Jan Lebeda

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Coat of arms of Auxiliary Bishop Jan Lebeda

Jan Lebeda (born April 23, 1913 in Prague ; † November 5, 1991 ibid) was a Catholic clergyman in Czechoslovakia and auxiliary bishop in Prague.

Life

Lebeda was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Prague in 1937 . He was initially a chaplain in Kolín . Then he was spiritual of the Prague seminary (1943–1951). From this post he was removed by the communists and installed as an administrator in Řevničov ( okres Rakovník ) (1952). In this involuntary and difficult exile he wrote a number of literary works that later appeared as prints. From 1958 to 1968 he worked in Kladno –Rozdělov. In 1968 he was appointed resident canon of the collegiate chapter of St. Cosmas and Damian in Stará Boleslav . In 1980 he became a canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of St. Vitus in Prague, and from 1987 its provost . In 1986 he became Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Prague. He was also a prelate of the Order of Lazarus .

During the communist regime he was also editor-in-chief of the magazine "Katolické noviny" and one of Cardinal Tomášek's employees. Nevertheless, he is not considered a dissident, but neither did he collaborate with the communist regime.

Episcopal ordination

Given the increasing age of František Cardinal Tomášek (1899-1992), the Catholic Church in the communist regime succeeded in making Lebeda auxiliary bishop in Prague. The appointment of bishops in 1988 ( Antonín Liška , Jan Lebeda, Ján Sokol ) was the first after many years that could be negotiated between state and church. This was seen as a compromise between what the church needed and what the communist regime could allow.

On May 19, 1988, the 75-year-old was appointed titular bishop of Novi and auxiliary bishop in Prague , and on June 11, 1988, František Cardinal Tomašek was ordained bishop. Co-consecrators were the then Apostolic Nuncio in Poland, Archbishop Francesco Colasuonno and Auxiliary Bishop Kajetán Matoušek .

He was involved in the episcopal ordination of Josef Koukl (August 1989), František Lobkowicz and František Radkovský (April 1990).

Lebeda died in 1991 at the age of 79. He is buried in the Aldašín ( okres Kolín ) cemetery.

Literary work

Lebeda was philosophically founded and devoted himself to the history of art and literature.

He published a number of popular science articles, especially in the magazine Lidové demokracie . He had a deep friendship with the composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster († 1951) until his deathbed.

Lebeda was a writer and admirer of the work of the auxiliary bishop of Prague Anton Podlaha (1865–1932). In 1935 he arranged the memories of the friends and admirers of Podlahas under the title "Sváteční člověk" (Holiday Man) ", in 1965 Lebeda published Anton Podlaha's résumé under the same title.

He was also a poet (eg "Rozdělov", "Setkání a loučení", "Kladno - Stará Boleslav"). He was the author of a number of prints ("Květen" collection), on the publication of which he especially collaborated with Alois Chvála and with the printer Josef Cipra from Kladno. The prints also included graphics by Jaroslav Vodrážka and also Arnošt Hrabal .

Web links

  1. ↑ He was a complicated person, namely a typical high church dignitary at the end of the communist era - cautious, never particularly steadfast, yet unbroken. from: Stanislav Balík, Jiří Hanuš: Katolická církev v Československu 1945-1989 , Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, Brno 2007, ISBN 978-80-7325-130-7 (p. 103)

literature

personal data
SURNAME Lebeda, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech theologian, auxiliary bishop in Prague
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH 5th November 1991
Place of death Prague