St. John Sarkander, the patron saint of Moravia, together with St. Zdislava of Lemberk, is one of the “youngest” Czech saints. He was tortured to death in the former prison in Olomouc, today’s Sarkander’s Chapel, because he did not want to divulge confessional secrets. The canonization celebrations took place in May 1995 in Olomouc in the presence of Pope John Paul II. The remains of St. John Sarkander are kept in the Cathedral of St. Wenceslas.
St. John Sarkander was born in 1576 in Skočov in the Těšín region. He went to study with the Jesuits in Olomouc, where he was made Master of Philosophy in 1603. In 1607, he was ordained a minor priest and became a parish priest in Holešov on the estate of Ladislav Popel of Lobkowitz. Sarkander was Lobkowitz’s confessor, which proved fatal to him. He was accused of having arranged, as Lobkowitz’s envoy, the invasion of Moravia by the Cossacks on his way to Poland. Sarkander refused to divulge the confessional secret, so he was interrogated and tortured. During the last interrogation, he was stretched on a sling, subjected to burning with torches on his sides, and finally left half-dead to his fate. He died on 17 March 1620.
He was buried in the now defunct Church of Our Lady of the Forecastle. After the dissolution of this church in 1784, his remains were transferred to the Church of St. Michael. In 1860, the remains, including the skull, were placed in St. Wenceslas Cathedral. In the same year, Sarkander was declared blessed and canonized by Pope John Paul II in May 1995. A new chapel was built at the beginning of the 20th century from the city prison where Jan Sarkander was tortured, and a part of the torture chamber with a scraper is still preserved in the lower part of the chapel.
