Mořic Pícha

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Mořic Pícha
Coat of arms Mořic Pícha, Bishop of Königgrätz (1931–1956)

Mořic Pícha ( Italian Maurizio Picha ) (born April 18, 1869 in Šebetov ; † November 13, 1956 ) was Bishop of Königgrätz .

Career

Mořic Pícha studied theology in Rome and obtained a theological doctorate. After being ordained a priest in 1893, he initially worked as a pastor. In 1897 he became the ceremonial officer of the Archbishops of Prague. Archbishop Leo Skrbenský of Hříště appointed him his secret secretary. In 1912 he became canon of the Prague cathedral chapter, later chancellor of the archbishop's consistory , vicar general and capitular vicar . He wrote several articles in the field of canon law. In 1921 he was appointed Apostolic Protonotary for his services .

Bishop of Königgrätz

After Karel Kašpar, Bishop of Hradec Králové, was appointed Archbishop of Prague on October 22, 1931, Mořic Pícha was appointed his successor and consecrated a month later in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague by his predecessor Karel Kašpar . After taking office, he took care of pastoral tasks and the religious and charitable development of his district. The Königgrätzer Dom and other churches in the diocese were repaired and renovated.

After the Second World War , the property of the Catholic Church in the area of ​​the former Sudetenland was confiscated by state decree . This also included the Benedictine monastery in Braunau , which was part of the Königgrätz diocese . Mořic Pícha protested against this measure in vain with a letter dated March 25, 1946. The state reforms expropriated , among other things, the rule of Skály , which belongs to the diocese, and the episcopal castle in Chrast . After the communists came to power in 1948, the almost eighty-year-old Mořic Pícha was monitored by the state secret services of what was then Czechoslovakia and interned in his bishop's residence in early 1950. He was forbidden to exercise his office. Nevertheless, on April 30, 1950, he secretly consecrated his possible successor Karel Otčenášek without the consent of the state authorities . In the following months the diocesan structures were destroyed, the church authorities and institutions were liquidated and all monasteries were dissolved. On October 16, 1950, the state authorities declared Mořic Pícha deposed and appointed Vicar General Ladislav Hronek as the state administrator.

Mořic Pícha died at the age of 87. He was buried in the Chrašice cemetery. The successor Karel Otčenášek, consecrated in 1950, was only able to take up the office of bishop after the political change in 1989.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Karel Kašpar Bishop of Hradec Kralove
1931 - 1956
Karel Otčenášek