Středověký kult sv. Mořice v Čechách a na Moravě
The medieval cult of St Maurice in Bohemia and Moravia

Summary/Abstract: The cult of St Maurice apparently penetrated into the Bohemian state from the monastery of St Maurice in Niederaltaich. The chapel in the episcopal palace at Prague Castle might have been consecrated to him under Bishop Severus (Šebíř) (1030–1067). The earliest church of St Maurice in Moravia was built in Olomouc apparently under Bishop Jan (1063–1085), the second appeared in Kroměříž at the initiative of Bishop of Olomouc Bruno of Schauenburg shortly before 1262 for the new collegiate chapter. In terms of Bohemian fine arts, St Maurice is depicted in several liturgical manuscripts, namely the antiphonary from Bílina (Prague, after 1370), in Speculum sanctorale by Bernard Gui (Roudnice nad Labem, end of the 14th century) and in the Martyrology of Usuard from Gerona (Prague, around 1410). He further appears in the panel painting by Master Theodoric at Castle Karlštejn (1359–1365), in the mural in the castle chapel at Zvíkov (1446–1451) and in the church in Mouřenec in the Bohemian Forest (1310–1320). From the time of the King Vladislaus (1162), Maurice’s reliquaries–his arm and sword–were deposited in the cathedral in Prague. Emperor Charles IV had the imperial treasury deposited at Castle Karlštejn in 1350, a component of which was another sword of St Maurice. It was displayed every year on the large square of the New Town of Prague during the showing of the relicts of the Holy Lance and Nails of the Lord. In the second half of the 14th century, the popularity of the Christian name Maurice rapidly increased in Bohemia, which is proved by the preserved lists of the ordinands of the Prague diocese. The transport of the body of St Sigismund, founder of the monastery of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, to the cathedral in Prague in 1365 by Charles IV was also important for the cult of St Maurice in Bohemia. The very next year, the Prague synod declared Sigismund to be one of the main Bohemian patron saints. The fine arts prove the connection of both saints in Bohemia in the monastery of the Augustinians in Třeboň, where a cycle of murals from the life of St Sigismund are in the vicinity of the chapel of St Maurice (1370–1390). Although the cult of St Maurice was not one of the most significant in the Czech lands, it was not negligible. Moreover, it became popular in the pre-Hussite period here to a certain extent, because the name Maurice become common in the Bohemian population.

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