An earthy and vigorous hermit who cleared forests, cultivated the land and did not hesitate to harness the devil himself to his plough. But he was also an advisor to princes and abbot of the Sázava Monastery, which became the centre of Slavic scholarship in Bohemia under his leadership. He went down in history as the first officially confirmed Czech saint who posthumously fought for his own canonisation: he reportedly appeared to the pope of the time in a dream in the form of a bearded monk and threatened him with his abbot’s crook. He was born in a yeoman’s fortress in Chotouň near Český Brod around 970, at a time when Saint Adalbert was the Bishop of Prague. He became a priest of the Slavonic rite and served at St Vitus Cathedral. According to some reports, he was married and had a son named Jimram, as priests were not bound by celibacy at that time. However, he was still searching for external and internal peace. He joined the monks at the monastery in Břevnov, founded in 923, who lived according to strict Benedictine rules. But even here, he did not find what he longed for. So he left the monastic community and retired into complete solitude. Svatý Prokop | Zdroj: www.wikipedia.com At first, he lived as a hermit in a cave near Prague, in a valley that bears his name, Prokopské údolí. The alleged Prokop Cave in the rock disappeared due to limestone mining in 1890. Above the cave stood a Baroque church dedicated to the saint, where thousands of pilgrims still flocked on Prokop’s feast day in the mid-19th century. The church was demolished in 1966, and today there is nothing tangible to remind us of the saint’s former presence here. Sometime in 1009, Prokop left the cave near Prague and settled permanently by the Sázava River. In complete solitude, surrounded by wild nature, Prokop finally found space for prayer, renunciation and hard work. He adopted the motto of St Benedict, ora et labora (pray and work), as his lifelong rule. Here, too, he first lived in a cave, which has been preserved to this day and is occasionally accessible as part of a tour of the Sázava Monastery. According to legend, he banished a thousand devils from the site. Prokop began to cultivate the land around the cave. At the time, he allegedly harnessed the devil to a plough and, according to folk tradition, ploughed the Devil’s Furrow, an almost 21-kilometre-long valley stretching from Sázava to his birthplace in Chotouň. Gradually, other men who yearned to live like Prokop joined him. A settlement of simple wooden huts belonging to his disciples sprang up around Prokop’s hermitage. Sometime around 1032, the Czech prince Oldřich wandered into these remote places. He was a passionate hunter, chasing deer and straying from his companions. He found the deer hiding tamely behind Prokop in front of his hermitage. The prince asked the hermit for some water from a nearby spring. Prokop scooped up some water, handed it to the prince – and a miracle occurred: in his hands, the water turned into wine. Prokop’s wisdom and piety had a profound effect on Prince Oldřich. He offered to build a monastery for him and his companions near the Sázava River. The monastery with its church was consecrated by the Archbishop of Prague in 1035. The monastery flourished splendidly under Prokop’s leadership as abbot. It soon became the centre of faith and civilisation for the entire region, spreading expertise in farming methods, architecture, sculpture and painting. And yet no poor or sick person was ever turned away; everyone found refuge here. The monks celebrated Mass according to the Slavonic liturgy, collected Slavonic literature and new works were also created. Kostel sv. Prokopa | Zdroj: Prague City Tourism Prokop ruled his monastery with a firm hand for twenty years. Both the Archbishop of Prague and the Czech prince followed his wise advice. He died at his monastery in 1053 and was buried in front of the main altar of the Sázava Cathedral. His grave immediately became a popular place of pilgrimage. He is associated with numerous miracles involving the healing of the sick, helping those in need and liberating spiritually constrained people. A man who had drowned in the Sázava River was reportedly resurrected in the monastery courtyard, and a blind woman was healed in the garden. Svatý Prokop | Zdroj: www.wikipedia.com Prokop is the first Czech whose sainthood was confirmed by an official process. The request for his canonisation was brought to Rome at the beginning of the 13th century by Blažej, the abbot of Sázava. But his request was not granted. At that time, Prokop is said to have personally intervened in the recognition of his own sainthood – according to legend, he appeared to Pope Innocent III in a dream and threatened him with his abbot’s crook. The Pope was allegedly greatly impressed by the threat of a certain deceased Slavic monk, and so on 4 July 1204, Prokop was officially declared a saint. In 1588, Prokop’s remains were moved from the dilapidated church in Sázava, which had been plundered during the Hussite Wars, to the Church of All Saints at Prague Castle. Emperor Rudolf II also attended the ceremonial transfer. Shortly after Prokop’s death, the Pope banned the Slavonic liturgy and the monks were expelled from Sázava. They were replaced at the monastery by Latin Benedictines from Břevnov. The Slavonic liturgy, brought to our lands in the 9th century by Saints Cyril and Methodius, was threatened with extinction in Bohemia. This situation was reversed by King Charles IV, who in 1374 established a monastery with Slavic worship called Emauzy in Prague’s New Town. Some parts of the Emauzy monastery are also dedicated to Saint Prokop.