Wenceslaus: A Life for a Life
By Divine providence, the shocking murder of Good King Wenceslas led to a flowering of Christian faith in Europe.
935
By Divine providence, the shocking murder of Good King Wenceslas led to a flowering of Christian faith in Europe.
935
In the early 10th century, Bohemia (in today’s Czech Republic) had only just received the Christian gospel, and tribal paganism was still strong. Wenceslaus played a vital part in spreading light and reason into Europe’s superstitious dark ages — and so did his brother, who hated him and his religion alike.
WENCESLAUS succeeded his father Vratislaus as Duke of Bohemia in 921, aged thirteen. At once, his mother Drahomíra reverted to pagan ways, and ruthlessly nullified the influence of her saintly mother-in-law, Ludmilla, by having her strangled.
Wenceslaus, however, banished Drahomíra as soon as he reached eighteen, and kept his father’s Christian creed; they even said he would tour villages with a single page-boy, handing out alms. But his younger brother, Boleslaus, took after their mother; and in the early hours of September 28th, 935, he murdered Wenceslaus as the conscientious Duke attended Mattins.
That same night, Boleslaus’s wife had a baby.
A life for a life. The coincidence so shocked Boleslaus that he about-turned, and dedicated his stolen reign to spreading Wenceslaus’s gospel across Europe. Of his daughters, one became a nun, and another introduced Christianity to Poland; the boy born on that dreadful night became a clergyman, and Boleslaus’s eldest son and successor, Boleslaus II, established the first diocese of Prague in 973.
This is the same name as Wenceslas, Vyacheslav or Václav. The popular Christmas carol by J. M. Neale speaks of him as ‘good King Wenceslas’ but our saint was a Duke, not a King. He is not to be confused with King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia (?1205-1253).
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why was Ludmilla murdered?
To secure Drahomíra’s control over her boy.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Wenceslaus gave alms to the poor. People remember him for this. He was also martyred.