Probably best known to most English speakers from the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas,” this Central European saint was actually a duke. To those who've been to Prague, he's best known for the large equestrian statue at the head of Wenceslas Square. Crowds gathered around him - and four other Czech saints surrounding the plinth - in 1968, as Soviet tanks rumbled over the cobblestones, and in the protests of 1989 which finally brought freedom. Although Czechs are widely reputed for lack of religion, they still widely look up to him as an essential symbol of their nation and state.
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The carol reflects largely on legend about his doing good works for the poor, which is accurate from the standpoint of the hagiographical material. In addition to his charity, he was known for promoting peace and Christianity, tearing down pagan idols, and growing grain and wine for communion.
Wenceslas (b. 907 [903?] near Prague) was the grandson of Bořivoj, a ruler of Bohemia who had converted to Christianity, but many of whose powerful relatives remained pagan. Bořivoj’s wife was St. Ludmila, who oversaw Wenceslas’ upbringing until he attended a Latin school in Budeč. Ludmila assisted in this Christian education by her chaplain Paul, who was a disciple of St. Methodius and had personally baptized Wenceslas.
Wenceslas’ parents were Vratislav, who ruled Bohemia from 915, and Drahomíra, who according to Butler’s was “daughter of the chief of the Veletians, a Slav tribe from the north.” Wenceslas’ younger Brother was Boleslav (Boleslaus). After Vratislav was killed in fighting with the Magyars (Hungarians), Drahomíra, who was nominally Christian, adopted a policy hostile to the new religion. From this time, around 922 or 923, Wenceslas reigned under his mother’s regency. Against this backdrop, St. Ludmila encouraged Wenceslas to assume full power. Two nobles went to Ludmila’s castle at Tetín and strangled her in order to end her influence over him and to hinder Wenceslas’ ascension, but Wenceslas managed to take over the reins of state in 924 or 925.
According to one source (Životy), Wenceslas had his mother banished for the crime; another (Butler’s) claims that he recalled her to court from Budeč after her banishment and that “there is no evidence that for the future she ever opposed Wenceslaus.” Životy also states that Wenceslas had his grandmother’s remains transferred to Prague.
Wenceslas acquired relics of St. Vitus, a saint of Saxony, from Henry I (the Fowler), with whom the young Bohemian ruler pursued peace, recognizing the Saxon as the legitimate successor of Charlemagne. According to legend, Henry saw on Wenceslas’ helmet a luminous cross and two angels and excused him for his late arrival at an imperial council. According to another legend, rival prince Radslav also saw this sign when about to fight with Wenceslas, who had sought a duel in order to avoid greater bloodshed, and acknowledged the sovereignty of the latter.
His conciliatory policies and his promotion of Christianity garnered for Wenceslaus many enemies among those nobles still practicing paganism. Boleslav apparently conspired with them after the birth of Wenceslas’ son, which effectively cut off the younger brother’s path to the throne. Boleslav invited Wenceslas to his home in Stará Boleslav for the feast of Cosmas and Damian. The next morning, as Wenceslas was going to mass, his brother and his co-conspirator’s killed him. The saint’s dying words were, “Brother, may God forgive you.”
Wenceslas was first buried in the Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian in Stará Boleslav, but his remains were removed three years later, at the behest of Boleslav, to the Cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague, which Wenceslas had been active in building.
The Crown of St. Wenceslas, probably first worn by Charles IV (b. 1316, d. 1378), has become an important symbol of Czech statehood. His feast day is an official holiday, Czech Statehood Day, in the Czech Republic.
There used to be a YouTube video with music composed (based on an ancient choral to the saint) in the autumn of 1989, and showing various stages of Communist oppression in the former Czechoslovakia, from the show trial of Milada Horáková, to the Warsaw Pact Invasion of 1968, to the downfall of Communism (it began with images of the infamous Pankrác Prison and ends with its destruction). The music is a very touching song invoking the saint’s aid: Saint Wenceslas, do not go away and remain with us, do not abandon us. Below is a video of my rendition of the song for the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, including my English rendition, starting (with some spoken intro) at around 10:00.
Životy svätých: Ikonografia. Ivan Rusina, Marian Zervan. Bratislava: Pallas, 1994.
Butler’s Lives of the Saints: Concise Edition, Revised and Updated. Michael Walsh, ed. San Francisco: Harper, 1991.