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The saints

St. Wenceslaus

Good King Wenceslaus, a young duke murdered by his own brother on the way to Mass.

Feast: 28 September · about 907 to 935 · The Middle Ages · Bohemia

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Stone statue of St. Wenceslaus standing in armor, in Olomouc.

Michal Maňas, 2005. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Home / The saints / St. Wenceslaus

Stará Boleslav, Bohemia, 935

Wenceslaus was raised a Christian by his grandmother Ludmila, who was murdered in a family power struggle.1

As duke of Bohemia, he ruled justly and helped the poor.1

His brother Boleslaus resented him, invited him to a feast, and the next morning attacked him on his way to Mass.

Patron of Bohemia1

01St. Wenceslaus

Good King Wenceslaus

He was killed at the church door, and his people honored him as a martyr.1

The Christmas carol about him is a legend, but it gets his generosity right.1

Live it this week

Go out in the cold for someone

The carol tells of Wenceslaus carrying wood through the snow. This week, do one hard, uncomfortable errand for a neighbor in need: shovel, haul, fix.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Wenceslaus”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.