Saint Procopius of Sázava (died March 25, 1053) was a Bohemian canon and hermit, canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic church in 1204.
Little about his life is known with certainty. According to hagiographical tradition, he was born in 970, in a Central Bohemian village near Kouřim. He studied in Prague and was ordained there. He was married and had a son, called Jimram (Emeranus) but later entered the Benedictine order, presumably at Břevnov Monastery, and eventually retired to the wilderness as a hermit, living in a cave on the banks of Sázava River, where over time he attracted a group of fellow hermits. The community of hermits was incorporated as a Benedictine monastery by the duke of Bohemia in 1032/3, now known as Sázava Monastery, or St Procopius Monastery, where he served as the first abbot for the span of twenty years until his death.
Local veneration of Procopius as a saint is recorded for the 12th century. After his canonization, he became greatly venerated throughout Bohemia, to the point of his being considered the national saint of the kingdom of Bohemia. His remains were transferred to All Saints Church in Prague Castle in 1588.
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