Traditionally, a Saturday pilgrimage mass takes place at the Church of St. Anne, which is the oldest preserved building in the city. St. Anne has been the patroness of our city since time immemorial, and this mass is always celebrated in her honor and memory. This year's Saturday, July 26, when the pilgrimage mass was held, is dedicated in the liturgical calendar to the commemoration of St. Anne and St. Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary.
This year, P. Kamil Škoda, the parish priest in Bělá pod Bezdězem, accepted the invitation to act as the main celebrant. In his extensive parish area, comparable in size to half a typical Italian diocese, he oversees around twenty churches, most of which have only a few core believers. Nevertheless, he strives to hold pilgrimage services at as many of these sanctuaries as possible. Our St. Anne's mass served as a kind of warm-up for his pilgrimage season this year.
In his sermon, inspired among others by the song "Marie a svatá Anna" by Lucie Bílá, the preacher emphasized two key moments - closeness and community. These are expressed in the usual depictions of this pair, once (and perhaps still today) very popular among believers. Even in the Church of St. Anne, otherwise very "cleansed" of its original furnishings during renovations, there is a wooden statue group of St. Anne with Mother Mary. It originates from the original altar and greets visitors to the right of the main entrance to the nave of the church.
A concert dedicated to St. Anne has also become a tradition, organized by the association Musica Varia as part of Jablonec Music Tuesdays. This year, it took place on July 22, 2025, featuring a total of four musical instruments. The large organ in the church choir, along with a small portable organ, known as a positive organ, both played by the excellent organist Jiřina Marešová. The other two instruments were brought by the equally remarkable musician, Michal Novák. These included a classic double bass and also a very resonant organ regal, a historical replica of a musical instrument that first appeared in the 13th century.
Two compositions from the baroque-themed concert program were linked to St. Anne: the song "O svaté Anně" (from the "Svatoroční muziky") by Adam Václav Michna of Otradovice, and also the subsequent organ improvisation by Jiřina Marešová on this song. The concert was very beautiful and at the same time interesting for the audience, as only a part of the music program was played from the choir, while a significant portion was performed in close contact with the musicians, who came to their instruments placed in front of the audience in the church's lower level. The audience could also inspect the instruments and even try them out when leaving the church, which was completely filled with attendees.
Text: Borek Tichý, Jiří Kreisel
Photo: parish archive
