The Basilica in Velehrad – the church of the Solun Brothers

Velehrad, a town in the southernpart of the Czech Republic, is famous amongst Catholics, including those from Poland, primarily for the monastic basilica dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saints Cyril and Methodius located there. We have already mentioned it in connection with scenes from the life of St Hedwig of Silesia .

It is important to note that, for a very long time, the Velehrad church has been and remains associated with the Sołun Brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who are regarded as the first apostles of the Slavic peoples. Tradition holds that, in the Middle Ages, Velehrad was the centre of the Great Moravian Empire and the episcopal see of St Methodius. Neither historical sources nor archaeological excavations confirm this information. It remains a fact, however, that this place continues to attract crowds of pilgrims who, in their prayers to the Solun Brothers, implore, through their intercession, for Christian unity in Europe.

Polish paintings in the Basilica of Velehrad

In the church, in one of the fourteen chapels situated to the left of the chancel and just in front of the impressive Baroque stalls dating from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, there is a feretron (a portable painting) measuring 143.6 x 92.8 cm. Its title, inscribed on the upper and lower frames, reads: C(yril)M(ethodius) TO THE SLAVS. The work was painted by Jan Matejko (1838–1893), who personally donated the painting to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the death of St Methodius, celebrated in 1885.

Meanwhile, in the Chapel of the Mother of Christian Unity, above the marble baptismal font carved by Giovanni Ciani, hangs a painting depicting Saints Cyril and Methodius, painted by Wlastimil Hofman (1881–1970). The work was donated to the basilica in 1949 by General Ludvík Svoboda, then Minister of National Defence of Czechoslovakia and later President of that country.

Hofman, like Matejko, was the son of a Czech father and a Polish mother. Although he was born in Karlin (now a district of Prague), he spent most of his life in Poland, from the time his whole family moved to Kraków in 1889 until his death in Szklarska Poręba in 1970.

Jan Matejko and the painting of the Holy Apostles

There is a story associated with Jan Matejko’s painting. In 1880, Pope Leo XIII reinstated the veneration of the Solun Brothers within the universal Church, a practice which had first emerged somewhat earlier in the Slavic countries. Five years later, in 1885, the same Pope announced solemn celebrations to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the death of the younger of the brothers, St Methodius.

An organising committee – known as the St Methodius Committee – was formed in Kraków at that time, chaired by the then Bishop of Kraków, Albin Dunajewski. As might be expected, Jan Matejko became one of the committee’s first members. The artist declared that he would honour this anniversary, which was of great significance to the Slavs and the Church, by painting a ‘picture of the Holy Apostles’ and dedicating it ‘to the Moravians as a gift from our country, as a memento’.

The painter’s intention was to create a painting that would be noticed by the numerous pilgrims visiting the Velehrad sanctuary. Hence the idea of a feretron, so that during the processions accompanying religious ceremonies, it could be seen by crowds of the faithful.

Furthermore, in a letter to Pope Leo XIII, Matejko requested that the Pope consecrate the image of the Apostles of the Slavs before it was sent to Velehrad and celebrate Holy Mass for the intention of “our unfortunate nation, which is in greatest need of God’s name”. The painting was to be taken to the Vatican by a delegation comprising only distinguished Poles, including Matejko himself. However, in the absence of any volunteers, the artist’s secretary, Marian Gorzkowski, intended to undertake the mission, but ultimately the task was carried out by Count Zygmunt Cieszkowski. The painter’s hopes that the handover of the feretory would be accompanied by a fitting ceremony came to nothing. The image of the saints, consecrated by the Pope, was brought to Velehrad by a modest delegation led by Matejko.

Saints Cyril and Methodius and Jan Matejko’s Polish symbols

The feretory presented to the Moravians featured very clear symbols linking the work to Poland. These include, in the background behind the figures of Saints Cyril and Methodius depicted en face , an image of Our Lady of Częstochowa and the coats of arms of Poland (on the right, an eagle in an oval) and Rus (on the left, an angel with two swords pointing downwards); below, in the centre, is the Lithuanian Pogoń. At the very bottom of the feretory, Matejko placed a shattered statue of Światowid, over which the Solun Brothers—who brought the Christian faith to the Slavs—are symbolically treading.

The anniversary of St Methodius’s death and the pilgrimage of the people of Greater Poland to Velehrad

In the same year (1885) and on the same occasion (the 1,000th anniversary of the death of St Methodius), a delegation of pilgrims from Greater Poland arrived at the basilica in Velehrad. As a tribute to the basilica, they presented a unique and special gift: a processional banner depicting an image of the Queen of the Polish Crown, embroidered with gold and silver thread, with the supplication ‘Pray for us’ placed at the bottom. On the reverse side, a White Eagle wearing a golden crown was embroidered in silver thread, surrounded by the inscription: ‘Presented by the people of Greater Poland in commemoration of the thousandth anniversary of the death of Saint Methodius’.

One must be aware of the political situation in the Prussian partition during the second half of the 19th century. Whilst the Kulturkampf had not yet come to an end and the threat of Germanisation still loomed, placing themselves once more under the protection of the Queen of the Polish Crown was a gesture of great courage, not to mention the inclusion on the banner of the emblem of the White Eagle in a crown as a symbol of the continuity of the Polish State.

Petr Hudec, author of a guide to the Velehrad Basilica entitled *Kamenná čítanka. Průvodce bazilikou Nanebevzetí Panny Marie a sv. Cyrila a Metoděje na Velehradě* (Velehrad 2016), provides even more intriguing information – particularly for Polish visitors to the site. He writes that the banner was made using material from the standard of the Polish troops who took part in the Battle of Vienna (1683).

The banner, donated by the people of Greater Poland, is currently housed in the basilica, in the Chapel of St Benedict.