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Meditation and contemplative prayer are no longer solely the privilege of monks living in seclusion, consecrated individuals whose entire world is arranged to provide maximum space for spiritual life. This practice is spreading beyond the walls of monasteries and hermitages; many laypeople draw strength, inspiration, balance, spiritual grounding, and a source of spiritual energy from it. Their testimonies are compelling proof of the strong human need for inner life. Therefore, we asked a wide range of people, from bishops and nuns to doctors and students: Why do they meditate? How does meditation influence their faith and worldview? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay introduces Fortna, a former Convent of the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Prague's Hradčany, as an open space for spiritual exploration and tranquility. Alongside Carmelite spirituality, it hosts the chlapi.cz movement, marriage encounters, meditation courses and workshops, as well as various forms of self-discovery and individual seeking in silence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czech Congregation of Dominican Sisters was founded in Řepčín near Olomouc in 1889. The mission of the congregation was primarily to educate and bring up young girls in the spirit of St. Dominic. As the congregation was increasingly popular with the Czech population, the nuns had to rebuild and enlarge their monastery several times. The last reconstruction planned for autumn 1930 involved a new three‑storey building that was supposed to be situated next to the monastery. The Olomouc builder Jan Valihrach undertook the construction, however, shortly before its completion the building suddenly collapsed. The builder Valihrach, along with the designer Josef Derrich, was accused of the collapse. While Valihrach was found guilty of the collapse of the building, Derrich’s prosecution was stopped due to his death. Valihrach denied his guilt, however, and subsequently brought a lawsuit against the Dominican Convention of Řepčín. He demanded a payment of the agreed sum for the building and also a payment of other debts from the past that had not been paid by the nuns. The nuns counter-sued and demanded compensation from Valihrach for damages caused by the collapse of the building. After examining the evidence and questioning the witnesses of both involved parties the courts concluded that both the builder Valihrach and the deceased designer Derrich were guilty of the collapse. In the case of the designer Derrich, the court recognized him as the implicit representative of the Řepčín convent of Dominican nuns at the construction. The judges ruled that the Dominican nuns should pay Valihrach just half of the requested compensation, which amounted to 333,300 crowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the description and comparison of the Nazi and Communist persecution of the nuns of the Czech Congregation of Dominican Sisters. The issue is presented both in the form of forced labour affecting the whole community and in the investigation, trial and imprisonment of individual nuns of the Congregation during the Nazi occupation and the Communist regime between 1938 and 1989. Particular attention is paid to the motivations behind the acts sanctioned and their eventual publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the first years of the communist dictatorship as reflected in the Congregation Chronicle of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo, placing the topic in the context of the relationship between the state and the church in the mid-20th century and in the context of the nuns’ work in health and social institutions. It also investigates the circumstances in which the chronicle was created within the religious community as a unique historiographical account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper examines a several-year discord of Arnošt of Pardubice, the first archbishop of Prague, with the Benedictine nuns of St. George’s abbey at Prague Castle led by their Abbess Agnes. The conflict, which culminated in an interdict imposed on the abbey, could only be reconciled after the intervention of Emperor Charles IV in 1355. The author gathers all available information on these events and evaluates their consequences for the convent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her letter, the abbess of the CzechGerman Abbey in Venio describes the reality of a 21st century nun who, like anybody else, struggles with emotions including emotion of anger. She refuses the idealisation of nuns as quiet, selfsacrificing and obedient but she speaks about practical tools for work with anger. For her personally, then, it is the prayer of psalms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editors have interviewed a number of people who live a "hidden life" in different ways (a Little Sister of Jesus, NonCatholic bishop who lives in a family, a contemplative nun, a Discalced Carmelite, a consecrated person living in a world). They were asked about the hidden life as a contemporary Christian ideal; how they actually live this way of life, about the relationship between the hidden way of life and passivity and lack of responsibility on the one hand between this way of life an readiness to bear Christian witness on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]