Legenda Christiani
The Saint Prepared for Martyrdom
Liudmila is pursued by enemies, prepares herself through confession and the Eucharist, and humbly confronts her murderers with maternal love.
Since indeed, as we said before, Christ's handmaid Liudmila had withdrawn herself from the sight of the faithless, she is pursued by her enemies in that same castle where she had taken refuge. For indeed the aforementioned leader — I mean Tunna and Gommo, sons of iniquity — sent certain nobles of her own, with a strong hand, to destroy her mother-in-law Tetinis. But Prescia, Christ's handmaid, mentioned before — aware of things to come — summoned her priest Paul, spoken of earlier, and warned him to chant the sacred solemn rites of the Masses. Pouring out her confession before the Searcher of hearts, most kind, now conscious of the blessings of the Most High about to be received, fortifying herself entirely with the arms of faith, she prostrated herself in prayer and poured out her petitions to God, that he might deign to receive in peace the spirit he himself had created.1 After the celebration of the Masses was completed, fortifying herself by partaking of the Lord's Body and Blood, she strove to sing psalms with an unwearied mind. When evening came, the tyrants mentioned above attacked her house, and bursting through the doors, they stationed the rest of her companions outside, armed with spears and shields. But the chief murderers — Tunna and Gommo — having taken a few men with them, burst into the chamber where the handmaid of God was lying and entered in a rage. To them blessed Liudmila said in a humble voice: 'What sudden madness drives you?' And are you not ashamed, nor do you consider in your hearts how I myself raised you as my own sons, and enriched you with gold and silver and fine garments? But if there is any guilt of mine in you, make it known, I beg you.
The Martyrdom of Liudmila
Liudmila is seized and strangled by her executioners after praying and requesting a swift death, receiving the crown of martyrdom.
But those men raged — harder than stones, their ears deaf to her words, their hearts hardened — and did not hesitate to lay their own hands on her; they dragged her from the couch and threw her to the ground. At this she said: 'Allow me a moment to devote myself to prayer.' When they granted this, she spread out her hands and prayed to the Lord. After this she said: 'If you've come for my destruction, I beg you — take the sword and cut off my head.' Eager to follow the example of the martyrs, to shed her blood and offer testimony to Christ, and longing to receive the palm of martyrdom together with them without end, she yearned with all her desire for the heavenly homeland of eternal life. We don't doubt that she earned the crown of martyrdom as well, since sacred Scripture bears witness: 'The righteous person, by whatever death they may have been overtaken, their soul will be at rest.'2 So the deadly executioners, scorning her prayers and her words, thrust a rope around her throat and strangled her, taking away her present life — she who was about to live forever with him whom she had always loved, Jesus Christ the Lord. The blessed and God-devoted handmaid Liudmila received martyrdom on the seventh day of the sabbath, and on the sixteenth day before the kalends of October, in the first watch of the night, in the sixty-first year of her life.3
The Tyrants' Vain Triumph
After the murder, the clergy scatter, the body is buried, and the murderers seize power and wealth in vain.
But when their pastor was killed, all of his clergy — every one of them — and all the home-born servants of both sexes scattered in different directions, lurking in various hiding places, and so preserved their lives. After these events, when the most brutal executioners had withdrawn to prepare his funeral rites, they gathered with great fear and wailing, and carried out everything that seemed necessary for his burial with the greatest reverence, and committed to the earth that most holy body of his. But the most bloodthirsty executioners, having seized the spoils, returned the lady to her own home, bringing her the greatest joy over the murder of the innocent woman, thinking they would be enriched forever and live for ages — for whom the savage and unquenchable punishments of Gehenna's fire, prepared and ready, were soon in store. But the aforementioned treacherous lady, the traitress of traitors, seized her mother-in-law's entire household goods, and when the aforementioned tyrants began to rule, she enriched them and their kin and household with extraordinary resources — with gold and silver and precious garments of inestimable value. And they reigned throughout the entire province of the Bohemians like magnificent rulers — but not from God.
God's Justice on the Murderers
Divine vengeance overtakes the murderers and their kin, fulfilling God's justice against those who raised their hands against His servant.
And so, for those who want to be rich and live in boundless joy and gladness, a just vengeance suddenly overtakes the wicked — those who did not shrink from committing so great and so cruel an offense, by which they raised their most dishonorable hands against Christ's most renowned servant without cause. Indeed, driven by their own father — the devil, the prince of all discord — they began to hold everyone of their own generation and age in contempt. Because of this, a disagreement and the greatest hatred broke out among those very leading figures mentioned above — namely Tunna, Gommo, and their mistress — so that every thought and conversation of the lady, day and night, revolved around their destruction. When the renowned tyrant Tunna saw this, with horrible panic rushing over him, he slipped away in flight from that same province, together with all his relatives and allies — hated by everyone, a vagrant fugitive wandering this way and that — and no one born from his lineage ever made it back home. But Gommo, when he was searching for his brother's hiding place during the flight, was seized and condemned to a death sentence, and with his brother he lost both this present life and the life to come. But their mistress, seeing them flee, poured out all the venomous fury in her heart against their descendants, and destroyed all of them — from the greatest to the smallest — in a single day and with a single sentence. And this was the first sign that shone forth from Saint Ludmila: while God's providence was at work, none of her murderers survived. Others, withdrawing from their own dwellings and fleeing in different directions — hated by all, struck by divine vengeance — breathed out the breath of life; their children died a most wicked death, and very many were struck down at the neck by the sword.
The Word Fulfilled
The Lord's word is fulfilled: all who take up the sword perish by the sword.
So the word of the Lord has been fulfilled, which he speaks in the gospel: all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.✦
The Saint's Glory Revealed in Death
Miracles at Liudmila's tomb reveal God's grace, and even the murderess's scheme to suppress them only leads to greater signs.
In those very days, at the tomb of the most blessed and often remembered venerable matron and martyr Ludmila, with divine grace at work, the splendid merits of her virtues and miracles were made manifest. For from her very monument there poured forth such a great burning fragrance of a wondrous and most sweet scent that it would have surpassed the fragrances of all spices and flowers.4 Many also saw wax candles and lamps blazing with divine light in the dead of night, three and four times, before their very eyes — and all these things did not escape the notice of the lady who had murdered her.5 When she learned these things, she was struck down with excessive fear and didn't know what to do. At length, hatching her poisonous plan again, she sent her attendants to Tetin, where the venerable buried body lay, ordering them to erect a house for blessed Ludmila over her tomb in the manner of a basilica, dedicating it in honor of blessed Michael the archangel, so that if any sign should shine forth there from then on, it would be attributed not to the merits of the blessed martyr but to the saints whose relics were kept there.6 When this was done, such a dread seized everyone entering the basilica that they would not dare to go in otherwise except with the greatest reverence, and from that time forward the splendid and remarkable miracles of virtues were made manifest in that very place.7
Read the original Latin
Siquidem, ut prefati sumus, subtrahente se famula Christi Liudmila ab obtutibus perfidorum, in eodem castello, quo confugerat, ab inimicis insequitur. Ductrix etenim prefata quosdam proceres suos, filios iniquitatis, Tunnam et Gommonem loquor, valida cum manu ad perdendam socrum suam Tetinis direxit. Prescia vero Christi memorata famula futurorum, antefatum presbiterum suum Paulum accersiens, monuit eum sacra missarum sollempnia modulari confessionemque suam ante Scrutatorem cordium effundens benignissime, conscia iam de percipiendis beneficiis Altissimi, armis se ipsam fidei totam muniens, oracioni procumbens, Deo preces effudit, quo eius spiritum, quem ipse creaverat, in pace dignaretur suscipere. Celebritate dehinc missarum peracta, Dominici se corporis et sanguinis participacione muniens, psalmodiam indefessa mente concinere studuit. Vespere vero facto, supra notati tyranni domum illius aggressi, valvas discrumpentes, reliquos sociorum forinsecus armatos frameis clipeisque statuunt, ipsi autem capitanei homicide Tunna Gommoque paucis secum assumptis cubiculum, quo Dei famula incumbebat, ostium disrumpentes ingrediuntur bachantes. Quibus beata Liudmila humili sub voce: Quenam, inquit, vos repentina vesania agitat? Et non erubescitis neque mente pertractatis, quemadmodum egomet vos ceu filios proprios educavi, auro argentoque vestibusque insignibus ditavi? Verum si qua in vobis mea iniquitas inest, intimate queso.
At illi furientes, saxis rigidiores, aures ad hec obdurantes, non veriti sunt manus in eam proprias inicere, lectoque extractam terretenus proiecerunt. Quibus illa: Paulisper, inquit, oracioni me incumbere sinite. Quibus hec concedentibus expansis oravit ad Dominum manibus. Post hoc inquit: Mei interitus causa si adventastis, obsecro, ut mucrone auferatis caput. Exemplo martyrum sanguinem fundendo testimonium Christo perhibere gestiens, ac palmam martyrii cum ipsis sine fine percipere optans, toto desiderio ad superne vite patriam anhelabat. Martyrii eciam coronam non dubitamus eam promeruisse, quoniam sacra Scriptura testante: Iustus quacunque morte preoccupatus fuerit, anima eius in refrigerio erit. Funesti ergo carnifices preces eius verbaque spernentes, fune gutturi eius inmisso suffocacione vitam illi abstulerunt presentem, victure in evum cum eo, quem semper dilexerat, Iesu Christo domino. Suscepit autem martyrium felix Deoque devota famula Liudmila septima sabbati die et sexta decima kalenda octobris prima vigilia noctis (anno etatis sue LXIo).
Clerus vero eius cunctus universique vernaculi utriusque sexus pastore perempto in diversa sparsi diversis in latibulis latitantes, vitam presentem sibimet conservavere. Post hec recedentibus crudelissimis carnificibus ad funeris eius officium magno cum metu et ululatu convenientes honestissimeque cuncta, que ad sepulturam fore cernebantur, peragentes terre glebam eius sanctissimam commendaverunt. Cruentissimi vero carnifices spoliis direptis dominam ad propriam regressi gaudium illi permaximum intulerunt innocentis de nece, estimantes se in eternum locupletari atque in evum victuros, quibus atrocia et inextinguibilia gehenne ignis supplicia parata mox inerant. Prefata autem perfida domina perfidorum, usurpans suppellectilem socrus sue cunctam, cum antefatis tyrannis regnare cepit, ditans eos propinquosque eorum ac familiam opibus eximiis auri argentique vesteque preciosa inestimabili. Regnaveruntque in tota provincia Boemorum velut magnifici duces, sed non ex Deo.
Quibus oppipare viventibus atque inestimabiliter gaudentibus letantibusque ulcio iusta divine vindicte improvise subsequitur impios, qui tam grande tamque crudele piaculum non horruerunt patrare, quo manus suas inhonestissimas in preclarissimam Christi famulam moverent absque causa. Namque patre suo, principe discordiarum dyabolo, exagitante, coevos coetaneosque suos ceperunt contemptui habere omnes. Qua de re excrevit dissensio odiumque permaximum inter ipsos primarios supra notatos, Tunnam videlicet Gommonemque dominamque ipsorum, ita ut omnis cogitatus sermoque domine de interita eorum die noctuque versaretur. Quod cernens memoratus Tunna tyrannus, irruente in se pavore horribili, cunctis cum sibi affinitate iunctis ex eadem provincia fuga labens, omnibus exosus, vagus profugusque huc illucque versatus est, nemoque ex stirpe illius progenitus in propria ulterius reditum habuit. Gommo autem cum fuge latibulum germano cum suo quereret, comprehensus atque capitali sentencia addictus, cum fratre vitam presentem pariter et futuram amisit. At vero domina eorum, cernens eos fugientes, omnem venenosi pectoris furorem in posteros eorum diffundens, universos eorum a maiore usque ad minimum una die unaque sentencia perdidit. Hocque primum signum sancte Liudmile claruit, dum Dei disponente providencia ex interfectoribus eius nullus superfuit. Alii propriis de habitaculis secedentes in diversaque fugientes, cunctis exosi effecti, divina ulcione tacti, exalaverunt spiritum vite, parvuli eorum impiissima morte defuncti, quamplures vero capite gladio plexi sunt.
Sic impletus est sermo Dominicus, quem in ewangelio infit: Omnes, qui acceperint gladium, gladio peribunt.
Hiisdem vero diebus ad tumulum beatissime et sepe memorate venerabilis matrone et martyris Liudmile, divina cooperante gracia, virtutum merita preclara patuerunt. Nam ex eiusdem monumento tanta flagrancia miri ac suavissimi odoris emanavit, que cunctorum aromatum florumque odoramenta evinceret. Quamplures eciam cereos lampadesque, lumine flagrantes divino, intempeste noctis silencio terque quaterque oculorum hauserunt acie; que cuncta dominam, interfectricem ipsius videlicet, minime latuere. Quibus cognitis, timore nimio prostrata, agendum sibi quid foret, ignorabat; tandem rursus venenosum instaurans consilium, apparitores suos Tetinis misit, quo venerabile corpus tumulatum iacebat, in mandatis iubens, quod domum beate Liudmile super tumulum ipsius statuerent in modum basilice, aptans ei nomen in honore beati Michaelis archangeli, quo si deinceps inibi claruisset signum aliquod, non meritis beate martyris, verum sanctorum, quorum pignora inibi detinerentur, deputaretur. Quo facto tantus cunctos ingredientes basilicam horror invasit, quo haut aliter nisi veneracione cum maxima inibi auderent ingredi preclaraque et insignia exhinc in eodem patuere loco virtutum miracula.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.26.52 — Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword."
Notes
- 1 ↩Scrutatorem cordium ('Searcher of hearts') is a divine title; the Latin echoes language used for God's omniscience.
- 2 ↩The quoted sentence echoes Wisdom 3:1–3 (Vulg. 'Iustus quacumque morte praeoccupatus fuerit, anima eius in refrigerio erit'). This is a deuterocanonical text; final resolution depends on Moses alignment.
- 3 ↩The date corresponds to September 15 (or 16), 921 AD. 'Septima sabbati die' = Saturday; 'sexta decima kalenda octobris' = September 16 by Roman inclusive counting. 'LXIo' = 61st year of her age.
- 4 ↩flagrancia rendered 'burning fragrance' to capture both the intensity and the scent sense of the noun.
- 5 ↩The Latin's 'dominam, interfectricem ipsius videlicet' is rendered to keep the identity of the murderess clear without over-smoothing the Latin's pointed phrasing.
- 6 ↩The long periodic sentence is broken into readable English clauses while preserving the causal and purposive force of quod, quo, and quo si... deputaretur.
- 7 ↩horror rendered 'dread' to capture the sacred awe without suggesting horror in the modern negative sense.
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