History and current news from the Magistral Delegation for the Czech Republic

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InvestitureNOV2018Olomuc1 The Magistral Delegation for the Czech Republic in the Cathedral of Olomouc with the Cardinal Grand Master, after the Investiture of November 18, 2018.

A long history binds the Czech Republic to the Holy Sepulchre: the presence of the Order of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre in this area dates back to 1190. Many of its Knights were created in Jerusalem during the Franciscan era, others still invested after 1847, when the countries of the region were still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the birth of Czechoslovakia at the end of the First World War, the Lieutenancy for Czechoslovakia (1929) was established, but it disappeared during the period of the two totalitarian regimes, the Nazi and the communist ones.

On March 9, 2015, the Magistral Delegation for the Czech Republic, sponsored by the Swedish Lieutenancy, was recreated. The Magistral Delegation is a peripheral structure of the Order in that phase of foundation that normally precedes the institution of a Lieutenancy. With the Investiture of November 2018, the Czech Republic now has 14 members: three ecclesiastics, two Dames and nine Knights, under the guidance of the Magistral Delegate Jiří Pořízka and the Grand Prior Msgr. Jan Graubner, metropolitan archbishop of Olomouc.

Tomáš Parma, one of the Knights who received Investiture at the end of 2018, recounts: “The splendid double ceremony of the Vigil and the Investiture, for which I prepared myself with a prayer novena, was a push for me to deepen my relationship with Christ, who died and rose again for us, in the Church, the favourite instrument of Our Lord to spread his Kingdom, which is not conquered by the sword, but by Faith and Charity".

"The Christian life - the new Knight continued - flows from a heart purified of hatred for enemies, selfishness and cowardice and is carried out in fraternal love within the Order but also in active love for the more needy. The words of comfort that our Grand Prior Archbishop Jan Graubner and Grand Master Cardinal Edwin O'Brien addressed to us reinforced in me and in the other confreres and consoeurs of our Magistral Delegation the purpose of dedicating ourselves to serving the Church in the Holy Land, as the splendid rite of Investiture also says: 'Even today, becoming a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre means: to fight for the Kingdom of Christ, to spread His Church and work for charity, with the same profound spirit of Faith and love.'"


(2019)