The Czech secular tradition, an inheritance of the Early Modern era: an historiographical problem of an historic question?

During the Second Vatican Council, cardinal Beran pronounced a diversely quoted speech. This archbishop-primate of Prague, who had recently emerged from a communist jail, spoke during the discussion about religious liberty of the forced conversion of the Kingdom of Bohemia during the 17(th) century. It was, he said, the origin of a "trauma", that explained the contemporary religious indifference of the Czechoslovak population. It was evident that in those times of communist regime, such an argument was a way of criticising the government. But it went further: this historical argument was a serious basis for Beran's relection. This paper deals with the relationship between the two phenomena, far removed from each other in time - a relationship that does not exist. Thereafter, the paper looks at the genealogy of this historical mistake, and seeks to explain how Catholic historiography, in the second half of the 20(th) century, held on to this concept when others had forsaken it.