daniel Merth (born October 18, 1915 in Jindřichův Hradec , † April 11, 1995 in Strašín ) was a Catholic priest and poet.

Life

Merth studied theology and was ordained a priest in 1942. He then worked as a pastor at the St. Prokop Church in Budweis and published his first work "Refrigerium". After the communists seized power in 1948, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in a labor camp for allegedly disseminating writings that were “dangerous to the state”. After his release in 1953, he was not allowed to do pastoral work and was only allowed to publish some poems during the short period of the Prague Spring between 1966 and 1968. After Bishop Josef Hlouch from Budweis was released from internment , Merth was also given permission to perform pastoral activities in 1970. Shortly afterwards, his second work was published with government approval. Nevertheless, he was soon transferred to the remote parish of Strašín and further publications were forbidden.

In Strašín, in addition to pastoral care, he concentrated on his poetry, which, however, had to remain secret. In one of his letters he described his situation as follows: “I cannot be beaten by bitterness because I have a lot of peace and quiet, loneliness and the simplest daily routine.” In the 1980s, Strašín also became a place of pilgrimage for the worshipers of the Virgin Mary of Strašín for the admirers of Merth and its poetry. His poems were published by Samizdat publishing house.

After the political change in 1989, he published the poetry collections "Matutinum", "Zastavení", and "Zápisy", which received great recognition. In 1994 Merth received recognition from the Czech Bishops' Conference and in 1995 the “Jan Zahradníček Prize”. His grave is in the Strašín cemetery.