František Vomáčka

* 1934

  • “As a boy, I didn’t really get it. I knew that in Poříčí, there’s Orel and on the other side, in Dolní Újezd, there‘s Sokol’s meeting house. I did not understand why it was so. I learned that historically, Sokol was involved in physical education and patriotism but that they were averse to Christianity in general and Catholics in particular. In our place, there were more of Catholic organisations so Orel meeting house was built. Nowadays, the aversion is fortunately gone. But in the beginnings, it was like that with Sokol. The Sokol member

  • "And then were the midterm holidays. Because I had an aunt who was a teacher and her cousin, who was also my mother's cousin, was the parish administrator in Malé Svatoňovice, so, 'Let's go there to see him.' So we went there and Father Nádvorník had a letter from Father Čáp, who had been his classmate back at the Faculty of Theology and who served in a parish just next to Čihošť. So he asked that Father Čáp what had happened. My aunt copied the letter in which he described the events, she sent it to Father Malý, he gave a copy to me, she sent another to other cousin of hers and... It was during those holidays. Shortly after, the Communists made a big deal out of that." "What was in that letter?" "The letter contained only a matter-of-fact description of the event. And that the Bishop of Hradec Králové, [Mořic] Pícha, named a comission chaired by Abbot Tajovský from Želiv. And that we need to wait for the result, whether it will be verified as a miracle or not. And then it became political because they read Father Malý's letters - they knew about that letter. My aunt had a married sister in Moraždice, she was a godmother to many children there so she knew Father Malý and she thought he would find it interesting. For me, it resulted in being expelled from school in September 1950."

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    Praha, 24.01.2019

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They told me not to even try to apply to any school in the country

Antonie Nádvorníková with František (left) a Josef Vomáčka
Antonie Nádvorníková with František (left) a Josef Vomáčka
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

František Vomáčka was born on the 14th April of 1934 in Poříčí near Litomyšl in a family of practicing and socially active Catholics. He started the high school in 1949 at a time when students were already being arrested for the upcoming political process with the Stříteský group. In 1950, he himself was accused of a crime against the state as his aunt, Antonie Nádvorníková, made several copies of a letter describing the events surrounding the so-called Miracle of Číhošť and gave one to František. The aunt was sentenced for three years of jail, František and two other adressees of the letter were tried and acquitted but he could not continue his high school studies. He worked in many blue-collar jobs and in 1963, he graduated from a secondary technical school where he took the evening courses. In 1969, he joined the Czechoslovak People’s Party. In 1971, he settled in Horní Moštěnice. In 1989, he started a Scout group, an Orel [Eagle] organisation. For some time, he was the vicechair of the local chapter of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People‘s Party