The Reception of Recent Marian Apparitions in the Czech Republic in the Field of Popular Religiosity – Two Examples

Abstract

Marian apparitions have always emerged throughout the history of the Catholic Church. However, they have never been given a lot of attention and have never met with so much public acceptance as has been seen since the latter half of the 19th century. The development of mass communication and increasing population mobility have partly contributed to this phenomenon. These apparitions have a new function – providing public messages. The Virgin Mary is no longer speaking only to the visionary; she is pronouncing prophecies and messages to all believers, laying claims to the hierarchy. This chapter offers a comparative analysis of two examples of ‘popular religiosity’ in the Czech Republic as a spontaneous religious activity produced and operated by their charismatic leaders and opinion-makers: Vérité centre founded by František Mráček and Mariánské nakladatelství [MANA, Marian publishers] founded by František Press in Brno. Both cases are based on modern Marian apparitions and are contextualised in the current global situation and in the Czech Republic. According to the author, this goes hand in hand with the trend of modernisation and the era of mass communication. Marian devotion plays a central role in both studied cases and is crucial for understanding the portraying her as the Loving Moth- er and Hope of the Mankind, as well as the Guardian of the World com- ing as the (last) Living Warning before the expected global catastrophe. The apocalyptic, chiliastic and millennial tone presented by both interpreters of modern Marian apparitions is being explored as well. The main issue in both cases is the expectation of the end of the current world order. This element was certainly activated by the approaching end of the millennium. Even though this stimulation of thoughts on the end of the world is now out of play, the charismatic leaders flexibly postponed their prediction in this regard and, according to them, we should expect some global threat in the future, the outbreak of WW III, nuclear or ecological catastrophes, globalisation or total control by means of information technologies. Another nodal point is the reference to globalisation as an instrument of Satan's rule over the unified world. According to the author, both studied cases are examples of modern adaptation of Christianity to the post-modern religious landscape of post-socialist Czech Republic and represent a form of popular religiosity which is transformed and adapted to the context of modern society and ‘Western culture’.