Saint of the day September 28: Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia. Catholic Saints

Every September 28, the Church celebrates Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia (907-935), Czech sovereign who evangelized his people and became a great defender of Christianity. He governed with virtue and justice, modified his nation’s judicial system and, among other reforms inspired by the Gospel, placed limits on sentences, especially those related to capital punishment or torture.

The Roman Martyrology says of him: “He was severe with himself, peaceful in the administration of the kingdom and merciful towards the poor, redeeming pagan slaves who were in Prague to be sold to be baptized.”

Grandson of a saint

Wenceslas was born in Stochov in 907, in the historic region of Bohemia, today part of the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). He lived during the first decades of the 10th century. He was the son of Bratislaus I of Bohemia and Queen Drahomira. His grandmother, Saint Ludmila (860-921), wife of the first Christian duke of Bohemia, was responsible for his education and taught him to love and serve God.

As a young man, Wenceslas lost his father unexpectedly, prompting his mother, Drahomira, to assume power. Once installed on the throne, the new queen began to rule against the Church and the nation’s Christians. Certainly, the majority of Bohemian nobles supported it, as they detested what they considered a foreign religion, contrary to their traditions. Wenceslas then sought refuge with his grandmother Ludmila.

Saint in the midst of political conspiracies

Drahomira, mother of Wenceslas, ruled with an iron fist and plunged the duchy into moral misery. Given the situation, Ludmila persuades Wenceslas to regain the power that rightfully belonged to him and stop the harassment against Christians. As soon as Queen Drahomira found out about this, she organized a conspiracy to murder her mother-in-law. The order to kill her contained a certain detail: Ludmila had to be strangled.

Providentially, before the crime was completed, widespread discontent among the people forced the queen to abandon the throne. Thus, Wenceslas found a clear path to be proclaimed king with popular support.

In the following months, Wenceslas, despite his youth, cautiously faced the division among his subjects. He governed with a high sense of justice and firmness, but with clear gestures of mercy. While he occupied the throne, he promoted a series of reforms to strengthen the peace and unity of his kingdom, reforms inspired by moral principles drawn from the Gospel.

The holy king, in that bustle, would give the Catholic Church a leading place both in the reforms and in the moral and spiritual formation of his subjects.

Victim of excessive ambition for power

Unfortunately, Boleslaus, brother of Wenceslas, coveted power, so he cunningly conspired against the good ruler. Taking advantage of the Bohemian festivities and the carelessness of the guard as a result of the festive atmosphere, he showed up at his brother’s room and stabbed him to death. The Martyrology has a different account of his death: “After suffering many difficulties in governing his subjects and training them in the faith, betrayed by his brother Boleslaus, he was murdered by assassins in the church of Stara Boleslav, in Bohemia (929/935). ”.

Three years later, Boleslaus himself, who after his betrayal was nicknamed “the cruel one,” repented of his crime and ordered Wenceslas’s remains to be moved to St. Vitus Cathedral.

A ruler loved by his people

The people proclaimed the murdered king a “martyr of the faith.” And in Bohemia – and outside of it – everyone recognized the piety and deep spirituality of Wenceslas. The king had made the crown a position to serve and not to serve himself. Very soon, his tomb would become a place of pilgrimage.

Saint Wenceslas is the patron saint of Bohemia par excellence, which is why his patronage is recognized today by both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.