July 4 is the folkloric Feast Day of St. Prokop (Modern date is July 14) the patron saint of Czechs, miners and peasants
Svatý Prokop vyhání ďábla z jeskyně/Saint Procopius Driving the Devils Out of the Cave. Created by an anonymous late-medieval Bohemian Master, Late Gothic (15th century / early 16th century).
St. Prokop is a deeply beloved Bohemian and Moravian hermit who was famous for his absolute mastery over demons and internal dark forces. Folk lore tells that he literally harnessed the Devil to a plow and forced him to furrow the agricultural fields.
unknown Central European painter (most likely Czech or Austrian) during the Baroque time period, dating to the mid-to-late 17th century or early 18th century
For the modern practitioner: This day is highly associated with exorcising lingering negativity and heavy, stagnant energy from your home or mind. It marks the day when mushrooms begin to erupt heavily in the forests.
He was born in Chotoun between Ceský Brod and Kourimi, in a yeoman's fortress. The date is not reliably known, it could have been around 985. He was educated in Old Church Slavonic, probably with some priests and at Vysehrad. According to some reports, he spent some time in a Slavic monastery in Uhry, where he perfected his Slavic liturgy. Prokop saw his life's mission in the spiritual state and accepted priestly ordination. He was also married, because strict regulations on priestly celibacy were not generally in force at that time. He also had a son, Jimram (Emmeram).
He probably became a Benedictine monk in the Brevnov monastery. After the massacre of the Slavnikovci, monks with family ties changed places a lot, and Prokop was also allowed to go into seclusion, where he was drawn by a desire for solitude. He received permission to become a hermit. Around 1009 he settled in the Sázava forests. Over time, his son Jimram, nephew Vit and several other people joined him, and a hermit settlement was established.
In the middle of simple huts they had a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist.
They gathered there eight times a day to pray, sing and celebrate the liturgy, which combined the Roman rite with the liturgical Old Church Slavonic.
Sázava monastery
The legend of the meeting with Prince Oldrich:
Duke Oldřich meets Procopius during a hunt" by Josef Mathauser
His further fate was changed by a chance meeting with Prince Oldrich, as the legend tells: "It happened that Prince Oldrich came to Kourim and was enjoying hunting in the forests. One day they were hunting in the forests near the Sazava River, and Oldrich eagerly chased after a deer, leaving the hunter far behind. The deer was large and beautiful and always let Oldrich go about as far as he could shoot from a bow, but when the prince wanted to do so, the deer started running and lured him after him to the edge of the slope and wall, where Prokop was cutting down an oak tree for his needs. There the deer stopped and lay down behind Prokop, turning its face with its antlers towards the prince." The prince completely forgot about hunting. "Who are you, since you live in this desert? What do they call you and what do you do here?" The hermit's answer was humble: "I am an unworthy man and a sinner, but a slave of God before the law of Saint Benedict. My name is Prokop." The prince was understandably thirsty, and his host offered him water. At first he frowned, but then he drank it all, but he wouldn't have, because by God's permission the water had turned into the best wine."
Oldrich chose Prokop as his advisor and contributed his wealth to the foundation of the Sázava Benedictine Monastery in 1032, where Prokop became its abbot. Prokop maintained the Slavic liturgy there. As abbot, he governed his monks by the rule of humility and the principle: "Pray and work!" his efforts were: "Everything for God!" He was kind and generous and successfully fought against evil and the devil's temptations. He died on March 25, 1053. In the years 1078 - 1080, his son Jimám was the abbot of the Sázava Monastery.
This monastery was also supported by Oldrich's son Bretislav, only Bretislav's son Spytihnev had a government policy oriented towards strengthening his power, so he expelled the Slavic monks from the monastery. And only Vratislav I, the Bohemian king, returned them there."
There is another legend associated with Procopius, and it is how people saw him plowing with the devil harnessed to the plow, driven by the cross in the saint's right hand. That is why he is often depicted with the devil on a chain, at his feet or in a harness.
However, he was canonized in 1204, by Pope Innocent III. in Rome. Attributes: rebukes, a chained devil, a deer, a doe and a hermit.
What might Saint Prokop have looked like? This is what the 13th-century Legend of Saint Prokop tells us. We will read the excerpt informing us about Prokop's physical appearance in the original, somewhat with pleasure that we don't even have to translate this seven-hundred-year-old Czech...
He was a tall man by birth, broad in the shoulders and in the body.
He was very strong in the thighs, but full in the rest of his body.
He had a rather large head and a rather white face.
He had a rather large forehead, a rather black beard as well.
His hair was black to the middle of his back and his appearance was bright white.
He had a gracious speech and a heart unfeigned towards anyone.
He wore a few clothes, one skirt and a hood.
He wore a scapular for work; that was his clothes...
Why do we celebrate St. Procopius only on July 4th?
St. Procopius died on 25 March and is also mentioned in the martyrology on this day. Since the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord takes precedence on that day, it is Lent and we are celebrating a national saint, his celebration was allowed in our country on today's summer day, i.e. the day when he was to be canonized: on Sunday 4 July 1204 in Bohemia under the leadership of the papal legate Cardinal Guido.
Procopius' funeral took place in the Sázava monastery, but his remains were ceremonially transferred to the Church of All Saints in Prague in
1588. Emperor Rudolf Il and Prague Archbishop Martin Medek also attended the transfer of the remains on 28-29 May. However, according to the findings of Professor Emanuel Vicek, these are the remains of four people, none of whom was Saint Procopius. However, the skull fragments kept in the reliquary in the same church belonged to Procopius.
The greater part of his body, originally buried in the Sazava monastery, is still awaiting discovery.
How St. Procopius Plowed with the Devil - Legends of the Devil's Furrow
Relief of the legend of plowing with the devil in the church of St. Procopius in Chotoun
You probably already know the legend of Saint Prokop. The legends differ somewhat, so we bring you different versions: The hermit Prokop took refuge in a cave on the banks of the Sázava River and encountered the devil during one of his journeys.
Thanks to his moral superiority, he overpowered him and harnessed him to a plow. With this strange team, he plowed a deep furrow from Cerny Budy around Lipany to Chotoun, driving the devil with a cross instead of a whip. About a third of the way, the plow broke off on a stone, St. Prokop made the devil replace it, and at this place today we can find the village of Radlice. When they were in the middle of the journey, the devil began to wail that he could no longer go, and asked how far he was to the destination. Prokop answered him with a smile that there was still a "good half" of the journey left. The village of Dobré Pole, also called Dobrá Pul by the locals, stands in these places today. Finally, a deep furrow was plowed all the way to Chotoun. Even before Prokop released the battered hellhound, the rarach had to scrape all the mud from the plow. And there was so much of it that a mound was formed, which is called Homole among the people. Prokop stuck the father into the ground near this mound. A mighty oak tree soon grew from it, which could still be seen in the village at the beginning of the 20th century, when its withered trunk was felled by a strong wind.
According to archaeological findings, the Devil's Furrow could be a prehistoric and early medieval trade route that proceeded from the Elbe region across the Sázava upstream of the Blanica River to southern Bohemia and from there to the Danube. It is mostly plowed, you will not find it in the field.
This is how the legend of the origin of the so-called Devil's Furrow was born. In reality, it is a prehistoric path along which people probably transported limestone excavated from the nearby Bílá skála quarry long ago, and folk imagination even goes so far as to attribute the creation of the bed of the Sázava River itself to Prokop, this "holy plowman". He is said to have plowed this too with the devil harnessed to the plow. And because the devil, driven by the cross, twisted and turned and dodged the saint immediately to the right and immediately to the left, the riverbed of the Sázava is therefore so devilishly twisted. In Lede nad Sázavou, it is said that the devil was so angry that he fled to the bank of the Sázava and threw huge boulders into it, and thus the Creatures were created.
Klára Trnková
Another version of the legend, the one with the devil's ass:
As a young boy, Prokop went with his cart to the forest for firewood. One day, a devil met him, and no, no, he would not let him alone. As the devil tempted him, he broke his wheel. The future saint did not hesitate and, with "pious words and vigorous actions," forced the devil to stand in the place of the broken wheel and carry the fully loaded cart to Prokop's farm.
When they entered the gate, he pressed the devil's cart against a stone bollard, until Satan roared and grinned so terribly that the servant standing next to him was hit by a splinter. However, a monument to him remained in the yard: "The imprint of the devil's ass in the bollard." Until the mid-20th century, people in the village showed this stone, which was always wreathed and painted red during pilgrimages. What happened to the devil later? It is said that Saint Prokop harnessed him to a plow and with this strange team he plowed a deep furrow from Cerny Budy around Lipany to Chotoun, driving the devil with a cross instead of a whip. About a third of the way, the plowshare broke off on a rock. Saint Prokop persuaded the devil to replace it. Today, we can find the village of "Radlice" at this place.
Original Czech language article:
🕆 Svaté nebe - sv. Prokop. 📅 Kalendář svatých. 😇 Čeští světci - historie, zajímavosti a legendy s obrázky svatých. ☘️