Adolf Kajpr

In the autumn of 2017 the Superior General of the Society of Jesus Arturo Sosa SJ granted the request of the superior of the Czech province Josef Stuchlý SJ and gave consent to the commencement of the beatification process of Adolf Kajpr. For the first stage, which happens at the level of the diocese, Prof. Vojtěch Novotný from the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University was appointed vice postulator. He turned to the Prague archbishop with a request to commence examining of the life and martyrdom of the servant of God Adolf Kajpr. The purpose of beatification is to celebrate the Tri-personal God, to thank him and to introduce to him this beatified person as his intercessor and an example of a successful Christian life. The examining itself was inaugurated on 22 September 2019 in the end of Holy Mass during which the relics of Adolf Kajpr were deposited in St. Ignatius Church in Prague.

From the post-war period there are a total of 104 speeches preserved and they are presented in the book by NOVOTNÝ, Vojtěch. Ministerium verbi: Kázání Adolfa Kajpra o mši svaté, o posledních věcech člověka a o rozličných aspektech víry (Ministerium Verbi: Sermon by Adolf Kajpr about Holy Mass, Four Last Thinks of Man and Various Aspects of Faith). Prague: Karolinum, 2017.

Richard Čemus SJ (priest, professor of theology), 2013: “Kajpr’s story is a story of evidence for Christ as brought to the extreme. Such martyrdom is not only a matter of the past: Even nowadays it does not lose anything of its brightness, purity and urgent appeal.” “All those who knew him agree unanimously that Kajpr lived and died in fama sanctitatis et fama martyrii (with the reputation of holiness and martyrdom)”.

A list of Kajpr’s works, which includes mainly contributions to the magazines he edited, can be found in the book NOVOTNÝ, Vojtěch. Maximální křesťanství: Adolf Kajpr SJ a list Katolík (Maximum Christianity: Adolf Kajpr SJ an Catholic periodical. Prague: Karolinum, 2012, p. 266–291 (Bibliography of the periodical Katolík: list pro kulturu a život z víry (1945–1948) (Catholic: a Periodical for Culture and Life from Faith). In the electronic form it is available here. http://karolinum.cz/ink2_stat/index.jsp?include=podrobnosti&id=7848&zalozka=6)

Calls for beatification began directly after Kajpr’s death. Pope John Paul II himself presented him as one of the monks who succeeded in “setting an example of great dignity by living in accordance with Christian virtues” (26 April 1997) even under the conditions of Nazi concentration camps, and saying that “he died with the reputation of holiness” (20 May 1995).

In the following years, the trial was repeatedly re-examined. The justice continually changed its decision according to the changing political environment. The final decision was made on the 16th of December, 1993 when the court decided that Kajpr was entitled to legal exoneration as he had been imprisoned illegally. He was thus officially declared innocent.

Jan Formánek SJ (a priest, Kajpr’s colleague in the order), 1978: “Respect for this Father is spreading, not only among his Brothers but also among those who knew him from his Apostolic activities at the pulpit in St. Ignatius Church, or as an excellent editor of the magazine for young people Dorost (The Youth) or the Catholic monthly Posel Božského Srdce Páně (Messenger of the Devine Lord’s Heart) and later also as a Catholic journalist and editor of the Catholic weekly Katolík (Catholic).”

On the 13th of September, 1959 he suffered a heart attack during his work and was transported to the prison hospital. Then on the 17th of September, 1959 he suffered a second heart attack and died. He was 57 years old. After consulting with their superiors, the prison administration decided to bury him in the local cemetery in a grave marked only with his number. Only later, during Prague Spring – the temporary liberalisation of the political system – were his remains exhumed (on 24 October 1968) and moved to Prague and, on the 25th of October, buried in the tomb of the order in Vyšehrad.

Václav Feřt SJ (priest and former superior of Kajpr), 1959: ”A person believing with his whole heart and as pious as a child, a stirring preacher and original writer, fearless editor and dutiful patriot. [...] His life and especially his clerical life was really a conciliatory sacrifice. More than half of his prolific clerical life he spent in prison. [...] The fire started in his heart never went out. It consumed him fully at the altar of sacrifice. I believe that our dear Father Kajpr was transferred from this purgative fire of his long-time sacrifice as a faithful follower of Christ to the bright fire of the Holy Spirit and God’s love, where he will be our powerful intercessor together with the other saints and beatified priests who have come to the Lord before us. Rest in peace and plead for the Lord’s favour!”

On 14 March 1950 Kajpr was arrested on the instruction of the Minister of Justice and the chairman of the State Office for Religious Matters, Alexej Čepička. They wanted to demonstrate through these orders that the Church is a dangerous enemy of the state that must be opposed. The process was also to prepare an intervention against all male monastic orders (so-called Operation K). Kajpr was chosen for his fame and for his criticism of communist ideology and practices.

Like the Nazis, the communist also arrested him for his “seditious” articles against the people’s democratic system and for his “subversive” homilies, as well as “espionage” for the Vatican. The trial in the case of Machalka and others was held from the 31st of March to the 5th of April, 1950. Kajpr’s behaviour was courageous, truthful and composed. He was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment along with other additional sentences.

The periodical had a great impact on the way in which worshippers in post-war Czechoslovakia perceived the development of the increasing power of the communist party. Although Kajpr himself was a man of considerable social consciousness, the character of that era forced him to polemize Marxism-Leninism. He warned openly that any atheistic humanism must lead to concentration camps, prisons, executions and many other forms of persecution. As early as February 1948, the Katolík (Catholic) periodical was declared anti-government and reactionist, its permission to publish revoked, and thereby ceased to exist.

On 29 April 1945, Dachau was liberated. Less than a month later, on 21 May 1945, Kajpr was transported to his homeland and to St. Ignatius Church in Prague. For his dedication and perseverance, on 12 August 1947 he received two state awards from the president of the republic.

On 15 August 1945, Kajpr took a fourth oath of the order and became professor of the Society of Jesus. He was a well-known preacher and leader of spiritual restorations and exercitations. He resumed the publication of Dorost, although he shortly thereafter also became editor of Katolík: list pro kulturu a život z víry (Catholic: a Periodical of Culture and Life from Faith), a magazine which, from 1945 to 1948, became his chief platform, besides the pulpit, for spreading the Gospel, his conception of Christian life and apostolate, as well as his commentary on the current society.

He pointed out that the only real leader of humanity is Christ and that a Christian is supposed to be on the side of those defenders of good, justice, law and equality for all people and nations, even when called to love one’s homeland first and foremost. It was for these reasons that in February 1941, he opposed the situation when collaborators used Saint Wenceslas to justify the affiliation of Czechs with the Reich. This attracted the attention of the Gestapo under whose orders the magazine was discontinued.

On 20 March 1941 Kajpr was arrested for writing “seditious” and “spiteful” articles against the Reich. First, he was imprisoned in Pankrác and later in the Terezín concentration camp which included a “break” while working in a group that reconstructed a building and garden in Nová Huť (now Nižbor) near Beroun for the recreation of the Gestapo members.

After a temporary return to Pankrác in September 1941, he was transported to the Mauthausen concentration camp where he worked in the infamously dreadful quarry. In May 1942 he was transported to the Dachau concentration camp where he lived until the end of the war in the so-called priest block. He worked in the plantation group among other assignments. He was able to maintain correspondence with Prague Jesuits.

The editors Alois Koláček SJ and Adolf Kajpr SJ were reproved repeatedly by the Gestapo. In March, 1940, Koláček was arrested and in April Dorost was discontinued. Kajpr, however, cared so much about young people that, without permission from the offices, he began publishing Nové směry (New Directions) magazine, encouraging his young readers and listeners toward faith, hope and authentic patriotism.

In 1939, Dorost (The Youth) magazine outraged the German invaders when, on the title page, it published a photomontage depicting Christ-Herakles conquering the three-headed dog Cerberus who guarded the kingdom of darkness and death. In the mouth of this accomplice of Death was a swastika, the symbol of Nazism.

From 1937, Kajpr lived and worked in St Ignatius Church in Prague. He fulfilled his obligations to the community of the order, performed the duties of pastor and lead exercitations. He taught Christian philosophy at the Prague Archdiocese School of Theology (1940–41). His most influential activities were in the field of journalism, serving as the editor of four magazines of the order as well as offering his own contributions: Obrození (Revival) (1939–40), Dorost (The Youth) (1939–40), Nové směry (New Directions) (1940–41) and Posel Božského Srdce Páně (The Messenger of Devine Lord’s Heart) (1937–41).

After the sixth class, he joined the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, serving at Velehrad from 1928 to 1930. During this time, he also prepared for the school leaving exam, which he passed with honours. On the 15th of August, 1930 he took the oaths of the order in Velehrad. Between 1930 and 1932 he studied philosophy in Egenhoven (now part of Leuven) in Belgium, and from 1932 to 1936 he studied theology in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was consecrated on the 26th of July, 1935. Several days later he celebrated his first mass in St. Ignatius Church in Prague and All Saints Church in Bratronice. Immediately after the final exams he was sent to the third probation between 1936 and 1937 to Paray-le-Monial in France. After his formation was finished, he returned to his homeland.

Adolf Kajpr SJ (5 July 1902, Hředle – 17 September 1959, Leopoldov) was a Czech Catholic priest, Jesuit and publisher of Catholic printed matter. As an ardent preacher, confessor, spiritual leader and journalist, he commented not only on fundamental topics of the Catholic faith but also on current social and political issues. For his opinions he was imprisoned by the Nazis (1941–1945) and the communists (1950–1959). After nine years in the communist prison, he died at the age of 57 “with a reputation of holiness and martyrdom”.

Adolf Kajpr was born on the 5th of July, 1902 in Hředle. He was christened on the 12th of July, 1902 in St Laurence Church in nearby Žebrák. His parents Adolf (1859–1906) and Anna (maiden name Kytková) (1861–1905) rented an inn and butcher’s in Hředle. When his mother died, his father returned with his sons to his native village of Bratronice, where he also died soon after. The orphaned boys were looked after by their good but strict Aunt Klára along with her husband Josef Brůžek. Adolf was brought up in the Christian faith. Between 1908 and 1916 he studied at primary school and but soon left due to financial difficulties at home. He worked as a day labourer, learned the cobbler’s trade and eventually became an apprentice in nearby Roučmíd’s mill. Yet showing an interest in his studies, he also prepared to study at secondary grammar school. From 1924 to 1926 he did military service in the Czechoslovak Army. Then at the age of 24 he was enrolled in Archiepiscopal Secondary Grammar School in Prague run by the Jesuits.