A Dangerous Saint: Canonisation of John N. Neumann in the Archive Materials of the Region of South Bohemia

Thirty years have passed in 2007 since Pope Paul VI canonised John Nepomucene Neumann, a native of South Bohemia. The author focuses his study on the questions of the canonisation of John N. Neumann, in the form of an inquiry in the archive materials of the state administration and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the Region of South Bohemia. State authorities of the communist regime generally perceived the canonisation of this saint as a serious political and ideological danger at the same level as that of the well-known Charta 77 movement. Archive documents illustrate the unscrupulous and insidious way to thwart the efforts of clergy and individual believers for a dignified celebration of the canonisation within the the region of South Bohemia.

Keywords: Church history; Religion; Region of South Bohemia; Canonisation; Neumann John N.