Saint Wenceslaus

Saint Wenceslaus was a duke of Bohemia, a just and devout ruler who was killed by his brother Boleslaus and his men. The Church venerates him as a martyr, and the Czechs honor him as the principal patron of their nation. His memorial falls on September 28.

He was the son of Duke Vratislaus I and Drahomíra and the grandson of Duke Bořivoj I and Saint Ludmila. The year of his birth is not known precisely; it is most often given as about 907. The Roman Martyrology says that his grandmother Ludmila instructed him in divine and human wisdom. Pope Pius XI, drawing on the old Lives, wrote that Wenceslaus also learned Latin at Budeč near Prague and that already as a boy he gladly served the priests at Mass.

Wenceslaus’s father died prematurely while his son was still a minor, and Drahomíra ruled in his name. During this time Ludmila was murdered. When Wenceslaus came of age, he took power himself. The Martyrology describes him as a man severe toward himself but peaceable in governing and merciful to the poor, who in Prague bought freedom for whole groups of pagan slaves put up for sale, so that they could be baptized. Benedict XVI recalled that Wenceslaus summoned priests, built churches, fed the hungry, welcomed pilgrims, and did not allow widows to be wronged.

At Prague Castle he built the rotunda of Saint Vitus, on the site where the cathedral stands today. He placed in it a relic of the arm of Saint Vitus, which he had received from the German king Henry I. Under pressure from Henry he chose peace over a ruinous war and agreed to pay him tribute. Some of the nobles, however, accepted neither his rule nor his faith.

Boleslaus invited his brother to his stronghold at Stará Boleslav. The next morning, as Wenceslaus was going to church to pray as usual, Boleslaus attacked him, and Boleslaus’s companions killed the duke at the church. According to legend, Wenceslaus had first managed to throw his brother to the ground and had given him back his sword as a sign of forgiveness. Speaking at Stará Boleslav in 2009, Benedict XVI said that Wenceslaus was able to pardon his brother who tried to kill him. He died on September 28; the year of his death is usually given as 935. An older tradition pointed to 929, and following it the thousandth anniversary of his martyrdom was celebrated in 1929.

A few years after his death Boleslaus had his body moved from Stará Boleslav to the rotunda of Saint Vitus in Prague. Wenceslaus was venerated as a martyr already in the tenth century, long before canonization processes existed. The Czechs call him their eternal prince and the heir of the Czech land, and the Chapel of Saint Wenceslaus in Prague Cathedral rises above his tomb. Benedict XVI noted that the crown placed on the heads of Boleslaus’s successors does not bear the murderer’s name but the name of Wenceslaus.

In Poland he is the patron of the cathedral on Wawel Hill in Krakow, which is dedicated to Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus. His grandmother, Saint Ludmila, has her memorial on September 16.