Church of the Minorites

The Church of the Minorites on Jánská is the setting for Ottilie’s small, private baptism, a family ceremony that places Hana Hanáková beside the baby as her godmother and brings Viktor Landauer’s skepticism about religious ritual into sharp relief. The church matters less as a described building than as the site where family roles, inherited faith, and competing ideas of human nature meet.

The Ceremony

The baptism was limited to family members and godparents. Ottilie wore white silk; Hana wore black. At the font, their contrasting figures—a small, round, soft baby and a tall, sharp, worldly-wise woman—made a striking pair. Viktor stood in the background beside Hana’s husband, Oskar Hanák. Oskar whispered that the baby was beautiful, though the narration leaves open whether he meant Ottilie or his own wife.

The priest spoke in Latin and leaned toward Ottilie as if to bite her breast. Oskar explained that he was breathing on her to drive out the devil, a rite Hana had already explained to him. The scene thus presents the church through the ceremony’s actions and through the varied responses of those gathered around the font.

Viktor’s Response

The rite reminded Viktor of being taken to synagogue as a child for Passover and Yom Kippur, when the rituals seemed impenetrable and the language incomprehensible. His father had kept his distance from religious observance, while his mother had driven the family’s practice. Viktor wonders whether Liesel Landauer is now taking on a similar role in his new family.

He rejects the idea that a baby could harbor the devil and calls the ceremony nonsense, insisting that humankind is intrinsically good rather than intrinsically bad. Oskar’s reply—asking where Viktor had been during the war—sets Viktor’s confidence in innate goodness against the historical experience of human cruelty. The church scene therefore makes the baptism a point of friction between ritual explanations of evil and a conviction about human nature tested by war.

Family and Aftermath

A small reception followed at a nearby hotel. Women gathered around Ottilie, praising her beauty, resemblance to her mother, and good behavior; Viktor and Oskar turned to the stock market, economics, and business. Hana briefly left her duties as godmother to congratulate Viktor on his beautiful daughter. The church ceremony establishes her role in Ottilie’s family life, while the reception shows the gathering dividing into familiar patterns of attention and conversation.