Statue of Mary with the Child Back after 60 Years

Cardinal Miloslav Vlk will take the statue of Virgin Mary with the Child from Czech-American Ája Vrzáňová on Thursday 21 Dec at 11.30 am in the Archbishop's Palace in Prague.Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Prague: At the instance of Prague Cardinal Josef Beran, the statue was hidden abroad by the Czechs for 60 years. Tomorrow it will be passed on to Cardinal Miloslav Vlk by Ája Vrzáňová, world champion in figure skating in 1949 and 1950, now living in the USA.

In 1947, Cardinal Josef Beran, fearing of the coming communist regime, handed the 25-cm-high statue of dark wood to František Vodička to hide it abroad. Vodička gave it to his son Vladimír in California in 1964 and when Vladimír died, his wife asked Vrzáňová to take it to Prague.