[late 10th century – 25.3.1053]
Saint Procopius of Sasau was a lay priest, hermit and co-founder and first abbot of Sasau (Sázava) Monastery. He was canonised in 1204. According to hagiography, he was educated at a school in Vyšehrad. He was married and had a son, but decided to become a priest. He spent some time with the Benedictines in Břevnov before embarking on the life of a hermit.
In the Sasau region he gathered a group of men around him with whom he founded a monastery of the religious order of St. Benedict in the 1030s, becoming its first abbot. Many legends have arisen about Saint Procopius, in which the hermit does battle with demons and performs exorcisms. In one, he puts a demon to work dragging his plough, digging out the so-called 'Devil's Furrow'. He was thus often depicted with a tied and bound devil by his feet. Sometimes he was pictured with a crutch and mitre, and from the 17th century onwards he was represented holding a book and cross.
The Sasau monastery houses the Cave of Procopius, which was hollowed into the cliff wall in the shape of a Greek cross, and the saint is said to have spent several years as a hermit in it in solitary prayer.
[late 10th century – 25.3.1053]
Saint Procopius of Sasau was a lay priest, hermit and co-founder and first abbot of Sasau (Sázava) Monastery. He was canonised in 1204. According to hagiography, he was educated at a school in Vyšehrad. He was married and had a son, but decided to become a priest. He spent some time with the Benedictines in Břevnov before embarking on the life of a hermit.
In the Sasau region he gathered a group of men around him with whom he founded a monastery of the religious order of St. Benedict in the 1030s, becoming its first abbot. Many legends have arisen about Saint Procopius, in which the hermit does battle with demons and performs exorcisms. In one, he puts a demon to work dragging his plough, digging out the so-called 'Devil's Furrow'. He was thus often depicted with a tied and bound devil by his feet. Sometimes he was pictured with a crutch and mitre, and from the 17th century onwards he was represented holding a book and cross.
The Sasau monastery houses the Cave of Procopius, which was hollowed into the cliff wall in the shape of a Greek cross, and the saint is said to have spent several years as a hermit in it in solitary prayer.