Oto Mádr

Mons. ThDr. Oto Mádr, dr. h. c. (* 15. února 1917, Praha – 27. února 2011, Praha) was a Czech Roman Catholic priest, theologian, university professor, and for long time a political prisoner and the chief editor of Theological Texts [Teologické texty].

Life

He studied on the Arcibishop’s high-school in the Prague-Bubeneč and the continued at the Teologickou fakultu Univerzity Karlovy (1936–1939). He was ordained as a priest in 1942 and then he worked as a parish priest. After the end of The Second World War he continued in his study of the moral theology on the Gregorian university in Rome (1948–1949). After that he returned to Czechoslovakia, where he got the title of The Doctor of Theology for the Latin work on the internal evil in the works of Suarez. After that he was very active in the management of his paris, but also as a high-school teach and overall significant person in the circles of the Catholic Action. He was a youth pastor in the church of The Most Holy Savior. in 1950[1] He was arrested in the May 1951 and sentenced in the case of miscarriage of justice for the alleged espionage for Vatican and organization of the illegal religious activity for the life imprisonment.

After release on probation in 1966 he worked in various blue-collar jobs. He returned briefly in 1968 to the Charles University School of Theology and he was fully rehabilitated in 1970 (his rehabilitation was cancelled in 1975, and renewed in 1990). He was pushed away to the parish in the border area in 1970 (Dolní Žandov near Cheb), and he returned to Prague only as a pensioner in 1978.

However he certainly did not retire from his theological work. He was one of the main organizers of the Catholic samizdat, he continued in his collaboration with the exile, he maintained relationships with the foreign visitors, he participated in preparation of the secretly ordained priests and in the organization of the theological colloquia at home. He was one of the main advisers of Františka Tomáška (already since 1968). He wrote for him couple of fundamental texts, which Tomášek published under his name.[2]

Mádr was publishing journal Theological Texts [Teologické texty] since 1978, first as a samizdat and then after Velvet Revolution as a normal revue. He published tens of books in samizdat, mainly translations.

He returned to the Charles University School of Theology with his friend J. Zvěřina in 1990, but after the death of this friend (in the same year) he was pushed away again. He returned permanently only after the change in the leadership of the school (2002). He got a honorary degree in 1991 on University of Bonn and he was awarded The Order of T. G. Masaryk III. class in 1997. He was a canon of the Vyšehrad chapter since 1999.

Work

Aside from hundreds of articles, reviews and specialized essays in journals and compilations in the Czech Republic as well as abroad he also published these books:

Odkazy

References

  1. Towards the fullness of life [K plnosti života] – TV document from the cycle Paths of faith [Cesty víry] on Oto Mádr (11. března 2012, čas 5:20)
  2. Petr Blažek: Operation “Teolog”, 2011

Literatura

Externí odkazy

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