Na Morani Burial Ground

We are still trying to find out what Wenceslas did for his capital and country besides collecting odds and ends of saints and building a chapel here and there, and regretfully state that little record of anything but his piety is handed down to us.

Piety, it seems, was no more compatible with statecraft in the early days of Christendom than it is today, and as Wenceslas took the pious line, he gave way too much to the German menace, thus laying up a store of trouble for his successors and the sons of Czech.

In the meantime Wenceslas, evidently well pleased with himself, continued to set his people a godly example. I should like to know whether they appreciated him to the same extent as did some members of his family, Boleslav for instance, who helped Wenceslas to a crown of celestial glory by the simple process of hitting him over the head.

I am rather inclined to think that the piety of Wenceslas interfered with some of the innocent amusements of his people, among whom paganism was not quite dead yet, as subsequent events show. There was an interesting burial ground lying on the route which Wenceslas would follow when going from the Hradčany to Vyšehrad, which remained the seat of government for several generations of Přemysls after the pious prince's demise....

This burial ground, a very extensive one, is now covered by the Church of Emaus and its monastic buildings; you can see those twin towers, dark ochre in colour and topped by characteristic steeple and pinnacles, rising from among fruit-trees and red-tiled roofs.

Na Morani was the name of this burial ground, after Morana, the goddess of death.

It was the correct thing in pagan society to make pilgrimages to this place in spring: a pleasant afternoon in a cemetery was a pastime as popular then as it appears to be to-day. The cachet of Na Morani had been rather spoilt by the erection of a little church some time in the ninth century, perhaps by Wenceslas himself.

Anyway, the pious prince found this church a convenient half-way house between Vyšehrad and Hradčany, and he was wont to put up a prayer or two here before going on to drop a tear on the Hradčany relics.

The little church was dedicated to Cosmas (not the chronicler) and Damian, saints of the third and fourth centuries.

It is not known why these gentlemen clubbed together to have a day to themselves, but this need not act as deterrent to anyone who wishes to observe their day. Wherever pilgrims visit, there you will find settlements growing up, beginning with booths and shanties of those who sell appropriate commodities, candles, wreaths and such-like.

The traffic in these articles continues; it was only last Palm Sunday that I was offered a variety of wreaths to choose from, small wreaths of snowdrops and fir twigs, to be worn on the wrist, to be blessed by the priest and then to be left lying about the sitting-room until fit for the dustbin. I resisted all temptation to deck myself with snowdrops and fir twigs.