Vita Wenceslai (Legenda Gumpoldi)
The Prisoners' Affliction
Criminals are imprisoned in chains under cruel guard at the prince's command.
Some men arrested on a criminal charge entered the palace in chains, and at the prince's order were shut up in prison, bound hand and foot with tighter fetters below, entangled under a cruel guard.
A Midnight Prayer for Deliverance
The prisoners pray to God through the intercession of Saint Wenceslas for rescue from death.
They kept watch in the middle of the night, as they had to, and worn down miserably by the tightness of their shackles and manacles, beating their hearts with bitter groaning, while the guard dozed a little, all broke out together in weeping into these words of prayer: O highest consoler of those who groan, God of heaven and earth, wondrous creator, look upon us, destined for the jurisdiction of death, and through the intercessions of your beloved knight Wenceslas, who now alive in the world has always shown himself a kind defender of the wretched for your name's sake, deign to lead us most wretched ones out of the damnation that stands ready.
Darkness, Light, and a Heavenly Voice
Darkness covers the guards while light fills the prisoners' cell, and a heavenly voice commands them to rise.
When the prayer had been made, the middle part of the prison where the guards stood watching was suddenly darkened as if by the thickest air; and once the burning lamps of the watchmen inside had been extinguished, the other part where the bound men lay was brightened as if by the brightest sun. And behold, a sudden voice sent forth from heaven, as is truly to be believed, thundered into the ears of the bound ones; it commanded that they rise.
Chains Broken, Prison Opened
The prisoners' chains shatter and the prison door opens by God's power, and they go free.
Stunned as much by fear as by joy, they silently move their limbs; and immediately the chains, broken apart into pieces, fall away, and their hands and feet are loosed; and with the prison door opened by God, they go out joyful. So it happened.
Praise Among the Peoples
Freed by God, the men praise Christ and Saint Wenceslas and spread word of his wonders.
Set free by the will of God, they bring praises to Christ and to his holy martyr Wenceslas among the peoples, and believing and marveling, they strive most steadfastly to spread the immense wonders of his virtues.
Read the original Latin
Quidam crimine iudiciario capti, palatium sub vinculis ingressi, principis iussu carceri includuntur, tenatioribus infra ligaminibus per manus ac pedes sub crudeli custodia impli- cantur. Qui media nocte, ut erat necesse, pervigiles, strictura compedum ac manicarum miserabiliter contriti, gemitu amaro corda pulsantes, in huiusmodi verba orationis, dormitante parum custode, omnes simul flendo proruperunt: O summe gementium consolator deus, coeli terraeque mirabilis creator, aspice nos mortis iuri destinatos, et per suffragia dilecti tui Vencezlavi militis, qui semper iam in mundo vivus, miseris pro tuo nomine benignus exstitit defensor, ab instanti damnatione educere nos miserrimos dignare. Facta oracione, media pars carceris, qua custodes stantes vigilabant, repente tota quasi aére densissimo obnubilatur; extinctisque intus ardentibus vigilum lucernis, cetera pars, qua vincti iacent, quasi sole clarissimo serenatur. Et ecce vox repentina, coelitus, ut vere credendum est, emissa, vinctis in aures tonat; ut surgant, indicit. Qui ergo tam pavore quam laeticia stupefacti, membra silenter movent; statimque vincula in partes disrupta decidunt, manus solvuntur ac pedes; apertoque divinitus carceris hostio, laeti exiliunt. Ita. dei nutu expediti, laudes Christo sanctoque eius martiri Vencezlavo inter populos referunt, inmensaque virtutum eius mirabilia constantissime et credentes et ammirantes propagare decertant.
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