„Co jsou svatí anjelé, jak jsou na lidi laskaví“. K tematizaci anděla v české literatuře doby barokní
„Who are the holy angels, how kind they are to people“: the Themes of the Angel in the Czech Literature of the Baroque Period

Summary/Abstract: Using two examples of Czech texts of the Baroque period the article shows the way how the theme of angels and respect for the angels was used for religious educational goals. Theatrum divinum (1616) by a non-Catholic - M. Konečný is an encyclopedia based on the vision of the world as God´s theatre which describes in six acts (6 days of the creation of the world) the form of macro- and microcosm. The belief in angels is the part of this vision and its interpretation is illustrated by biblical examples. The pious book about angels (1699) by the Jesuit V. B. Jestřábský captures the spirituality of the high Baroque period. It focuses on the mutual relationship between a man and an angel, cultivates the reader´s piousness, his ability to meditate and to pray. Jestřábský uses the contemporary idea of angels as man’s guides to life also in the allegorical prose Various visions of an ordinary peasant (1710 or 1716). The interpretation of the texts is based on a structural analysis and also attempts to characterize the author´s strategy aimed to deepen the knowledge of a model recipient’s faith. The contribution of this article can be seen in the fact that it analyses the chosen texts also from the point of view of their significant extra-literary function, it presents the methods and procedures that lead the model recipient to developing a respect for angels and thus to deepening his/ her piety too.

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