Monks murdered by 17th century mob beatified in Prague

A group of Franciscan monks who were killed by a Prague mob in the 17th century were beatified in a ceremony at the city’s St. Vitus’ Cathedral on Saturday. The beatification – the first to take place in the Prague archdioceses, according to a representative of the Roman Catholic Church – accompanied a mass celebrated by the Vatican-based Cardinal Angelo Amato. Fourteen Franciscans were put to death at a Prague monastery in 1611 after the city’s inhabitants suspected them of collaborating with an invading army. The head of the Czech Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop Dominik Duka, said the killings had arisen as the result of a moral crisis in Europe and could therefore serve as a warning today.