Prague Unbound goes inside a church where still hangs the severed hand of a 16th century thief…

The St. James Basilica (Kostel sv. Jakuba) was founded by Minorites in the 12th century before being rebuilt in the Baroque style after the fire that cleansed Old Town in 1689.

Among its many attractions is the unrestful resting place of Count Vratislav of Mitrovice, accidentally entombed alive by dimwitted clergy in the 15th century. For three days and three nights the Count’s agonized wails echoed throughout the church while palsied husks of men blinkered by their ignorance bowed their liverspotted skulls and shuffled in circles, mumbling in Latin. They cast holy water here and thereabout as the Count scraped and clawed at the walls of his enclosure and wore the very flesh from his fingers until they were bloodied shards of bone and there was no more air to breathe and so he breathed no more.

Of special interest is a severed, mummified arm that hangs inside the church’s entrance. One night some four hundred years ago, a thief tried to snatch a necklace of pearls from a statue of Mary, but Our Lady held fast to his arm and would not release it even in the morrow until at length the executioner was called to hack off the appendage. After prison, the repentant, one-armed thief returned to St. James and the monks accepted them into their brotherhood. It’s said he would late at night enter the church and gaze in reverie upon his own severed limb, which still hangs there to this day.

St. James is also acclaimed for it’s splendid pipe organ, said to be one of the finest in Europe.

(Photo via Anton Fedorenko, Wikimedia Creative Commons)