Johannes Sarkander

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Engraving Johannes Sarkander 1702
Epitaph in the Sarkander Chapel in Olomouc depicting the torture

Johannes Sarkander (Czech and Polish Jan Sarkander ; also Johann Fleischmann ; * December 20, 1576 in Skotschau , Duchy of Teschen ; † March 17, 1620 in Olomouc ) was a Moravian priest and Bohemian saint.

Life

Johannes Sarkander was the son of Gregor Matthias Sarkander and Helene, geb. Gurecki von Kornitz (Gurecky z Kornicz). In 1589, after the death of their father, the mother and her five children moved to Freiberg in Moravia. Here Jan attended the Czech parish school. Three years later he switched to the Jesuit school in Olomouc, and later to Prague . Here he passed the bachelor's degree in 1602 and the examination for master of the arts the following year . In 1604 he began to study theology in Graz , but broke it off after entering into a marriage. He received a doctorate in philosophy and was looking for a secular occupation. After the death of his wife, he resumed studying theology, graduated from theology and was ordained a priest on March 22, 1609 in Brno .

Johannes Sarkander first worked in the Diocese of Olomouc in Jaktar near Troppau and in Unczow . When his brother Nikolaus, also a pastor, was arrested for a conspiracy against Emperor Rudolf II , Johannes later suffered the same fate on the grounds that he had enabled his brother to escape from prison. After his release he took over parishes in Charváty , Kroměříž , Zdounky and Boskovice between 1611 and 1615 .

In 1616 he became pastor in Holleschau , on the lands of Captain Ladislav Popel von Lobkowitz . Its activity was made more difficult by the uprising of the Protestant estates against the Habsburgs (beginning of the Thirty Years' War in 1618), in the course of which his master von Lobkowitz was arrested. Sarkander then went on a pilgrimage to Czestochowa and stayed briefly in Krakow . This gave rise to rumors that, as the emperor's ambassador, he had called the troops of the commandant of Lisów for help. The suspicion increased after his return in November 1619, when Holleschau was spared looting by the armies under the leadership of AJ Lisowski. Sarkander is said to have walked towards the approaching army in a procession, whereupon the Polish Catholic army is said to have joined the procession. Then the surrounding Protestant villages were looted.

He was then arrested at the instigation of the judge Václav Bítovský z Bítova in Olomouc and interrogated under torture. Among other things, during the interrogation on February 18, 1620, he was required to violate the confessional secret and to disclose the contents of the confessions of his lord von Lobkowicz. Sarkander refused and died from torture a month later.

The latest historical findings assume that Sarkander did not commit treason. The help is said to have come about through the mediation of Count Althann and Druget Hommonay, who were loyal to the emperor .

Some of his remains were buried in the Olomouc Cathedral , other bones in the St. Michael Church and other churches.

News of his death quickly spread across the country. But also in Poland and Bohemia the population began to venerate him as a martyr . On September 11, 1859, Jan Sarkander was beatified by the papal curia in Rome , the beatification ceremony took place on May 6, 1860 in St. Peter's Basilica . In the course of the neo-Gothic remodeling, an elaborate reliquary was created in the Olomouc Cathedral . The process of canonization began on July 31, 1981 at the request of the bishops of Olomouc and Katowice . On April 5, 1993, Pope John Paul II announced in the public consistory that Blessed John Sarkander would be included in the register of saints.

Three chapels commemorate the saint in his hometown. In the town of Uničov , where he also worked, his bronze statue was built in front of the church.

Patronage

Johannes Sarkander is the patron of the confessional secret.

Name day is March 17th.

Johannes Sarkander, Polish: Jan Sarkander is also the patron saint of the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese , where his feast day is celebrated on May 30th.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Sarkander, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fleischmann, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Moravian priest and Bohemian saint
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1576
PLACE OF BIRTH Skoczów
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1620
Place of death Olomouc