In 1907 a 19 year old Maja Oktavec emigrated to the United States with her family from what was then part of Bohemia. She became a librarian, and while working in the New York Public Library, she met Norbert Capek, a fellow Bohemian emigre and Baptist minister. They fell in love, and got married in 1917. Maja was Norbert's third wife. His previous two wives had died, leaving him with 8 children. Due to his outspoken liberal views, the Baptist church had tried Norbert for heresy in 1914. He was found not guilty, but was beginning to doubt his Baptist beliefs. In 1919 he resigned from the Baptist ministry and they both stopped attending church.
One day, the children said they wanted to go to Sunday school. They chose a church to try, and they came back, their parents asked them what they had learned. It sounded like the old religion they had rejected, so Norbert said that he wished the children would try a different Sunday school the next week. This went on for weeks. The children would go off to a new Sunday school, they would tell what they learned when they got home, and Norbert would ask them to please try another church the next week.
One Sunday in 1920 the children went to the Unitarian church in East Orange. When they came home and told what they had learned, Norbert thought it sounded like the way they thought about religion and encouraged them to return. Soon Norbert and Maja decided that they, too, would like to go to the Unitarian church, and they liked it so much they became members.
In 1921 the Capeks returned to their homeland, which had recently become the independent country of Czechoslovakia, to start a Unitarian church there, in the city of Prague. Most members of their new church had left other churches to become Unitarians. Many of these people did not want to be reminded of the churches they had left behind. In 1923, Norbert and Maja Capek decided to create a new ritual for their congregation: a Flower Celebration, where everyone exchanged flowers to symbolize how all human beings are connected. Maja was ordained to the ministry in 1926. Within ten years, this new Unitarian church grew to three thousand members, the largest Unitarian church in the world.
In 1938 Czechoslovakia was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Maja Capek went to the United States to raise money for relief work in Czechoslovakia. Norbert was offered a job in Boston with the US Unitarians, but decided to stay put, even though he new he would be in great danger.
During her 1940 speaking tour in the US, Maja introduced the flower celebration ritual to the Unitarian churches in Cambridge and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Maja settled in New Bedford, serving North Unitarian Church as minister from late 1940 to late 1943, and helping to revitalize the church.
Back in Czechoslovakia, in March 1941, Norbert and his adult daughter, Zora, were arrested by the Gestapo and taken to prison. Zora was accused of listening to foreign radio broadcasts and distributing the content of BBC transmissions. Norbert was accused of listening to foreign radio broadcasts, a capital offence under the Nazis, and of "high treason." Several of his sermons were cited as "evidence" of his treason.
Two separate trials were held, the first at the prison soon after their arrest; the second, an appeal of the original decision, was held in Dresden in April 1942. Although the appeals court found Norbert innocent of treason, the Gestapo ignored the court recommendation, and sent Norbert to Dachau concentration camp and Zora to forced labour in Germany. Zora survived, but Norbert was executed. Maja did not learn of Norbert's death until after the end of the war.
In 1944, Maja started working at the headquarters of the American Unitarian Association in Boston, working for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. After retiring in 1950, Maja continued to preach at Unitarian churches in Europe and North America. She died in 1966.
Every year with our flower celebration, we give thanks for the lives of Maja and Norbert Capek, and we honour their memory.
Blessing on the flowers by Norbert Capek
"Infinite Spirit of Life, we ask thy blessing on these flowers, thy messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us, amid diversities of knowledge and of gifts, to be one in desire and affection, and devotion to thy holy will. May they also remind us of the value of comradeship, of doing and sharing alike. May we cherish friendship as one of thy most precious gifts. May we not let awareness of another's talents discourage us, or sully our relationship, but may we realize that, whatever we can do, great or small, the efforts of all of us are needed to do thy work in this world. Amen."
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