Vita Wenceslai (Legenda Gumpoldi)
A Vision of Loss and Ruin
A vision of collapsing houses foretells the death of the saintly grandmother Liudmila.
Then I saw a vision of the destruction of houses, and it foretold the death of my grandmother Liudmila, that blessed and venerable woman, happy in her seclusion.
A Mother's Pagan Conspiracy
Wenceslas's mother, steeped in pagan corruption, conspires with wicked servants to torment him for his Christian faith.
This was my mother's conspiracy — a woman as corrupt in her deeds as in her pagan lineage — carried out with a band of servants equally ready for wickedness, who would soon burst in with the weapons of evil men and, for the sake of the Christian name and the profession of faith, she would cruelly suffer bodily torment.
The Deserted Colonnade and Exile
The vision of an abandoned colonnade portends Wenceslas's unjust expulsion from the kingdom and the loss of all his property.
The colonnade, however — as the vision testifies — deserted by the people, its great size mocked by our clergy, portends a wretched expulsion from the kingdom and the undeserved loss of all property.
Family Pressure Against a Heavenly Calling
Wenceslas's pagan family, shaken by his devotion to Christ, secretly tries through servants' whispers to draw him away from his spiritual resolve.
Indeed, my mother — a woman of a hateful memory, devoted to a living sect (which the spiritual and significant foreknowledge of the young man chosen in his heart makes clear) — her envious parents, deeply shaken, constantly tried to pull away this most steadfast lover of Christ through the secret conversations of servants they had brought closer, using whispered words to move him from the resolve with which he had determined to pursue heavenly things more devoutly, on account of the public needs that had to be provided for by him.
Armor of Prayer in Secret
Strengthened by heavenly armor, Wenceslas outwardly yields to family pressure but secretly maintains an unbroken rhythm of prayer and devotion from a hidden book.
But he, strengthened by the protection of heavenly armor, would sometimes apply his holy ears to the trifles of such family suggestions, seemingly agreeing openly with the leading men of the kingdom; yet in the inner consideration of his heart he refused his consent in action. For although he appeared to yield as if moved by human fear, and visited God's temple somewhat less frequently than usual in public gatherings, what he loved in the depth of his mind he revealed through the remarkable constancy of his works — that continuous series of prayers and divine devotions which he had written in a small book and kept carefully and secretly with him. Having set aside the cares of worldly business, he recited it twelve times or more, sometimes in the silence of a private chamber or even his bedroom when no place for prayer could be granted, at fixed intervals through night and day, praising Christ with a pure intention to the very end.
Read the original Latin
Domorum namque visa destructio felicem (aviae) meae Liudmilae, sanctae ac venerabilis matronae, portendit obitum. Quae videlicet matris meae, tam genere quam operum etiam inquinacione gentilis, furiali cum aliquot ministris ad scelus aeque paratis facta conspiracione, non multum hinc processuro tempore clanculum irruentibus perversorum armis, pro christiani nominis ac fidei professione corporis crudelem subibit passionem. Porticus autem, ut visio testatur, populis deserta amplitudo, clero, nostro inluso tutamine, miserabilem praefingit e regno expulsionem tociusque substantiae non debitam amissionem. Enimvero execrabilis memoriae genitrix mea sectae vitali, quam pro spiritualis significativa praescientia iuvenis electi praecordiis elucente, parentes invidi admodum concussi, iugiter ipsum Christi constantissimum amatorem per satellitum vicinius suis adiunctorum conciliis furtiva alloquia commoventes, a proposito, quo devotius coelestibus capessendis insistere decrevit, ob necessitates publicas ab eo providendas aliquatenus avellere conati sunt. Ipse autem coelestis armaturae roboratus tutamine, huiusmodi familiarium suggestionum naeniis sacras interdum aures palam regni primatibus quasi consentiens applicabat, cordis autem interna consideratione assensum in actibus denegat; quia licet se quasi terroris humani specie simulasset cedentem, templaque dei aliquantum solito rarius sub publicis conventibus frequentasset, tamen quod mentis profunditate dilexit, operum mira constancia manifestavit; quà continuam precum divinarumque orationum seriem, quam parvo inscriptam libellulo diligentius occultiusque secum servando retinuit, depositis interim secularis negotii curis, duodecies vel plus eo, quamvis interdum nisi sub secretiore cubiculi vel ipsius thalami silentio orandi locus concedi non posset, inter noctis vel diei certas vicissitudines casta intentione Christum laudando ad finem usque perlegerat.
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