Vita Wenceslai (Legenda Gumpoldi)
Chains of Debt
A debtor is imprisoned and left bound between the road and the church porch while his creditors go about other business.
Afterward another man, too, was seized by those to whom he had owed some money for a long time under a moneylending agreement, and he was crushed for a long time under the constraint of chains, so that he might pay what he owed. But with other matters pressing on them, they wandered through the city, and meanwhile they left him bound, lying between the public road and the church porch, under guard.
Cry to the Holy Martyr
In his distress, the bound man raises his hands toward the church door and begs the saint for mercy, recalling others already freed through the martyr's intercession.
In the midst of his distress, he raised his hands toward the church door and prayed like this: 'O gentlest leader, most holy martyr, since your holiness has now snatched many from the hands of the wicked by interceding with the great God, I beg you, wretch that I am, don't forget me in my chains, but with your customary mercy set me free from here.'
Mercy Loosens the Chains
At the martyr's prayer, God's mercy swiftly shatters the chains, and the freed man enters the temple to give thanks before returning home.
With God's mercy present all the sooner, at the blessed martyr's prayers the chains were suddenly severed as if cut by an iron blade, and he himself, entering the temple of God to give thanks, and having offered prayers to God and the holy martyrs, returned home a free man.
Read the original Latin
Postea quoque captus quidam ab his, quibus aliquantum pecuniae sub accomodacionis pacto debuit, diuque sub vinculorum districtione, quo debitum solvat, contritus est. Sed ceteris inminentibus negociis, aliquo per urbem ipsi vagantes, vinctum interim eum inter viam publicam et aecclesiam deforis sub custodia iacentem dimiserunt. Ille media versatus angustia, manus contra portam aecclesiae levavit, hoc modo precatus: O dux mitissime martirgue sanctissime, cum iam multos ab impiorum manibus sanctitas tua ad magnum deum intercedendo eripuerit, exoro miser, ne me obliviscaris ligatum, sed solita pietate hinc me facias exsolutum. Praesente cicius dei clementia, beati martiris precibus quasi ferrea acie concisa, subito dissotiantur vincula, ipseque dei templum grates rependendo ingressus, prolatisque ad deum et sanctos martires orationibus, liber domum remeavit.
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