CHRISTINA PONATOVSKA

257

ex-king of Bohemia, requested that he should be presented to them. From Germany Komensk^ continued his journey to Poland, and having, as he tells us, received satisfactory assurances from Count Lescynski, he returned for the last time to Bohemia towards the end of the year 1626.

He here again fell under the influence of

a visionist, in

whom he thoroughly believed, and whose hallucinations he even many years afterwards considered worthy of being recorded in print. Julian Ponatovsk^, an impecunious Polish nobleman, had been received as a member of the Unity and appointed preacher at Mladd Boleslav. When the communities of the brethren were dispersed, Charles of ^erotin secured Ponatovskj^'s safety by appointing him to the office of librarian at his castle at Namest in Moravia. Christina, Ponatovsk^'s daughter, appears to have been of a highly hysterical nature, which, added to the intense religious excitement of the times, induced her to deliver " prophecies," which were generally received with the greatest interest. The pathological side of the question need not be dealt with here. It is sufficient to state that Christina, who had recently been reading the Revelation of St. John, declared that she had heard the voice of the Lord, who had chosen her as intermediary for the purpose of informing the faithful of the approaching defeat of Rome. It was the misfortune of KomenskJ> to be brought " prophetess." Chrisaccidentally into contact with the tina had not joined her father in Moravia, but remained at Branna in Bohemia, not far from Tfemesna, where Christina suddenly became Komensk^ was then staying. dangerously ill at Branna, and as the minister of the Unity who resided at Tfemesna happened to be absent, R