Josef Beran

Life & Legacy

Josef Beran (29 December 1888 – 17 May 1969) was a Czech Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Prague from 1946 until his death. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.
Adam Beran was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp during World War II after the Nazis had targeted him for "subversive and dangerous" behavior where he almost died in 1943 due to disease. He was freed in 1945 upon Allied liberation and Pope Pius XII nominated him to head the Prague archdiocese. But the introduction of the communist regime saw him imprisoned and placed under house arrest. His release in 1963 came with the condition that he could not perform his episcopal duties and he was later exiled to Rome in 1965 as part of a coordinated deal between the church and the national government.
His cause for canonization opened in 1998 and he became titled as a Servant of God. He was granted the rare honor of being buried in Saint Peter's Basilica upon his death and remained the sole Czech national to be buried there until 2018 when his remains were transferred back to his native homeland for interment in the Saint Vitus Cathedral.