Friar Cyprian was born on 28th July 1724 as Franz Ignatz Jäschke in the town of Polkowice, Lower Silesia, which in the 18th century was part of Prussia. He studied in Wroclaw, Częstochowa and Brno and acquired knowledge in several fields of study. He was particularly focused on botany, floristics, medicine and pharmacy, but also on alchemy, mechanics, physics, aviation and cosmology. He spoke German, Polish, Slovak, Latin and Greek.       The name Cyprian was given to him when he was at the Camaldul monastery on Zobor Hill in Nitra. He came to the Red Monastery in...