31 Facts About Josef Beran

Josef Beran was a Czech Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Prague from 1946 until his death.

Adam Beran was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp during World War II after the Nazis had targeted him for "subversive and dangerous" behavior where he almost died in 1943 due to disease.

Josef Beran was freed in 1945 upon Allied liberation and Pope Pius XII nominated him to head the Prague archdiocese.

Josef Beran was granted the rare honor of being buried in Saint Peter's Basilica upon his death and remained the sole Czech national to be buried there until 2018 when his remains were transferred back to his native homeland for interment in the Saint Vitus Cathedral.

Father Josef Jaroslav baptized Beran whose godparents were Josef Benes and Rozalie Benesova.

Josef Beran's siblings were his brothers Jaroslav, Karel and Slavoj and his sister Marie.

Josef Beran thought about learning medicine but a religious instructor at his school thought that he would make a fine priest and so used his influence to secure him a position for ecclesial studies.

Josef Beran commenced his ecclesial studies in Plzen from 1899 to 1907 and later at the Pontifical Urbaniana in Rome from 1907 until 1911.

Josef Beran was ordained to the priesthood in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran on 10 June 1911 in Rome.

Josef Beran was made the spiritual director for seminarians in Prague from 1932 until 1942 and served as a professor at Charles College in 1932.

Josef Beran ensured that Pius XI's document Mit brennender Sorge was published and circulated in Prague due to the anti-racism stance the document made.

Josef Beran was made a full professor in 1939 ending his stint as an assistant professor.

Josef Beran arrived at Dachau on 4 September 1942 where his number was 25844.

The election of Klement Gottwald - the communist president of Czechoslovakia in 1948 - prompted Josef Beran to have a Te Deum sung for the new president in the Prague Cathedral.

However the rise of the communist regime in 1948 saw Josef Beran prohibit his priests from taking an oath of allegiance to the new regime and in public protested the seizure of land that belonged to the Prague archdiocese.

Josef Beran declared: "The Catholic Church should enjoy the absolute freedom to which it has a right, both God-given and guaranteed by the existing Constitution".

Josef Beran condemned as schismatic the Communist government-approved Czech Catholic Action.

Josef Beran was convicted in a show trial and his house arrest - confining him to the archiepiscopal residence - ended on 7 March 1951.

Josef Beran was then sent to Pabenice and Mukarov near Prague.

Josef Beran's release came in 1963 and he was forbidden to perform his ecclesial duties; this lasted until his relocation to Rome in 1965.

Josef Beran was impeded from exercising his episcopal duties upon his release and offered his resignation to the pope on numerous occasions despite such resignations being refused each time.

Josef Beran later went to live in Rome on 17 February 1965 in exchange for governmental concessions to the Church following negotiations in late 1964 that saw the appointment of new bishops and an apostolic administrator for the Prague archdiocese due to Josef Beran's negotiated exit.

Josef Beran knew going to Rome was an exile and tried to resist at first.

Josef Beran was made a member of both the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for Rites.

Josef Beran spoke on the principle of ecclesial independence and received a standing ovation.

Josef Beran died from lung cancer in Rome in 1969 at the Pontifical Nepomucene College where he lived.

Josef Beran had died just a few minutes before Paul VI arrived at his bedside.

Josef Beran was buried in the grotto of Saint Peter's Basilica in the chapel of the Bruised Madonna after Paul VI celebrated his funeral.

Josef Beran's coffin was then transported to the Pontifical Neopomucenum where he lived in Rome for a short gathering with the Czech Culture Minister leading the Czech delegation.

Cardinal Miloslav Vlk blessed the foundation stone of a memorial to Josef Beran unveiled on 13 May 2009 in Prague.

The beatification process for Josef Beran was introduced on 9 February 1998 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints titled the late cardinal as a Servant of God and issued the official "nihil obstat" edict opening the cause; this came after the forum for the cause was moved on 14 February 1997 from Rome to Prague.