“Saint Paul puts it very well in the Scripture, he knew runners from antiquity and said: ‘Look at those who compete at the course, they all do everything they can and they run. And only one of them can win but meanwhile we all can win.’ It is very important to win the life. And it is, I think, great about the God way that despite all the troubles, even if I in the middle of the race I made up my mind that I am fed up with it and I sit down on the ditch, God will not reject me and will not say: ‘You are out of luck’ He waits until I will get up and go on. And I still have a chance. Which is also the question of our vow of mercifulness. I actually do not know where the starting line is for the homeless or even someone who commits some evil. Because I do not know what they went through, I do not know who had done what to… Even those who abuse were often abused. God does not measure. We do not have the same starting line nor the finishing one but he only measures the lane we walked or drive. And it is really nice that after I change my mind and decide that I will carry on, he will say: ‘All right, fine’ and he will not blame us.”
“And we met on the ship, Martin Věchet stayed there, one student came, on the ship, there was [originally] Mr. Havlová, Ivan Havel, the brother, but those accompanied it only to Podbaba and then out of sudden they all disembarked. And Michael Kocáb came and said: ‘Oh, there is no one left, who will welcome those mayors? So, I will appoint you a master of ceremonies.’ And at that time one student came by tram and we found out that one man embarked who came from Germany and married a Czech and lived here. So, we were some kind of waving and welcoming committee because the rest was a crew of the boat Lužnice, those had to take care of arriving and setting sail. On New Year’s Day at moon in Roudnice there was a train, it hooted everywhere, many people got on and got off. In Děčín, it was already a workday, there were two and half thousand people. And what I though was really in accordance with Václav Havel that no one knew whether someone will come or not. And we needed all the flowers and wreaths so that only natural material will remain. The city of Děčín sent the unemployed in orange vests, simultaneously women who wanted to be there came, then there was Ivo Mathé who has presented me with a diploma shortly before as the rector of DAMU, the director of the shipping company, Michael Kocáb, a nun, some vice-mayor. In total, it was thirty people including unemployed Romani under the municipal authority, really the whole structure of society. He was [Václav Havel] really the president of everyone.”
“I realize how Agnes arranged it because originally the thanksgiving mass for canonization was to be already on Saturday 18 [18 November 1989]. But because the cardinal Tomášek stayed longer in Rome and it was calculated, the thanksgiving mass was one week later. And the comrades helped it because the cardinal – when he arrived on Tuesday, the comrade Štěpán called for him right from the airport, and he actually had no idea what is going on here, nevertheless it was written in the news that he told him that it should be cancelled because it is not safe in Prague. And he clearly said that it will not be cancelled. And I know that sometime on Thursday I came to the faculty and there were signs: Do not carry any leaflets anywhere, masses will come on Saturday, everything to the cathedral so that it will get out. It was not possible to cancel all the busses, it was not. Letná would not be Letná if there was not the thanksgiving mass when the buses were arranged and when the people arrived. I came sometime at half eight, at quarter to eight we were at the mass with one sister and we were able to get to the middle of the cathedral. So those who arrived before half ten stood out at the Hradčany square, they were not able to get anywhere. And next to me there were students who were not believers at all and they only asked: ‘Aren’t you from outside? Here you have leaflets.’ And then, when we walked out from the cathedral, there were already signs: Letná.”
“I think that many things were covered by our senior doctor Fabián no matter how some though that he was a member of KSČ. He often sent patients to us, meritorious members of KSČ, who were so meritorious that they sent them to the most ordinary hospital, even though they were seriously ill with cancer. According to me they were those who went through serious social conditions, they were healthy convinced, honest people, and they then sent them to the most ordinary hospital, although they were meritorious members of KSČ. The senior doctor Fabián sent them to us because he knew we will take care of them because they were ill people, often honest inside. When some pressure occurred [senior doctor] said: ‘I am of course happy that my patients are taken care of and I do not care at all about their personal life.’ Of course, they had to know, well, we did not wear earrings, did not wear make-up and did not go dancing. I worked there for seven years, people just get many things.”
Ivana Angelika Pintířová was born on 17 May 1963 in a maternity hospital in Sušice. Her family lived in nearby Žihobce, a village in Klatovy district, from where her mother came. Her dad came here to teach from nearby Petrovice. Before that he was forced to labour in Bitterfeld in Germany. Ivana had three older siblings, her oldest brother studied at a theological faculty. The family did not hide their Christian belief which brought them problems. Her father was banned from teaching in 1961, later he was rehabilitated but when he refused to sign the protest against Charter 77, he was banned once again. It was mirrored in the fact that the witness was not recommended to study at a grammar school. It happened during the time she was admitted to the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo as a candidate. She went to Prague where she lived in one of their secret flats and where she studied the secondary medical school. She took the monastic name Angelika. She worked as a nurse at the Na Slupi hospital for 7 years, after 1989 she started to study at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. There she witnessed the Velvet revolution as well. After she graduated, she taught, she worked as the Mother Superior and she took part in managing the restituted hospital. She found her fulfilment in the work with problematic youth with which she still works. She has been working in the educational institution Klíčov with a detached workplace in Pelhřimov surroundings. In 2011 she graduated from a creative pedagogy at DAMU. At the end of 2011 she was one of the sisters who cared for Václav Havel. Thanks to this she became well-known to the public. Since 2015 she has been the diocese director of Pontifical Mission Society where she supports various projects in the impoverished countries. During the interview (2021) she lived in Prague.
