Record: Young altar boy has already stood at the altar in 125 churches

Patrik Müller (10), an altar boy from the Czech Republic, has already served at the altar in 125 churches in various countries. The boy from Roudnice in the Hradec Kralove region has thus secured himself an entry in the Czech Book of Records, as reported by the Catholic online portal "Cirkev.cz" (Thursday).

In addition to numerous churches and places of pilgrimage in the Czech Republic, he has already been active as an altar boy in all Roman papal basilicas, in Bethlehem, Geneva, Brussels and also in the cathedral in Luxembourg. Patrik said that he enjoyed serving as an altar boy in St Peter's Basilica the most. The driving force behind his international commitment is his father Tomas Müller, who used to be an altar boy himself and enjoys travelling through Europe with his son.

According to the "record-breaking altar boy", he has no language or adaptation problems: "The uniformity of the Catholic liturgy makes it possible to serve at services abroad without much preparation. In most cases, it is sufficient to offer to serve as an altar boy in a church, the boy reported. Only in exceptional cases is prior registration necessary. This was necessary, for example, for the mass with Pope Francis, which Patrik celebrated as an altar boy in the Hungarian capital Budapest in 2023. There was also a record here: "The organisers confirmed to us that he was the only one from abroad," said Father Tomas. (KNA)