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In an earlier post about Czech currency, I commented upon the fact that St. Agnes of Bohemia is featured on the 50-crown note. Well, her days of currency stardom are numbered. According to this article, the 50-crown note is being phased out in favor of the coin (which does not picture the saint).

I wonder how the Czechs plan to make it up to her?

There was also a folklore festival going on this past weekend in Prague. I took a handful of pictures while walking through Staroměstské náměstí, and I simply offer them up here without comment:

There are plenty of second hand stores in Prague, but for some reason, the concept of flea markets or yard sales is unknown. Until now, that is: as of this past Saturday, there is now a flea market in Náměstí míru on the 4th Saturday of the month.

It’s rather slapdash, and it remains to be seen if it will really take off:

From this week’s parish bulletin at sv. Tomáš:

"July 28, In memoriam of Father Augustin Schubert, OSA, pastor and witness to the truth.
Born in Prague-Zizkov in 1902, who after obtaining his doctorate in Philosophy entered the Augustininian Order in 1924. Ordained a priest in 1929 he was appointed pastor of St. Thomas. In this capacity he soon gathered an eager group of young people and was in demand as preacher throughout Czechoslovakia. With the occupation of his native land by the Nazis he constantly preached fidelity to Christ in face of pagan national myths. On 26 August 1939 he was arrested by the Gestapo and jailed variously at Pancrac, Oranienburg, Theresienstadt and Dachau where he died of tuberculosis and a cardiac condition compounded by hunger and ill treatment on 28 July 1942. His remains were cremated. Letters to his fellow Augustinians and a rosary made of dried breadcrumbs survived as well as the memory of a priest and pastor who raised his voice against injustice."

Steps for proposing him as a saint have been taken by the Augustinian community and their parishioners in 1999.

On Sunday, I took myself on a little pilgrimage to Svatá Hora (Holy Mountain), in Pŕíbram. (Pŕíbram is about an hour from Prague by bus.)

From the website:

"The most well-known, as well as renowned, place of pilgrimage consecrated to the Virgin Mary in Bohemia – Svatá Hora (Holy Mountain) – has been, in its present-day form, towering high above the old mining town of Pŕíbram offering a majestic panorama for more than 330 years. Svatá Hora is a vast baroque complex of buildings with a multitude of towers with its severe external look and corner chapels reminiscent of defensive bastions giving the impression of a fortress, of a castle of the Virgin Mary to whom it has been consecrated. Because of its location in the center of the nation, Svatá Hora has been considered as the spiritual heart of Bohemia."

The main color scheme of the complex is pink and cream.

A closer view of the complex from the main plaza:

The statue of Madonna and Child in the middle of the plaza:

A side entrance to the complex:

The grounds are lovely and quite extensive. I’m always a little surprised at how much wealth the Church apparently managed to hang onto despite 40 years of Communism. But then, I suspect that land (at least outside of Prague) is pretty cheap in the Czech Republic.

This structure houses "Mary’s Well":

The notice regarding the well is in Czech, and I can’t find any other information on it, alas.

There is other fairly predictable statuary on the grounds, including two different Crucifixions. This one is along the path leading up to the complex from the town:

This one is on the hill itself:

On entering the complex through the main entrance, there is a main outdoor chapel:

The altar of the outdoor chapel:

There are indoor chapels at each of the four corners of the cloisters, as well as outdoor altars lining the cloisters, each dedicated to a different event in the life of Mary. The roofs of the cloisters are covered in stuccoes depicting miracles attributed to the intercession of Our Lady.

The main altar in the Church is rich with silver and gilt; not surprising, perhaps, as Pŕíbram was a mining town. A scanned postcard:

It’s not readily apparent from the picture, but to the right, just in back of the altar rail, there’s a short pillar with a notched top. I couldn’t make out the purpose of it, but it became apparent later.

The real star of the show, though, is the statuette of the Virgin Mary. (I swiped this picture from the Svatá Hora website):

At the risk of sounding irreverent, I have to say that the way in which the robes cover the limbs of the Virgin and Child makes it look as though they’re Siamese twins! And, as with the statue of the Infant Jesus here in Prague, the statuette in Svatá Hora has multiple changes of robes, corresponding to the different liturgical seasons. The statuette typically resides in a niche above the tabernacle (as seen in another picture swiped from the Svatá Hora site):

I attended the late afternoon Mass (which was in Czech, of course). People didn’t leave immediately after Mass, and I soon found why and also the reason for the pillar: after Mass, there was veneration of the statuette. The priest removed the statuette from its niche, covered the robe with a tulle cape, and set the base on the pillar. This picture, another pinched from the website, shows veneration taking place at the outdoor chapel:

There were several groups of pilgrims visiting at the same time, mostly Germans (or German-speaking, at any rate), but there didn’t seem to be very many Czech pilgrims.