Vita Wenceslai (Legenda Gumpoldi)
The Prisoner's Plea
A condemned prisoner, bound tightly in jail, weeps and prays to Saint Wenceslaus for intercession to spare his life and allow him time to repent.
Meanwhile, someone captured by the judge's harsh sentence was thrust into a similar punishment of prison custody, to be executed the next day; and once the others were released, he was bound far more tightly. He also, weeping most bitterly, called upon the holy martyr of God, Wenceslaus, with the deepest prayers for his own aid, saying: "Holy martyr of God, if you have as much standing before the most high God as people say, intervene for me as I'm about to die, so that, freed by your merits, I, wretched as I am, may remain somewhat longer in this present life to purge the crimes I've committed."12
Deliverance Through Intercession
The prisoner's chains are miraculously broken by God's grace, and after being recaptured and praying again, his captors' hearts are softened to release him, prompting his joyful praise.
And right away — as has been told — the chains were shattered, how forcefully! by God's grace, with the guards unaware, and he was freed from prison; but outside, with pagan thieves standing by, he was seized again and bound exceedingly tight, and while he was being transferred farther in chains, for the price at which he could be ransomed, he repeated his earlier prayer; and with the hearts of the gentiles softened, they freely released him and let him go.34 But thus freed again, he magnified praises to God and to the blessed leader as he traveled through the lands.
Read the original Latin
Interea captus quidam severa iudicis sententia, in similem carceralis custodiae poenam, altera die perimendus, intruditur; et prioribus solutis, multo strictius vincitur. Qui etiam amarissime flendo sanctum dei Vencezlaum intimis ad sui auxilium precibus vocavit dicens: Sancte dei martyr, si tantum, ut homines dicunt, apud altissimum deum obtinere vales, interveni pro me morituro, ut tuis liberatus meritis, ad criminum purganda commissa miser ego praesente aliquantum diutius vita subsistam. Statimque, ut oratum est, ruptis quam fortiter vinculis, dei gratia nesciis custodibus carcere est exsolutus; sed extra astantibus paganorum latronibus iterum captus, nimium constringitur, et dum longius sub vinculis, precio quo possit commutandus, transfertur, priorem repetit oracionem; ac mansuefactis gentilium cordibus, sponte eum solvunt ac dimittunt. At ita denuo liberatus, laudes deo et beato duci per terras eundo magnificavit.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'freed by your merits' (liberatus meritis) reflects the medieval theology of the saints' merits applied through intercession; kept as-is to preserve the doctrinal sense.
- 2 ↩The comparative 'ut' after 'tantum' is rendered 'as much... as' to capture the reported speech's appeal to common opinion about the saint's power with God.
- 3 ↩The double liberation — first miraculous from prison, then through the gentiles' compassion — frames grace working through both extraordinary and ordinary means.
- 4 ↩'Sed' after the prison liberation is rendered 'but' to mark the sharp reversal: freed from chains only to be captured by thieves.
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