František Dvorník

Saint Adalbert

In Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia, and Hungary, Adalbert's name is again uttered with fervent hope. His life and the centuries-long development of nations equally dear
to St. Adalbert show that the only hope for their salvation is mutual support in the struggle
for freedom and their close cooperation in the future. Let the legacy of St. Adalbert, the patron saint of Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, and Prussians, be a lesson and a warning
for us for the times to come!

May Saint Adalbert be our beacon safeguarding the future of the small nations of Central Europe, which, through misunderstanding of their own historical development and national resentment, have so often been at the mercy of their powerful neighbors.

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Petr Bahník

Pax Christiana of St. Slavník

In political science reflections intended for lay readers, various models of state and international legal systems are often simplified and put in stark contrast - such as democracy versus totalitarianism, absolutism versus constitutionalism, or centralization versus decentralization. Although such simplifications may serve as witty bon mots, they do not contribute
to understanding the real processes and ideas; on the contrary, they obscure them. The same approach may be also encountered in contemporary interpretations of the idea of cooperation among European nations and the history of that idea. Such interpretations usually merely reflect the attitude of a particular author towards today's European Union. They either overlook
the enormous ideological and fundamental differences and evaluate every historical attempt
at European integration positively - from Charlemagne's coronation to Naumann's Mitteleuropa - or, conversely, they vigorously reject any closer European cooperation as a "tainted source"
and a parallel with Hitler's Third Reich.

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Radomír Malý

Saint Adalbert - the common patron of Central European nations

Saint Adalbert is said to have been "the first Czech of European significance". During
the communist era, this statement could often be heard from Oto Mádr, the Czech Catholic theologian and long-time prisoner of the communist regime, at underground seminars held
in private flats at that time. It is now repeated as a mantra by intellectuals from both ecclesiastical and secular circles. They would hold wrong anyone who would object to this designation and claim that the second bishop of Prague was not the first Czech of European significance. But the problem lies elsewhere. We need to ask: What kind of Europe was it then - and what kind of Europe is it today?

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Petr Charvát

The life and work of Saint Adalbert

As far as we are aware, Adalbert, the son of Slavník, scholar, Bishop of Prague, monk, missionary, martyr, and saint (956? - 23 April 997) was born in Libice, the seat of his father Slavník. There have been long debates over which estates the Slavník's sons held.
Today, it is generally believed that they had a small estate in the eastern part of Central Bohemia, approximately in between the Poděbrady and Čáslav districts. We do not know
the reasons for the prominent social position of the Slavník's family, but what we do know
is that they were culturally oriented towards the north-west and north of Europe. We are not able to clearly interpret a note that Adalbert was somehow related to the Saxon imperial family. That note can be found in a legend about two saints (St. Wenceslas and St. Ludmila), which probably originated at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries and was recounted by Christian.

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