St. Agnes of Bohemia
When everyone speaking up for Yu Menglong around the world was being attacked by the most malevolent forces in other dimensions, Ariel happened to be on vacation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, with her family. While walking through the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia, Ariel found herself wondering: why, when everyone else was on the front lines, had she of all people been arranged to go on vacation? All she wanted was to be on the front lines — to be at home working on Yu En Transmission. She had no desire whatsoever to be on holiday.
Lost in these restless and gloomy thoughts, she suddenly saw that Yu had shared the following story, which completely changed her mind.
How many people in this world would willingly give up a life of royalty to pursue a life of monastic devotion? Agnes of Bohemia was one such legendary woman.
Agnes was a princess, an abbess, and a woman regarded as capable of performing miracles. Born in Prague in 1200, she was the daughter of the King of Bohemia and the Queen of Hungary.
At first, her father the king would not permit her to become a nun, for a princess's sole contribution to the royal family was to forge alliances through marriage across kingdoms.
The king arranged one match after another for her, and she refused them all. For Agnes, marriage and bearing children were not what she sought in this life. To follow God into the cloister — that was the only thing she believed she was meant to do.
Agnes possessed a face of refined and delicate beauty. Beyond the matches arranged by her father, she received proposals from royal houses across Europe — including Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II — and she turned them all down.
At first, Frederick was furious at being refused. But in time he came to understand her choice, and said: "If she had left me for a mortal man, I would have taken vengeance with the sword, but I cannot take offense because in preference to me she has chosen the King of Heaven."
Agnes was truly devout in her monastic life.
This noble princess, who had never known a day of hard labor, willingly took on the most humble and grueling work upon entering the convent — farming, sewing, cooking, and more. The nuns, knowing she was a princess of the realm, could not bear to assign her such lowly and exhausting tasks. Yet Agnes refused all privilege, embracing with a willing heart the dirtiest and most difficult work, and even washing the feet of lepers.
She also refused any financial assistance from the royal family, choosing instead to live in poverty and material deprivation as part of her austere practice. At one point she was so poor she had no money for a bed and could only sleep on the floor.
Yet within this life of hardship, Agnes found deep joy. She was often bathed in divine grace and did not experience her circumstances as suffering. And because she had relinquished so many attachments, God opened certain spiritual gifts to her: clairvoyance, prophecy, and the ability to heal illness.
Agnes later joined the Poor Clares, the contemplative order of the Franciscans, and entered the Convent of the Holy Saviour in Prague, which she herself had founded. Many people bore witness to the miracles she performed — among them, the prophecy that her brother Wenceslaus I of Bohemia would triumph over the Duke of Austria.
Frederick II, who had once sought Agnes's hand in marriage, deeply admired her faith in God and was profoundly moved by her unwavering commitment to the monastic life.
After Agnes entered the convent, his own faith deepened as a result. He resolved to spend his entire life respecting and protecting this courageous princess.
Though he was compelled to marry another woman in order to continue his lineage, in Frederick II's heart, Agnes was the only woman he ever truly admired and cherished.
A prophecy had long circulated among the people of Czechoslovakia: "When Agnes is canonized, Bohemia will be free again."
Agnes was declared a saint by Pope John Paul II on November 12, 1989. Five days later, on November 17, 1989, student demonstrations began, igniting the historic Velvet Revolution — in which the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia collapsed rapidly, with almost no bloodshed. The world called it a noble, civilized, and dignified revolution.
Many Czechs believed this fulfilled the ancient prophecy, and Agnes came to be seen as the guardian of the national spirit, and a symbol of peace and freedom.
In this present lifetime, both Frederick II and Agnes have reincarnated as Falun Dafa practitioners, fulfilled the vow they once made, and become husband and wife — and they happen to be people Ariel knows personally.
As for why Yu knows the life of this princess so intimately — it is because in that lifetime, he was Agnes's father, the king.
Ariel never imagined that even on a simple vacation, she could stumble upon a past-life story connected to Yu. Perhaps there are no coincidences in this world. Every encounter is a reunion with someone we have known before, after a long time apart.
And to follow the flow of life naturally — that is the finest arrangement life can offer, and the most beautiful scenery one can behold along the way. Don't you think?