Josef Cardinal Beran

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Josef Cardinal Beran (December 29, 1888 – May 17, 1969) was the Archbishop of Prague.

Beran was born in Pilsen and studied catholic theology and philosophy both in his native town and in Rome. He was consecrated a priest on June 10, 1911. Afterwards, he worked as a parish priest in his home diocese, before he became the spiritual director of the Prague seminary and docent of the University there in 1932. After his arrest by the Gestapo in 1940, Beran was imprisoned in Pankrác, Theresienstadt, and the Dachau concentration camp. In 1946, he was appointed Archibishop of Prague by Pope Pius XII.

From 1949 to 1963, Beran was once again imprisoned, this time by the by the Communist government. In 1965, he was released and went into exile in Rome. That same year, he was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI and given the titular parish of Santa Croce in via Flaminia. Beran took part in the last of session of the Second Vatican Council. Because of his concerns about the believers entrusted to him, he asked the Pope more than once for permission to return to Czechoslovakia, but was always refused permission to go. Beran died in Rome in 1969 and was buried in the Vatican. His beatification process was begun on April 2, 1998, in the Archdiocese of Prague.

Preceded by Karel Cardinal Kašpar

Archbishop of Prague 1946–1969

Succeeded by František Cardinal Tomášek