Saint Ludmila

Saint Ludmila was a duchess of Bohemia, the wife of Duke Bořivoj I and the grandmother of Saint Wenceslaus, whom she raised in the faith. She is regarded as the first martyr of the Czech lands and is venerated as one of the patrons of Bohemia. The Church commemorates her on September 16.

She was born around 860 into the family of a Slavic prince; according to tradition, her father was Slavibor. Her place of origin is uncertain: some accounts connect her with the area around Mělník, others with Lusatia. As a very young girl she married Bořivoj of the Přemyslid dynasty, the first Christian duke of Bohemia.

According to tradition, both were baptized by Saint Methodius, the apostle of the Slavs. At their stronghold of Levý Hradec they founded the rotunda of Saint Clement, regarded as the first church in Bohemia. The new faith, however, met with opposition from many nobles. The couple’s two sons, Spytihněv and Vratislav, ruled Bohemia one after the other after their father’s death. As a widow, Ludmila won people’s hearts by her kindness and her generosity to the poor.

Vratislav married Drahomíra, and their eldest son was Wenceslaus. The Roman Martyrology states that Ludmila was entrusted with her grandson’s upbringing and that she tried to instill in him the love of Christ. John Paul II, speaking in Prague in 1990, called her a strong woman, a model for mothers and grandmothers who know how to pass on the faith to the young generation even in difficult times.

After Vratislav’s early death, Drahomíra took over the government on behalf of the young Wenceslaus. A conflict arose between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law over influence on the young prince, and Ludmila found herself far from the court, at the stronghold of Tetín. There, on the night of September 15, 920 or 921, she was strangled by assassins sent to kill her; according to legend, they used her own veil. The Roman Martyrology, in agreement with the oldest legends, attributes her death to a conspiracy of Drahomíra and pagan nobles, although some authors consider her daughter-in-law’s part in it uncertain.

She was first buried in the Church of Saint Michael at Tetín. According to tradition, Wenceslaus, once he came to power, moved her body to the Church of Saint George at Prague Castle. Ludmila has been venerated as a martyr since the tenth century, long before canonization processes came into being. In 2021, for the 1,100th anniversary of her martyrdom, Pope Francis sent his special envoy, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, to the celebrations in Tetín. Her grandson, Saint Wenceslaus, is commemorated on September 28.