Illegal Translation Activities of Ján Ivan Mastiliak CSsR

Ján Ivan Mastiliak was born on 5 November 1911 in Nižný Hrabovec. In August 1922 he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), where he took his religious vows and completed his philosophical and theological studies. As a young priest, he studied in Rome from 1937 to 1944. From September 1945, he taught students of theology in Obořiště. In 1950, as a monastic priest, he was unjustly sentenced to life imprisonment in a staged monster trial. He became one of the victims of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He was released from prison on 10 May 1965 on the basis of an amnesty granted by the President of the Republic. It was not a true freedom. He lived under constant surveillance by State Security officers. Mastiliak understood that his place was in the secret Church. He undertook the secret formation of theologians, monks and nuns who needed suitable literature for their formation and spiritual growth. This was an important impulse why he undertook the translation of valuable literature, which was distributed as samizdat. It is documented that from 1965 until his death in 1989, he translated more than 100 works from various languages. The presented study deals with Ján Ivan Mastiliak as a scholar who could not create on his own because the communist totalitarian power prevented him from doing so, but he devoted his efforts to illegal translation activities. Thanks to his contacts, he found ways to obtain quality religious literature. From this he selected works that were suitable for the formation and spiritual development of the initiated and the laity, whom he secretly formed. The subsequent translation, reproduction and distribution of samizdat were also done illegally, under threat of further condemnation and imprisonment. He was aware of this danger, but accepted responsibility for the formation of clandestine clerics and religious was greater.