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And so in 1981, at the age of 22, he chose the difficult and dangerous step of studying theology "underground" at the feet of former instructors of theology whom the Communist government had banned from teaching.
If detected he would have been sent to prison. In 1988 at the age of 29 years received priesthood from a bishop in Yugoslavia who had not been afraid to conduct the ceremony.
In a fortunate act of exquisite timing for Lukas Martinec, the "Velvet Revolution" in the land of his birth in 1989 meant that he was free to work publicly as a priest.
He resigned his job as a construction engineer immediately and for eighteen months was the parish priest in a little Czech village with beautiful countryside near the mountains.
Then he went to Rome and studied theology for four years to earn a doctorate in theology.
He said with a smile that he is probably the only abbot with a certificate in Marxism-Leninism, as this had been a compulsory subject when he studied civil engineering.
With local and international help he is once again turning the abbey into a centre for genetic discovery and a place to praise the work of his predecessor, Gregor Mendel O.S.A.
The position of Augustinian Prior of Brno
As recognition of the solid religious life of the Augustinians in Brno, in 1612 the perpetual privilege was granted that Augustinian Prior be given episcopal consecration and insignia (see photo above).
To the present time, the Augustinian who is Prior of Brno is - like an abbot in the Benedictine tradition - elected for life and given episcopal consecration. This is unique within the Order of Saint Augustine.
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