page_title: Franciscan Monastery in Kadaň
section_title: Legend
hierarchical_section_title: Franciscan Monastery in Kadaň / Legend
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of the Kadaň Monastery legend with statues of the 14 Holy Helpers.
context_page_description: The Franciscan Monastery lies on the edge of the town of Kadaň, Czech Republic and near the river Ohře. Its history dates back to the 15th century. It is now the seat of the Municipal Museum of Kadaň with an exposition of life in a monastery. The church's dedication to the Fourteen Holy Helpers shows the connection to then popular German shrines of the same cult. Around the building is a beautiful vineyard, a French park and many plum trees. The monastery was ranked among the national cultural monuments by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic in 1995. The monastery faces the Úhošť hill on the opposite slope of the Ohře valley.
context_section_description: The legend of the inception tells about a noble family whose five brothers once offended the monarch. They should have been executed but the intercessions of Kadaň inhabitants made the monarch have mercy on the future of the family and symbolically punish just one of the brothers. They played at dice to decide who would hang for the others. The lot fell upon the eldest brother who was hanged straight afterwards in the place of execution that is said to have been situated in the site of the monastery. He was hanging there for three days and nights without dying. He was asked by the crowds how it was possible and he explained that he had been praying to Fourteen Holy Helpers. After having heard of the miracle the monarch came to save the penitent‘s life, take down the gallows and have a shrine to the Helpers built.
  Another miracle occurred during the construction. A pregnant lady asked the masons what they were building and when she heard of the Fourteen Holy Helpers she laughed and said that she would rather give birth to fourteen babies than believe in some Holy Helpers‘ existence. After claiming that she went to the town gate (now Holy Gate) and really gave birth to eleven boys and three daughters – all baptized in the names of the Helpers.
caption: The Baroque picture of the legend
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