Karel Louda

Holy New Martyr Karel Louda was born on 3 May 1904 in Plzeň and was a teacher. He belonged by confession to the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, yet he worked as second sacristan of the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague; the first sacristan was his father-⁠in-⁠law, Václav Ornest. On 17 July 1938 he married Marie Ornestová, who was Orthodox; Father Václav Čikl married them. They had a son, Václav, born in 1939.

After the attack on Heydrich he knew that paratroopers were hidden in the crypt of the church. In the night of 17 to 18 June 1942, when the Germans surrounded the church, he went to open the back door and was thrown to the ground and arrested. His wife was arrested on 22 June. Sentenced to death in their absence by a court martial on 29 September 1942, they were taken to Mauthausen and shot on 24 October 1942. Their son went through internment and survived the war.

The Synod of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia decided on 10 October 2019 to enter them among the saints, and the solemn glorification took place on 8 February 2020 at the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague, together with the other new martyrs of those years. They are remembered on 5 September.