Jan Filip (priest)

Jan Filip (born 9 December 1911 in Přibyslav; died 21 November 1971 in Kratonohy, near Hradec Králové) was a Czech priest, doctor of theology, professor, writer, Esperantist, and lexicographer.

In the year 1950, after the beginning of a strong political leaning towards communism, he was prohibited from teaching and only allowed to provide pastoral care.

During his years of high school in Prague, the international association of Esperantists announced a competition for the most beautiful poem about the Virgin Mary in Esperanto.

The first prize in the contest was deliberately only symbolic, but beautiful: a bouquet of white roses, which the winner was to place at the feet of the statue of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes.

In 1970, he translated many religious songs for young Catholic Esperantists, which were sung in tent camps in Herbortice.

Later, he visited many foreign countries, where his lectures in Esperanto about the Czech Republic captured the attention of his audiences.

The complete works of the brothers Jan and Karel Filip were made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Czech Republic license, as demonstrated by OTRS record no.