ABOUT THE BENEDICTINE ABBEY OF ST. PETER AND PAUL IN RAJHRAD
The Old Slavonic Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and Paul under the special patronage of St. Cyril and Methodius, which is located on both St. James and Cyril- Methodius pilgrimage routes, can be found in the Czech Republic, approx. 10 km south of Brno in the direction of Vienna.
The history of this abbey, in whose church there is a statue of the Old Mother of God of Rajhrad (her crown was blessed by St. Pope John Paul II on 1990 in Velehrad), dates back to the Great Moravian period.
It is very likely that a monastery of the Old Slavic (Eastern) rite stood here since the ninth century, in which St. Prokop himself was said to have stayed for some time. According to the so-called Břevnov Falsum, on October 18, 1045, Prince Břetislav I donated a cell (hermitage) founded in 1028 “on an abandoned castle called Rajhrad” and on 1048 the Benedictines from Břevnov settled here. This turned the cell into a real monastery, depended on the Břevnov monastery in many respects. This dependence lasted until 1813, when the provostship of Rajhrad was elevated to an independent abbey.
The first Rajhrad Benedictines, whose community numbered an estimated ten monks, fully in the order´s motto “ora et labora” – “pray and work” devoted themselves mainly to settlement (e.g. clearing forests, establishing new settlements, running various craft workshops and a brewery), fertilization the surrounding lands (they planted new fields, hop fields and vineyards) and healing (they grew various medicinal herbs, established a hospital with a pharmacy, provided home for the poor…). They also founded the Rajhrad scriptorium, in which they copied or even created new books, and established the famous monastery school.
Until the end of 17th century, the Rajhrad monastery, standing in the middle of a swampy landscape, preserved its original Romanesque form. At the beginning of the 18th century, the unsatisfactory condition of the monastery buildings gave rise to the construction of a completely new, more spacious and a more suitable monastery.
The new baroque and much larger monastic complex according to the project of Giovanni Santini Aichl was built by the architect Franz Benedict Klíčník from Brno, contracted by the provost of Rajhrad Antonius Pirmus OSB. However, before the large-scale reconstruction could even begin, a large area of the unstable subsoil had to be stabilized (as was already the case in the past). For this reason, more than a thousand of alder and oak logs were driven into the ground and the space among them was filled with broken stones and bricks from the original buildings.
After dispelling the modern threat of the monastery´s abolition during the reign of Joseph II and its subsequent secularization (i.e. dissolution) during the reign of Franz I for economic reasons, a period of spectacular, not only material prosperity begun.
The Rajhrad Monastery became an important center of education and art (in the second half of the 19th century, the painter Josef Zelený from Rajhrad and the painter Antonín Slavíček worked here), and also a leading scientific and historical workplace. Of the total number of approximately twenty-two monks, most of them worked in the spiritual administration of the parish of Rajhrad or the incorporated parishes: Domašov, Ostrovačice and Syrovice. Some of them stayed in Brno, where they taught at the Institute of Theology (later the Bishop´s Seminary) and the Benedicitine Printing House (later the Civic Printing House).
During the second stage of the so-called “K Action,” the Rajhrad Benedictines were forced to end their historical, pastoral, historical, cultural and scientific mission. During the night of May 3-4, 1950, all the monks and their abbot had to take refuge to internment. The monastery was originally supposed to belong to the Psychiatric Hospital in Prague-Bohnice, but due to its unsatisfactory hygienic conditions and possible adaptation costs, it was eventually assigned to the Ministry of National Defense, starting from July 17, 1950. In 1997 – that´s 47 years later – it was possible to restore the oldest Moravia´s Benedictine community in Rajhrad. It still has the same task – to live the Benedictine spirituality – pray daily and work honestly.
On the grounds of the monastery, there is the largest monastic library in Moravia with approximately 64,000 volumes. You can find here rare manuscripts, original books, maps, educational literature etc. here of various origin and genres, written and published in several languages. You can visit both the library (called The Memorial of Literature) and the monastery´s area all year round.
All of you who visit Rajhrad, admire not only the beauty of this place, but also do not forget to enrich your soul, ask for the much-needed blessing and gain strength for the following days of your earthly journey.
 Rajhrad Abbey 01 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 02 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 03 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 04 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 05 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 06 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 07 |
 Rajhrad Abbey 08 |
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