Fr. Paul Rousseau SAJM visited Czech and Slovak republic a month after his ordination by Bishop Williamson. He said Masses and gave his first blessings on Sunday in Prague and western Moravia, on Monday, feast of St. James, in southern Bohemia.
On 26th July, feast of St. Anne, he said a Mass at the Marian column in the Prague’s Old Town Square. The orginal column with statue of Our Lady on top and image of “Our Lady of Square” inside was erected in 1650 as a thanks to Our Lady, who helped to defend Old and New Town of Prague during Battle of Prague (1648) – c. 7500 Swedish protestant soldiers against c. 2000 Catholic defenders, aided by local militia and university students led by Jesuit priest Fr. Jiří Plachý holding the image of “Our Lady of Square”.
On 3 November 1918, a few days after Czechoslovak republic declared independence on Austro-Hungarian Empire, the column, considered a symbol of the monarchy and Catholicism, was torn down by leftist mob. In 1995, a group of Czech artists, started work on restoring the Marian column, however its restoration was rejected several times by Prague City Council. In January 2020, after many prayers, the reconstruction of the column was approved and on 15th August 202 its copletion was celebrated.
Thanks be to God that Fr. Rousseau was able to say the true Mass there, which has been attended by about a hundred of faithful not only from Prague. After the Mass Father had a conference about the Kingship of Christ and work of Fr. Denis Fahey, whose book of the same name was published for the first time in a Czech translation.
The same conference he had on the next day after Mass in western Slovakia.
