The two priests were imprisoned and executed by the Czechoslovak communist regime because of its hatred of the Catholic faith, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Michael Czerny this week reflected on the martyrdom of Catholics who gave witness to Jesus Christ under communist rule in eastern and central Europe during the \u201cBlessed Martyrs Under Communism\u201d conference in Rome hosted by the Czech Republic\u2019s embassy to the Holy See.<\/p>\n
Czerny, the Czech-born prefect for the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, discussed the canonization causes of two Czech priests \u2014 Father Jan Bula and Father V\u00e1clav Drbola \u2014 who will be beatified June 6.<\/p>\n
“The witness of Father Jan and Father V\u00e1clav addresses each of us individually in our daily struggles, big and small,\u201d Czerny said at the May 20 conference, according to the Vatican-run Vatican News.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir martyrdom teaches us that there is no human situation \u2014 however degrading or unjust \u2014 in which Christ cannot be witnessed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, both priests were imprisoned and killed between 1951 and 1952 amid the Czechoslovak communist regime\u2019s persecution of the Catholic Church following World War II. They were in the Diocese of Brno.<\/p>\n
Both priests worked extensively with the Catholic youth and were eventually imprisoned. According to the dicastery, both priests were falsely accused in prison of plotting to assassinate communist officials and were subsequently executed.<\/p>\n
The dicastery states they were persecuted and killed for their pastoral work and the regime\u2019s hatred of the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n
“For Jan and V\u00e1clav, God\u2019s hands were their support behind the bars of the Jihlava prison, their defense during long interrogations, and the safeguard of their dignity, which remained intact even amid the most degrading humiliations,\u201d Czerny said at the conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe communist regime did not merely want to kill them; it wanted to annihilate their priestly identity,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wanted them to betray, to deny, to renounce their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Czerny said Bula and V\u00e1clav \u201cwere able to transform the darkness of hatred and the cold of the gallows into the place of their living encounter with the Lord.\u201c He said they \u201ctestified with their very lives that light can pierce the dark clouds in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
“We admire the splendor of the grain of wheat that, after remaining hidden for decades in the furrow of Bohemian and Moravian soil \u2014 nurtured despite a difficult history and fertilized by sacrifice \u2014 now springs forth before our eyes,\u201d Czerny said.<\/p>\n
This sprout, which broke through the frozen ground of atheism and oppression, is proof that no violence can stifle the life of God in those who entrust themselves to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinal Michael Czerny prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development <\/p>\n
“This sprout, which broke through the frozen ground of atheism and oppression, is proof that no violence can stifle the life of God in those who entrust themselves to him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Czerny said the beatification of the two martyrs shows the reality of Christ\u2019s promise in Matthew 28:20 that \u201cI am with you always,\u201d with the prefect saying the promise \u201cshines forth fulfilled and written in the blood and joy of these two priests.”<\/p>\n
\u201cMay their sacrificial offering help us to be Christians, citizens, men and women who know how to \u2018lose\u2019 our lives in service, forgiveness, and truth,\u201d he said, \u201cthat beyond the veil of trial and death, awaiting us is the bright light of God\u2019s loving smile and a joy that no one will ever be able to take from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV approved the beatification of the two priests in October 2025 along with nine servants of God who were martyred by the Nazi regime because of its hatred of the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n