Ecumenical prayer (for the victims of totalitarian regimes)

November 17, 2011 18:00

Mons. Dominik Duka OP, Archbishop of Prague, Mene Tekel, the Metropolitan Chapter of St. Vitus in Prague and the Ecumenical Council of Churches invite you to celebrate the national holiday on the struggle for freedom and democracy to the ecumenical prayer for the victims of totalitarian regimes.

Ecumenical prayer for the victims of totalitarian regimes associated with the award ceremony of St. Wenceslas medals and concert performing Mozart's Requiem.


Performing 
Prague Cathedral Choir and Orchestra 
Dagmar Vankatova - soprano, Edita Adler - alt 
Vaclav Lemberk - tenor, Thomas Hal - bass 
Conductor Joseph Kšica
katedralasvatehovita.cz/cs/hotnew/17-11-2011/ekumenicka-modlitba-za-obeti-totalitnich-rezimu

Saint Vitus' Cathedral (Czech: Katedrála svatého Víta) is as a Roman Catholic cathedral in Prague, and the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. The full name of the cathedral is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, this cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. The cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.
The current cathedral is the third of a series of religious buildings at the site, all dedicated to St. Vitus. The first church was an early Romanesque rotunda founded by Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia in 925. This patron saint was chosen because Wenceslaus had acquired a holy relic — the arm of St. Vitus — from Emperor Henry I. It is also possible that Wenceslaus, wanting to convert his subjects to Christianity more easily, chose a saint whose name sounds very much like the name of Slavic solar deity Svantevit. Two religious populations, the increasing Christian and decreasing pagan community, lived simultaneously in Prague castle at least until the 11th century.
In the year 1060, as the bishopric of Prague was founded, prince Spytihněv II embarked on building a more spacious church, as it became clear the existing rotunda was too small to accommodate the faithful. A much larger and more representative romanesque basilica was built in its spot. Though still not completely reconstructed, most experts agree it was a triple-aisled basilica with two choirs and a pair of towers connected to the western transept. The design of the cathedral nods to Romanesque architecture of the Holy Roman Empire, most notably to the abbey church in Hildesheim and the Speyer Cathedral. The southern apse of the rotunda was incorporated into the eastern transept of the new church because it housed the tomb of St. Wenceslaus, who had by now become the patron saint of the Czech princes. A bishop's mansion was also built south of the new church, and was considerably enlarged and extended in the mid 12th-century.