On February 15, 1611, fourteen Franciscan brothers were murdered in their convent, Our Lady of the Snows, in Prague, the Czech Republic. One brother escaped. The beatification process was disrupted by the Communist occupation but will now take place on October 13, 2012, in Prague. According to the article in the Prague Monitor, the brothers were mainly foreigners sent to serve the Catholic minority who remained in the Protestant area. For giving up home and country, this was their fate. But while their killers are unknown today, their names will soon ring out for all to hear, 400 years after their deaths.

The bones were exhumed July 10th. By a happy coincidence, 14 Franciscans currently live at the monastery. May we always enjoy freedom of religion in this country and never have to see the sight of fourteen martyrs for the faith exhumed from our country.