Štěpán Trochta

Cardinal Štěpán Trochta was born on (March 26, 1905 in Francova Lhota.  He was a Czech Salesian (monk) and Junák (Boy Scout).   Pope Pius XII appointed him Bishop of Litoměřice in 1947.  Trochta was spokesman of the Czechoslovakian Episcopal Conference in negotiations with the communistic government from 1948 to 1949. In 1954, after a two-day trial, the supreme court sentenced him to 25 years in prison for spying for the Vatican. He was a leader of resistance against the Nazis and a known friend to Christians, Jews and Communists during years as a prisoner in Mauthausen and Dachau concentration camps.

He was named cardinal in pectore in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, and that appointment was published in 1973. He died on April 6, 1974 in Litoměřice.

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