The Czech nobleman Hroznata was born around 1170 and received after the early
death of his father a good education at Krakow where his sister, Woyslawa, was
the wife of the prefect of the city. The young talented man married but soon
lost his wife and his son. In place of a legal heir he founded the monastery
of Teplá as his spiritual heir in 1193. When the papal legate encouraged
the knights to participate in the crusades, Hroznata promised to go to the Holy
Land in order to liberate the holy places. He made the journey with the crusaders
to Brindisi and passed through Rome where the pope confirmed the foundation
of Teplá. Since the crusade failed in 1197 the pope dispensed Hroznata
from his vow concerning the crusades on his way back from Southern Italy and
encouraged him to found a sister monastery. Together with his widowed sister
he established a cloister for nuns in Chotešov around 1202. Hroznata even
becomes a religious in Teplá. The traditions relates that he was clothed
at Rome by Pope Innocent III in the white habit of the Norbertine Order. Because
of his expertise in a variety of areas, Abbot John appointed him substitute
and administrator of the monastery properties. With all his strength Fr. Hroznata
fought for the cause of the abbey. His efforts were a thorn in the side for
the enemies of the monastery. Hroznata was captured and imprisoned in 1217.
Because he refused to allow the abbey to pay his ransom, his captors let him
die of hunger in prison.
After his death the confreres of Teplá were able to secure his body and
buried it in the abbey church in front of the high altar. He is honored as a
“saint” because of his love of neighbor, his humility and his martyrdom.
His relics were exhumed and placed in a precious reliquary in the new Hroznata
chapel. Already in the 13th century the vita fratris Hroznatae had been written.
Pope Leo XIII confirmed his veneration as “blessed” on September
16, 1897 and 100 yers later Pope John Paul II declared him patron of the newly
erected Czech diocese of Plzen on March 3, 1997. The Order now looks forward
to his canonization. For information to the current canonization process 
Causae of the Order.