Zdislava of Lemberk

Zdislava Berka, TOSD (also known as Zdislava of Lemberk; 1220–1252 ) was a Czech Dominican tertiary and philanthropist. She was a wife, mother, and one of the earliest lay Dominicans. She was canonized in 1995.

Life Zdislava was from the town of Litoměřice in what is now the northern part of the Czech Republic, to a Bohemian noble family. Her devout mother was born in Sicily and came to Bohemia as "a member of the retinue" of Queen Kunigunde. During her childhood, Zdislava went with her mother to visit Kunigunde, who probably first exposed Zdislava to the Dominicans. She might have met Ceslaus and Hyacinth of Poland. giving money away to charity at a young age. When she was seven years old, she ran away from her home into the forest to pursue a life of prayer, penance, and a solitary life as a hermit. Her family found her, though, and forced her to return home. When she was 15, her family forced her to marry, despite her objections, the wealthy nobleman Havel of Markvartice, who owned Lemberk Castle, a fortified castle in a frontier area that was occasionally attacked by Mongol invaders. Zdislava and Havel had four children.

Ellsberg reported that Zdislava donated to hospitals and built churches with her own hands. and was prepared to eject the man, but found a figure of the crucified Christ there instead. Writer Joan Carroll Cruz called the incident a miracle, She is the patron saint of Bohemia, of difficult marriages, and of those who are ridiculed for their piety.

In May 2026, her skull was stolen by an unnamed 35-year-old man who had openly objected to its public display. The theft occurred on Tuesday, May 12, before Mass, during a period when the alarm system had been switched off. The man broke into a glass reliquary case at the Basilica of Saints Lawrence and Zdislava in Jablonné v Podještědí.

After the skull was recovered, authorities discovered that the burglar had encased it in concrete and allegedly planned to throw it into a nearby river. Investigators stated that failure to identify the suspect within a day could have jeopardized the recovery effort. The skull is currently in the care of professionals who are carefully attempting to remove the concrete.