By Elise Wilson
We had hoped to find at least one Jesuit church on our trip, but we just keep stumbling upon them. We first saw one in Warsaw which we quickly recognized because of the IHS emblazoned across the front of the church. It was a modest church right in the middle of the old town. We had found our Jesuit church!
A couple of days later, and after our horrendous train ride we arrived in Krakow. We were not planning on spending much time in the city itself as we wanted to concentrate our energies on Auschwitz. When we got back from Auschwitz and finished with the Schindler museum, we then decided to take a unique opportunity from our hotel. Our hotel was situated along the Vistula and they offered complimentary boat cruises. I had wanted to ride down a European river at some point, so we seized this opportunity. We thought the boat was a round trip on the Vistula, but to our pleasant surprise, the boat pulled over near Krakow’s old town and the driver said we could ride back to the hotel or get off here. We wondered around the old town and came across a towering old church. The twelve apostles graced the front of the church and we learned that it was St. Peter and Paul’s Church. We looked more closely at the facade and saw a figure with a book and inscribed was Ad Majoriam Dei Glorium, another Jesuit church. Organ music began to stream from the church doors so we decided to check it out. We saw a figure wearing green vestments at the altar and realized that a Mass was just beginning. We were wondering how we would attend Sunday Mass since we did not know what time churches had masses. This was truly providential! Even though we do not speak Polish, one of the beauties of a Catholic mass is that you can still follow along because it is so universal. The church was breathtakingly beautiful.
When we arrived in Prague we decided to see the Prague castle since that is what everyone does when they go there. When we were looking at the map to see which tram line we should take I noticed a church called St. Nicholas right on the way. We stopped in and paid a few crowns (Czech currency) and entered. As we were walking around looking at the opulent Baroque style of the church we saw many statues. At one of the side altars I recognized the figure of St. Ignatius. Could this be another Jesuit church? I looked around and sure enough I found that one of the statues that I had so quickly taken a picture of was St. Ignatius right on the main altar . I had never seen Ignatius portrayed in such a way. According to our guide he was slaying a hereza. (see picture)
The Jesuit influence in eastern Europe surprised me and Ms. Guiney. We cannot seem to escape the Jesuits, but at the same time, finding these churches made us feel like we were being watched over and protected.
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