"Ansellus dei" and the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague

Abstract

Shrouded in the dimness of the late medieval night and barely visible through the rising mists of the legendary Vltava River stands a chapel nearly forgotten in the histories of the Christian Church. Indeed, beyond the scope of Czech historiography it is seldom mentioned except perhaps in hasty passing. Notwithstanding its virtual obscurity, however, it may be argued that this chapel looms larger than the daring vertical lines of its imposing neighbor on the other side of the Vltava, St. Vitus' Cathedral. In Prague, "the city of a hundred spires," the chapel may have greater historical significance than Hradcany Castle, the Baroque churches and the palaces of the nobility. For this plain unimposing structure is Hussite Bohemia's Bethlehem Chapel most famously associated with Jan Hus, "ansellus dei" [God's little goose]. Yet what was it that made the Bethlehem Chapel so unique in fame and infamy, and why should we remember it at all after six centuries?