Vita Wenceslai (Legenda Gumpoldi)
The Vision and the Delay
A lame man receives a dream vision commanding him to seek healing at the shrine of Saint Wenceslaus in Prague, but he initially ignores the call.
In the province of the Franks there was a certain man who had lacked the use of his feet from infancy, and with his nature impaired—not able to walk but only to creep along the ground by dragging himself—one night he trembled in a vision after falling asleep, because a man of wonderful beauty, dressed in white, stood by his bedside, roused the lame man, and showed him salvation, saying: 'However you are able, rise up, poor man, and head to Prague, the city of Bohemia, taking with you all the resources given you as a means by which you may be carried; set out and, when you arrive, enter the church of Saint Vitus the martyr, where the holy body of the martyr Wenceslaus rests; and once you have prayed there, beyond all doubt you will regain the full use of your walking.' But when he woke up, ignoring the commands and believing he'd been deceived by the dream, he put off the journey laid upon him entirely.
The Rebuke and the Reply
The visionary elder returns to reproach the lame man for his neglect, and the man, shaken, protests that he is not delaying his departure.
The following night, as the poor man rested in bed, he again saw the same elder, of such great brightness, standing by his bedside, and he reproached him in this way: 'Beloved poor man, rouse yourself from sleep, and recognize the true meaning of this vision.' At this, the rebuke stung the poor man—why such neglect? His body was weak and needed to be cared for. Why have you delayed the journey to your own salvation that was recently prescribed to you in my vision? Stung by the harshness of this rebuke, the lame man—his hearing shaken, but not ignorant of the truth—replied: 'I am not delaying my departure, O pious and venerable elder!'
The Journey and the Prayer
The lame man travels to Prague and prostrates himself in prayer before the altar of Saint Vitus.
And when morning came, a vehicle was prepared as quickly as possible; and with payment agreed upon, given to merchants heading along the same road, he hurried under their guidance to the already intended place, and following the instruction given by the man who had appeared to him in sleep, he was carried—crippled in his walking, infirm—by others' bearing to the church of Saint Vitus the martyr, where the blessed body rests. Prostrate on the ground before the altar, he prayed fervently to God and the saints.
The Healing and the Proclamation
Through the merits of Saint Wenceslaus, the man's sinews are restored, and he rises whole to return home proclaiming God's wonders.
With the aid of divine power no longer delaying, but through the wondrous merits of blessed Wenceslaus the martyr, the sinews of his feet, previously contracted, are stretched out as if with a snap, and the bases and soles are strengthened. He rises whole by the grace of God, and with thanksgiving offered, he goes out powerfully by a healthy and strong restoration of gait, without anyone's support, exulting as he returns to his homeland and proclaiming more widely the wonders of God.
Read the original Latin
Francorum igitur provincia vir quidam pedum incessu ab ipsa iam infantia carens, et vieiata natura non gressibilis sed reptilis per terram se contrahendo incedens, nocte quadam per soporem visione intremuit, quoniam mirae pulchritudinis vir, albis indutus, lectulo assistens, claudum excitat, ac salutem monstrat dicens: Quoquo modo valeas, o pauper, surge, ac Pragam, Boemiae civitatem, quamvis omni data pro vehiculo, quo feraris, substantia, proficiscere, eoque perventus, aecclesiam sancti Viti martyri, qua sanctum Vencezlavi martiris corpus requiescit, ingreditor; factaque oracione ibidem, gressus praeter omne dubium recipies sanitatem. Qui somno ermersus iussa neglegens, somni se delusum credens, iter impositum omnino differt. Nocte autem insecuta cubili pauper quiescens, eundem tantae claritatis seniorem lectulo iterum cernit adstantem, qui eum hoc modo redarguens ait: Pauper amande, somno excitare, visionis huius verum agnosce praesagium. Unde misero tibi neglegentia, corpus debile curandum? Cur iter ad propriam salutem nuper mea tibi indictum visione distulisti? Qua increpationis asperitate claudus evigilans, pulso auditus dubio, veritatis non inscius respondit: Proficisci non moror, o pie ac venerabilis senior! Factoque mane, paratur quantocius vehiculum; ac data mercatoribus per eandem viam tendentibus placita mercede, festino eorum ductu ad iam destinatum pervenit locum, et iuxta priorem viri in somno apparentis monitionem sancti Viti martiris aecclesiae, qua beatum corpus quiescit, gressuum orbitate invalidus, aliorum portacione infertur. Solo ante aram prostratus, intime deum sanctosque precatur.
Non diutius morante virtutis divinae subsidio, sed per miranda beati Vencezlavi martiris merita, pedum nervi prius contracti quasi fragore extenduntur, bases et plantae consolidantur. Surgit dei gratia sanus, relataque gratiarum actione, sana et forti incessus restauratione potenter sine alicuius sustentaculo egressus, patriam exultando ac dei mirabilia latius praedicando revisit.
Gumpold of Mantua's Vita Wenceslai (Legenda Gumpoldi) companion
Read the full Vita Wenceslai, a chapter a day
All 30 chapters are in Chosen Portion as daily readings, free on iOS, with 77 more royal devotional texts
Gumpold portrays a ruler whose devotion was a fixed daily discipline amid duties; Chosen Portion's brief daily chapter makes reading his life the same kind of fixed daily practice
- Finish the complete vita in a month at one short chapter a day
- Chapters average 1-7 sentences - readable in 2-4 minutes
- Move on to the lives of other royal saints when you finish