|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The biographical features of St. Procopius appear only dimly in the mists of a distant age, in the dawn of the Christian history of central Europe. Few
are the certain facts, and much must be conjecture. What is not conjecture is the fundamental reality that every age lies under the sovereignty of God, and that those who choose
Christ are capable of great things.
|
|
1. Early Discipleship
St. Procopius seems to have been born into a Christian family in the newly-evangelized Bohemia of the late tenth century. With the
encouragement of his parents, he prepared himself for priesthood in the Eastern Rite. He was ordained in or soon after the year 1003. Within a short time, though, he discovered
that his thirst for God required a more intense form of discipleship, and so he entered the monastic life, possibly in Hungary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Life as a hermit
So advanced was Procopius in the quest for perfection that his abbot granted his request to devote himself to God as a hermit. Sometime after 1029, he
returned to his native land, still living as a hermit, but with the dream of being the means by which an Eastern Rite monastery might be established among the Czech people.
|
|
|
3. The Sazava Valley
Living in the Sazava Valley, he soon became known and respected by the local population. One day he encountered a group of
hunters, led by Duke Oldrich. The two men entered into a long conversation, and so impressed was the Duke by Procopius’ transparent sanctity that he decided to support the monk’s
lofty desires.
|
|
|
|
|
4. Abbot and miracle-worker
An Eastern Rite monastery was therefore established, one governed by Procopius in accordance with the rules of St. Basil and St.
Benedict. For the remainder of his life, Procopius served his community as abbot, and his fame apparently spread as far as Russia.
Numerous stories of cures and other miracles are associated with the holy abbot. One famous account, symbolizing Christian triumph
over sin and temptation, tells of Procopius hitching the devil to a plow and compelling that otherwise useless entity to dig a ditch along the river-bank.
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. The Living Tradition
St. Procopius died in 1053 and was formally recognized as a saint by Pope Innocent III in 1204. His monastery at Sazava survived
until 1785, and the saint continues to be revered by the Czech nation. When in 1885, one century after the suppression of Sazava, monks came to Chicago to serve the immigrants to
this country and establish a Czech Benedictine monastery, they settled in a Czech parish dedicated to St. Procopius. The monks instantly adpoted him as the patron of their new
community.
|
|
|
|
|
|
