Ludmila Ryšavá

Holy New Martyr Ludmila Ryšavá, née Sonnevendová, was born on 27 June 1908 in Olomouc, the daughter of Jan and Marie Sonnevend. From her first marriage, to Miloslav Ort, she had three sons, who stayed with their father after the divorce; they lived and survived the war. She married a second time, to Josef Ryšavý, and they lived in Prague.

She worked as a volunteer nurse of the Red Cross, an organization banned by the occupiers in 1940, whose members continued to serve the resistance in secret. Through her father she took part in supporting the paratroopers hidden in the crypt of the church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, providing them with food. After their discovery she was arrested on 28 June 1942, together with her parents and her husband. She was held at Terezín with her mother, was sentenced to death and was shot at Mauthausen on 24 October 1942, the same day as her mother and her husband.

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.