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Location DB >
Canada >
Saskatchewan >
Broderick >
Jan Hus Czech Church
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This location has been labeled by its creator as Public, and therefore can be viewed by anyone.
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Small countryside church. Was originally a Czech church and burial site.
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Type: Building
Status: Under Construction
Accessibility: Easy
Recommendation: worth the trip
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Cast iron stove, pump organ, and much more. Active graveyard is just behind the church.
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Jan Hus and Czech History in the Glenside District
In 1415 the Czech reformer Jan Hus was burned at the stake for heresy after his criticism of several of the practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic church. Jan Hus had written several documents elaborating on his research through the scriptures that identified the Catholic errors in theology and practice. For this Hus was executed, but not before a large portion of the nobility and the population had turned their back on Catholicism and began to follow the teachings of Jan Hus. After Jan Hus was deceived into believing that the Roman Catholic church would provide safe passage to hear him defend his position he was arrested and executed. Soon after that the Austrian emperor, who sought favour with the pope, proceeded to send in his forces to kill many of the nobility and citizenry that dared to follow Jan Hus. Those who knew that they would be forced to convert or die emigrated to Germany and were later forced to seek refuge in the Russian empire in what is today Ukraine.
In the late 19th century many of these Czech descendents started to emigrate to North America and in 1903 the first Czechs began to arrive in the Glenside district. Though by this time Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) was 80% Catholic again, the Czechs that came to the Glenside area were from the Ukraine or were from Bohemia who were disillusioned with the Catholic church. As the years passed more and more Czechs took advantage of the government offers of free land on which to establish a homestead and others arrived after hearing the successes of those who had already established farms in the community.
By 1913 there were enough Czechs in the Glenside / Broderick district to pursue the construction of a church in which to worship since there were too many to continue meeting in people’s homes. On Dec. 17, 1913 a promissory note for $416.95 was signed to purchase the lumber to build the church that we know as the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church. Over the next several months the men of the church worked on constructing the building. Another local artisan, Joseph Petrak, built the pews and the pulpit, meanwhile an organ was found for the musical worship during services.
The church had lay ministers for many of the years of its history. The first trained minister, Rev. Losa, was invited in 1917 and stayed for twelve days to help organize the church. John Linka was the first resident minister who was born in the old country and was a founding member of the Central West Presbytery. Another resident minister, Henry Vaclavik found his calling while working in the Glenside area for some of the Czech farmers as a harvest hand. He organized the Sunday School and eventually went to St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon for his studies and ordination.
In 1929 the church was re-named Jan Hus Presbyterian and in 1934 it joined the United Church of Canada. There were many confirmation classes of youth as the Czech population and culture blossomed in the Glenside and Broderick districts. The small church would fill for two services on Sundays, one in Czech and one in English, and many families stayed for both! The church would be filled with the women / girls sitting on the left side, the men / boys on the right side, and the young families sat together in the center section of the church. In fact you can still see some of the initials that some of the boys carved into the back of the pews on the right side of the church.
As time moved on unrelentingly the population diminished and so did the importance of church attendance as a part of both the culture and as a social gathering place. So much so that by the 1970’s church services were only attended by the older Czech generation and in 1975 the last regular service was held. Over those last many years the services were led by lay ministers and it became more difficult to find those who would take on that challenge too. Since 1975 there have been occasional funerals and even a wedding at the church, but the pump organ would leak so badly that one of the last organists, a shorter lady, said that as she played the organ she had to pump hard and as she did so the bench would slowly slide back on the carpet. She said she hoped that she would be able to play for all of the verses of the hymn before she couldn’t reach the pedals any longer.
With the beginning of a new church is the need for a cemetery as is part of all life cycles and Jan Hus was no different. The Jan Hus cemetery is but a couple of hundred meters from the church and as with all ethnic communities, you can trace the history of the community as you walk through the cemetery where you can see generations of families including many children who died either of complications in childbirth of from the early twentieth century pandemic known as the Spanish Flu. The cemetery is an ‘active’ cemetery in that plots are still being bought and new inhabitants do find rest there.
The Jan Hus Presbyterian Church is one of few Protestant Czech churches in Canada and though Jan Hus still gazes from his portrait over the pews in the church it sits empty waiting for a future service or gathering. At least it still sees visitors who are usually descendents of those early Czechs. A new church maintenance committee is being developed to seek ways to restore the building and hopefully, hold some special gatherings for the local Czechs and for the descendents who return to their Canadian origins. In 2019 after hearing about the Glenside Jan Hus Church the Czech ambassador to Canada sent a letter stating: “I am grateful for all of your efforts maintaining a historic building that was once such an important centre of Czech language and culture. The lives of your ancestors settling where you are now were not easy at all, and I am certain they would be very proud of your hard work to save this church for the next generations.”
[Written by Larry Mikulcik]
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Plans for the church to be restored and open to the public to visit and learn about the Czech history of the area. Also has plans to hold the occasional public function.
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The moderator rating is a neutral rating of the content quality, photography, and coolness of this location.
This location has not yet been rated by a moderator.
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This location's validation is current. It was last validated by
Emperor Wang on 10/1/2023 3:35 PM.
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on Oct 1 23 at 15:35, Emperor Wang validated this location
on Oct 1 23 at 15:33, Emperor Wang changed the following: History
on Oct 1 23 at 15:30, Emperor Wang changed the following: Future Plans
on Oct 1 23 at 15:29, Emperor Wang changed the following: History, Description
on Oct 1 23 at 15:10, Emperor Wang changed the following: Interesting Features
on Oct 1 23 at 4:38, SaskExplorer updated gallery 2023
on Oct 1 23 at 4:37, SaskExplorer created a new gallery
on Jan 28 23 at 3:09, Steed validated this location
on Jan 27 23 at 4:29, SaskExplorer changed the following: Longitude
on Jan 27 23 at 4:28, SaskExplorer changed the following: Latitude, Longitude
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