Ludmila Javorová, Czech woman secretly ordained as priest, dies at 94

Ludmila Javorová, a prominent member of Czechoslovakia's underground Catholic church who was secretly ordained as a priest during communist rule, has died at the age of 94.

Javorová died at a hospice in Rajhrad near Brno, according to Czech Christian news outlet Christnet. The Brno bishopric also paid tribute to her Thursday.

Her life represented an extraordinary chapter in Czech religious history. In December 1970, underground bishop Felix Maria Davídek secretly ordained Javorová first as a deacon and then as a priest as clandestine Catholic structures attempted to operate outside institutions controlled by the communist regime.

One reason for the controversial decision was the need to provide pastoral and sacramental care to imprisoned women, including nuns, who could not be reached by male priests.

Born in Brno in 1932, Javorová became one of Davídek's closest collaborators in the 1960s and helped build Koinótés, an underground Catholic community established in response to communist persecution.

Her ordination was controversial even within the clandestine church. The Roman Catholic Church does not permit the ordination of women to the priesthood and later formally told Javorová that her ordination was invalid.

In 1996, church authorities informed her that she could not exercise priestly ministry. Javorová nevertheless maintained throughout her life that she regarded the priesthood as her calling.

After the Velvet Revolution, she worked as a religious education teacher and increasingly spoke publicly about her experience and the role of women in the Catholic Church.

Brno Bishop Pavel Konzbul remembered Javorová as an "extraordinary woman" who dedicated her life to serving others and the church, praising her education and long-standing work in the diocese.

Her story was documented in books, interviews and a 2023 Czech Radio documentary titled Ona je kněz (She Is a Priest).