John Sarkander

Jan Sarkander (Czech and Polish: Jan Sarkander) (20 December 1576 – 17 March 1620 ) was a Polish-Czech Roman Catholic priest. Sarkander was married for a short period of time before he became widowed and pursued a path to the priesthood where he became active in defence of Catholicism during a period of anti-Catholic sentiment and conflict. He himself was arrested on false accusations as a means of silencing him and he refused to give in to his tormenters who tortured him for around a month before he died.

Pope Pius IX beatified Sarkander at Saint Peter's Basilica in 1860 and Pope John Paul II canonized him as a saint in 1995 on his visit to the Czech Republic.

Life Jan Sarkander was born on 20 December 1576 in Skoczów, Lands of Bohemian Crown (now in Poland) into a Silesian household as the son of Georg Mathias Sarkander and Helena Górecka. He had one sister and three other brothers: Nicholas (a priest himself), Paul, and Wenceslas. His father died in 1589 and so his family moved to Příbor. He continued theological studies in Austria from 1604. He later underwent theological studies at the University of Graz and passed his examinations on 21 December 1607. He was made a sub-deacon on 20 December 1608 and elevated into the diaconate on 16 March 1609. A 1715 etching depicting Sarkander's martyrdom encripted with "A sacred treasure of memory". On 22 December 1607, he received the minor orders from Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein. The bishop of Olomouc, Giovanni Battista Civalli, ordained him to the priesthood on 22 March 1609 in Graz. Sarkander was assigned to work as a parish priest in Boskovice and then sent to Holešov in 1616.

Jan Sarkander's relics lie in Saint Wenceslas Cathedral in Olomouc (Czech Republic).

A chapel dedicated to him stands at the top of Michael's Hill on the former site of the prison. The original torturing rack and Sarkander's gravestone are preserved here.