By Yutake Ishiguro, adapted by Stanley Sobari
BORN to a poor farming family in Husinec in what is now the
southern Czech Republic almost 650 years ago, Jan Hus remains a revered figure
among his countrymen.
The Jan Hus Museum sits at the end of the town’s central
street, which is lined with attractive buildings. Locals say the museum stands
on the site where the house Hus was born in once stood.
“His strength of will in sticking to what he believed was right
impresses us,” said museum curator Jana Maunova, 30, while standing before a
panel depicting Hus being burned at the stake for heresy.
The portraits and statues at the museum show Hus with
different visages. Some depict a round face, while others show him with a long
visage.
“When the Czech was ruled by the Hapsburg family of Austria,
all pictures and books related to Hus were burned. Nobody knows what he really
looked like,” Maunova said.
Hus grew up in Husinec, which sat on a salt trade route. Locals
said he left to study theology at Charles Univesity in Prague because he
yearned for the quiet life of a priest.
It is doubtful if he had any idea of at the stormy life that
awaited him.
Hus became a professor and then rector of Charles University.
during this period, he began to
sympathize with British preacher John Wycliffe’s critiques of the Roman
Catholic Church and he hoped to reform the church.
Hus harshly criticized the church’s practice of selling
pardons and trading benefices.
The church did not respond favorably to Hus’ criticisms. The
pope excommunicated him and he was put on trial for heresy in Konstanz,
Germany.
Hus refused to recant his views and was burned at the stake
in 1415. His last words are said to have been, “Truth prevails.”
In his sermons at a chapel in Prague, Hus used simple
language, which won him the support of the common people, as well as many
aristocrats.
After his execution, Hus’ followers launched a rebellion
that lasted about 20 years and became known as the Hussite Wars. The pop
organized a number of crusades to subjugate the Hussites, but the church’s
forces were defeated every time.
This period is remembered by the Czech people as a glorious
period in their history, when they defeated foreign interlopers.
However, when the Hapsburg family gained power over the
region in the 17th century, Hussites were persecuted and people were
forced to strictly obey the Roman Catholic Church. Hus and his reforms were
largely forgotten.
But when nationalist movements gained steam in the 19th
century, Hus was resurrected as a symbol of resistance against foreign rule. At
the beginning of the 20th century, Tomas Masaryk, the first
president of Czechoslovakia, made “Truth prevails” the national slogan.
Husinec Mayor Ludvik Friedberger, 62, said, “Hus would
likely have had complex feelings about he communist governments.”
A large bronze statue of Hus stands in the center of the
town. It was erected by the communist government during the Cold War.
“The Communist Party called Hus a revolutionary who fought
against the church’s power and promoted him as a comrade,” Friedberger said.
More than 20 years have passed since the communist regime
fell to a democratic revolution.
“I’m happy that Hus was from our hometown,” said Blanca
Chermakova, 34, who runs a pet food shop near where the statue stands.
Hus, who left Husinec seeking a quiet life, seems to have
finally found a place to rest.
Ishiguro is a correspondent in Geneva.
Czech pholospher Jan Hus pushed for reforms in the Catholic
Church and criticzed such practices as churches owning land. Us was burned at
the stake about 100 years before Martin Luther triggered church reform from
Germany with his 95 Theses in 1517.
