by Ruth McOmber Pratt and Ann South Niendorf
Reprinted from The Ensign 24, No. 8 (August, 1994), pp 53.
©1994 by Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
All rights Reserved.
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Frantiska Vesela was born in 1881, the youngest of ten children in a family living in a small village in southern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). She "was blessed with a religious mother who had the disposition of an angel" — an influence that was a wellspring of strength for Frantiska throughout her life.[1]
After her mother died, eighteen-year-old Frantiska moved to Vienna, Austria, to live with her older sister. There she married Frantisek Brodil in 1904, and they were blessed with two daughters, Frantiska (Frances) and Jana (Jane).
In 1913 she learned of the restored gospel and was baptized in the Danube River, the ordinance being performed late one stormy night in order to avoid religious persecution. "My heart swelled with a feeling of satisfaction, and at my confirmation I felt myself filled with a new power," she later said. Her husband, "always friendly toward the Church," never did become a member.
Frantiska's newfound joy in the restored gospel was dampened by the outbreak of World War I. During the war, she and a handful of Viennese sisters held Bible study classes, keeping "the gospel light burning there while all the local brothers were at war and the missionaries were called home."[2]
At war's end, Frantiska's husband lost his job when all native Czechs in Austrian government positions were replaced. In 1919 he moved his family to Prague (in newly formed Czechoslovakia). He died shortly thereafter.
Life was difficult for the widow and her daughters. They barely avoided starvation. Two years passed without any contact from the Church. Then, in 1921, two elders from the Vienna Branch visited them in response to Frantiska's letters to the German-Austrian Mission. They baptized her two daughters, the first members baptized in Czechoslovakia.
Despite Frantiska's diligent efforts and prayers, years passed without the return of Latter-day Saint missionaries. Despite such isolation, so thoroughly did the gospel permeate the Brodil home that to this day Frances insists she was raised in the Church.
After a decade of praying for missionaries to reenter the land, Frantiska felt impressed to write the First Presidency of the Church (this was prior to present-day policies, which encourage members to contact local leaders). "An unseen power seemed to be pushing me to do it," she said. "It was my last try in this matter. I thought the Lord would surely do the rest."[3]
To Frantiska's great joy, her letter to President Heber J. Grant got immediate results. On 24 July 1929, in the presence of the Brodils, Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated Czechoslovakia for the preaching of the gospel and opened the Czechoslovak Mission, with Arthur Gaeth as president.
Of that glorious event, Frantiska said, "Few people can realize the joy we experienced; we had been praying years for this day. . . . We thank the Lord from the bottom of our hearts."
Frantiska Brodilova passed away in 1931. In her last years, she "mothered" the missionaries, helped translate missionary tracts, led Sunday School classes until the missionaries could speak Czech, and served as the first Relief Society President in her native land.
In eulogizing her, President Gaeth wrote that "Sister Brodilova's Christlike spirit will linger. . . . She was a mother, counselor and example to us."
Ruth McOmber Pratt and Ann South Niendorf are descendants of Frantiska Brodilova, through her daughters Frances Brodil McOmber and Jane Brodil South, respectively. Ruth works in the name extraction program in the Orem Fifth Ward, Orem Utah Stake; Ann serves as a visiting teacher in the Provo Second Ward, Provo Utah South Stake.