that has been long dispersed. Its greatest treasure was an ancient Slavic MS. containing the evangel, which had once belonged to St. Prokop, the first abbot of the Sazava Monastery, and was traditionally reported to have been written by him. This valuable MS. was brought to France and—by one of history’s little ironies—became the texte du sacre used at the coronations of the Kings of France.[1]
During the Hussite Wars the church and monastery were in the hands of the Utraquists, but it was restored to the Roman Catholics towards the end of the sixteenth century. We read that in 1592 riots near this church occurred, because the abbot had allowed his labourers to work on the 6th of July, which was then still a day sacred to the memory of John Hus.
The monastery still shows some traces of its antiquity. It contains two pictures that date from the time of Charles, and a Royal chapel, divided by a railing from the rest of the church. Over the entrance of the chapel is a portrait of Ferdinand III., who presented the monastery to the Benedictines of Mont Serrat. In the cloisters are some frescoes that also date from the time of Charles IV. Emaus was purchased in 1880 by German Benedictines, who have restored it with much care and good taste.
,_coat_of_arms_of_Mal%C3%A1_Strana.jpg)
MOST ANCIENT ARMS OF
THE MALÁ STRANA
- ↑ See Professor Léger’s L’Evangile de Rheims.
163
