Legenda Christiani
The Blood That Would Not Be Washed Away
The martyr's blood, shed by the wicked, miraculously reappears each time it is washed away, defying all human effort to erase it.
The blood of the blessed martyr, impiously shed on the ground by the wicked and scattered across the walls, was washed and wiped away with water. But the next day, those who had washed it before come back — as if they had never poured water at all — and find the walls and ground stained with blood, which they hurry to wipe away once more. When this was done a third time as well, they saw they were accomplishing nothing and left.
The Scattering of the Flock
The persecutors destroy the martyr's friends and their children, but the faithful scattered flock is gathered and known to God, fulfilling the prophecy of the stricken shepherd.
But those same killers of the holy martyr, unwilling to spare even the one they had persecuted to death, hurry to the city of Prague at swift speed and destroy all his friends — whom we believe to have been good people attached to a good man — with various and cruel forms of death, and they submerged their children, still living, in the depths of the Vltava River. We believe that those who shared in his suffering were made sharers in both glory and in the number and names of those who were chosen — though we are unworthy, given their great multitude, to know them — yet we truly believe that God knows and has chosen them. The blessed man had gathered, while he was still alive, no small number of clerics and servants of God, whom the persecutors of the holy martyr pursued so fiercely that scarcely any of them remained in the homeland — so that we might truly see fulfilled in this what we know was foretold especially about the Lord: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.✦
The Lord's Vengeance Is Mine
The narrator proclaims God's righteous vengeance against the persecutors, who are tormented by demons, die like dogs, and are reduced to poverty and disgrace.
And now, as my pen moves forward to tell how great the wrath and vengeance of the Lord has blazed up against his enemies, I find myself compelled to proclaim the power and wonders of the divine nature — he who is always the most just avenger is present, so that the faithful guarantor may fulfill the things he once promised.✦ "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," he says.✦ For some of those who rose up against the holy one of the Lord with cruel intent, or who by mere assent were made partakers of so great a crime, were driven about by demons, fleeing through the wastes — punished by a miserable and fitting death, they appeared no more; and a part, dry and parched, remained even to their destruction.✦ But others among them died barking with gaping jaws like dogs, gnashing their teeth; and all their lineage, uprooted from the root — so I may say it — perished.✦ If any of them truly survive, they seek a livelihood for their wages by their own hands.
The Translation to Saint Vitus
After three years of burial, the martyr's body is revealed to be transferred to the basilica of Saint Vitus in Prague, fulfilling his own prophetic words and revealing God's plan to raise a great patron for the Bohemian nation.
The body of the blessed martyr rested, buried in the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, for three years. Afterward, it was revealed to certain servants of God that they should transfer the same servant of God from the place of burial to the basilica of Saint Vitus the martyr, which he had built from the foundation in the metropolis of Prague, God being the instigator, and had adorned excellently with ecclesiastical ornaments — in which basilica, while it was once being built, he is said to have spoken the following verse of the Psalmist as he walked about: "This is my resting place forever and ever." And the pious Lord deigned that this be done for the praise and glory of his name, and to declare the merit of the blessed man, so that it might be clearer than the sun to all nations that almighty God had prepared a great patron in his own piety for the Bohemian nation, long since converted to himself — Scripture confirming it: "In every nation, whoever fears God and works righteousness is acceptable to him," and also: "Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more."✦✦
The Nocturnal Crossing
Under threat of death, the faithful carry the saint's body by night; when a swollen river blocks their path, they pray to the martyr and miraculously find themselves and the wagon already on the far bank.
These things were announced to that fratricide, and because he was covered by the cloak of Christian soldiery, unable to resist the great deeds of God, he began to wonder — though late. Then he sent word and ordered the holy body to be carried away by night, on this condition: that if the sacred limbs had not been handed over to the burial seat before dawn — the task to which they had been assigned — they should not doubt that all of them would be punished by the sword. So they came that night and carried off the most holy body, which they had placed on a wagon and led all the way to a certain stream called Rokytnycze. And behold, the water had swollen so much that, overflowing the banks, it occupied all the meadows, and gave those carrying the holy body nothing except the death of hope. But when they were placed in such distress, it occurred to their minds to beg blessed Wenceslaus himself to have mercy on them through their prayers — the same martyr whose transfer had been declared through the most frequent revelations — and they say: 'O blessed martyr, because we have striven with devoted mind to carry out your command, now we are all handed over to be punished by the hostile sword.' Together they work so that some kind of bridge might be built. While these things are being done, looking back suddenly they see that they themselves and the wagon with the body of the precious martyr have been placed on that part of the river where they had arranged to go.
The Broken Bridge Made Light
After praising God for their rescue, the bearers face a broken bridge over the Vltava; again they pray, and the saint's body becomes weightless as they cross unharmed.
When the servants of the holy martyr saw this, they praised God and their saint with loud voices and their whole hearts — the God who had rescued his servants from such danger by his mighty power. Here the Lord's devotion was revealed, here the merit of his servant shone through such a miracle; here the glory of God and here the power of the martyr are made known — while his body is honored by a worthy translation, and the bearers of his funeral rites are set free by such power.1 Pressing on toward the river Vltava as well, they found the bridge broken and groaned in distress. Worse still, they began to feel the weight and, unable to lift it at all, they turned again to their prayers — that the saint's customary devotion might come to their aid, lest they lose their lives, since by the prince's decree the morning cockcrow was already passing.23 Soon, seeing that they had been heard, they lifted it onto their shoulders as if it had never carried any burden at all, and rejoiced that they had crossed the broken bridge without obstacle.
The Wound That Remained
Arriving at the prepared resting place, the bearers discover the body whole and healed except for one wound from his brother's blow, marked by a substance like white mud or snow that cannot be washed away.
So they came without any obstacle or hindrance to the place the saint had once prepared for himself. Then, with a light kindled, they looked and saw his body whole and all its wounds healed — except for the one wound that his most cruel brother had inflicted on his head. And while the spot was sound compared to the rest, it was set apart, coated as if with a kind of white mud — or snow — which they also tried to wash away, and it looked no different from the surrounding area.4
The Nail Given in Obedience
A grieving cleric, touching the saint's body, fears decay when he finds a loose nail, but is rebuked by companions who recognize it as a gift of relics; when he seizes it again, the nail is firmly restored to the flesh.
In that same hour, they say, among the other attendants at that burial, there was present a certain cleric of venerable life, who was bound to this saint as his most faithful friend while he still enjoyed the light of this life. He, while he felt the most holy body limb by limb, his eyes drenched with a shower of tears, gently stroked the hand of the saint placed upon his own hand, touching its nails — and finding one of them loose, he declares to his companions in a tearful voice: 'Woe to us sinners, because this most sacred body is seen to be on the verge of decay.' For behold, the nails appear wobbling too. The others rebuked him: 'Why, brother, do you speak such things? With your capable mind, do you not perceive that for the sake of your obedience — the obedience you were so zealous for — he desires to share with you the relics of his own body?' But he, striking his breast with his fist, said: 'Truly, truly — and I believe it will be so.' And seizing the most holy hand again, reaching once more for the nail, he touches it — and finds it adhering so firmly to the remaining flesh that no signs of looseness had appeared in it.
The Ear Restored by a Sister's Devotion
The martyr's ear, cut off in life and revealed in a vision to his sister Pribislawa, is found and rejoined to his body at her hands, and after translation is discovered perfectly incorrupt.
His ear, too — which had been completely cut off by a sword blow and had been found by his sister, the same sister who revealed it — is discovered perfectly whole and joined back in its place. For the aforementioned venerable matron — namely the sister of the blessed martyr, Pribislawa by name — had been taught from the very cradle by Christ the Lord to serve God according to the teachings of the Gospel, without complaint. After the Lord had freed her from the yoke of marriage, she had devoted herself wholly to God as one to be served, burning with thirst in her soul to be covered by the sacred veil, persevering day and night instantly with prayers, vigils, and fastings. To her, in a vision, blessed Wenceslaus appeared and said: 'Those who pursued me cut off my ear, which until now lies among the tree that is joined to the church and the walls of that same church, from the time it was severed.' Having learned of this revelation, the venerable matron roused herself from sleep and, seeking the place in the church where the most holy treasure of the ear had been laid, found it; and taking it up with reverence and great joy, rendering thanks to almighty God, she approached the tomb of her brother, the Lord's martyr, and with certain most faithful companions, with the greatest reverence she opened it, replaced the ear, and carefully closed it again. Which, after the translation of the remains of that venerable one, was found so incorrupt and joined to the remaining flesh, as we said — as if it had never suffered any trace of the iron.
Burial, Feast, and Eternal Reign
The holy body is buried with hymns in the basilica of Saint Vitus, where countless miracles occur; his translation is celebrated on March 4, and the chapter closes with a doxology to the eternal Christ.
So all the clergy and people who could be present came, and with hymns and songs laid the holy body to rest in a sarcophagus, burying it in the basilica of the holy martyr Vitus, where, with the Lord's help, through the merits of the holy martyr Wenceslaus, many and countless miracles are wrought to the praise and glory of the name of Christ our Lord.5 His translation is celebrated on the fourth day before the Nones of March.67 On the Nones of March, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever, amen.8
Read the original Latin
Sanguis beati martyris, qui ab impiis impie fusus est in terram et per parietes sparsus, lotus est aqua et abstersus. Sed die altera, qui pridem laverunt, regredientes, acsi nunquam aquam inmisissent, reperiunt parietes et terram sanguine infectam, quod rursus abstergere festinant. Hoc eciam facto tercio, videntes se nichil proficere, discesserunt. Sed idem sancti martyris necatores, eum, quem usque ad mortem persecuti sunt, nec mortuo parcere cupientes, cursu rapido civitatem Pragam adeunt et omnes amicos eius - quos bonos bono adhesisse credimus - diversa et crudeli morte perimunt et infantes eorum vivos in profundo fluvii Wltavie dimerserunt. Quos, quia participes fuerunt passionis, credimus esse effectos et glorie et eorum numerum et nomina licet nos indigni pre multitudine eorum nesciamus, tamen Deum scire et elegisse vere credimus. Adunaverat autem vir beatus, dum adhuc viveret, clericorum non minimam multitudinem et servorum Dei, quos persecutores sancti martyris adeo persecuti sunt, ut vix in patria aliquis eorum remaneret, ut vere in hoc impletum cerneremus, quod de Domino specialius predictum cognoscimus: Percutite pastorem et dispergentur oves gregis.
Ecce autem dum ad narrandum, quanta ira et vindicta Domini in hostes exarserit, stilus procedit, virtutem et mirabilia divinitatis predicare compellor, qui semper iustissimus ultor adest, ut ea, que olim promiserat, fidelis sponsor impleat. Michi, ait, vindicta et ego retribuam. Pars enim illorum, qui in sanctum Domini crudeli animo consurrexerunt vel qui solo assensu participes sceleris tanti extiterunt, a demoniis exagitati, per deserta fugientes, miserabili et digna morte multati, ulterius non comparuerunt, pars arida et sicca usque ad interitum permansit. Alii autem ex iis latrantes rictibus ut canes et stridentes dentibus mortui sunt, omnisque eorum prosapia eruta radicitus, ut ita fatear, interiit. Si qui vero supersunt, stipendiorum sibi victum manibus queritant propriis.
Requievit corpus beati martyris in ecclesia sanctorum Cosme et Damiani humatum per tres annos. Postea autem revelatum est quibusdam servis Dei, ut eundem Dei servum a loco sepulture in basilicam transferrent sancti Viti martyris, quam in metropoli Pragensi Deo auctore a fundamento construxerat et ornamentis ecclesiasticis adprime decoraverat, in qua aliquando, dum fabricaretur, deambulando dixisse fertur versum psalmigraphi: Hec requies mea in seculum seculi. Et hoc ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui et ad declarandum beati viri meritum pius Dominus fieri dignatus est, quo sole clarius cunctis pateret gentibus, quod Deus omnipotens genti Bohemorum, iamdudum ad se converse, magnum sua pietate patronum preparasset, confirmante Scriptura, quia: In omni gente, qui timet Deum et operatur iusticiam, acceptus est illi, et quia: Ubi habundavit delictum, superhabundavit et gracia.
Nunciantur hec fratricide illi, et quia Christiane milicie clamide erat obtectus, magnalibus Dei resistere non valens, quamvis sero, cepit mirari. Tunc misit et noctu corpus sanctum transferri precepit, ea condicione, ut si ante auroram in sedem sepulture sancta membra tradita non fuissent, quibus iniunctum fuerat, omnes se gladio multandos non dubitarent. Venerunt igitur nocte et sacratissimum corpus auferunt, quod plaustro impositum usque ad rivulum quendam, cui vocabulum Rokytnycze est, perducunt. Et ecce aqua adeo excreverat, ut eciam ripas superans prata omnia occuparet, et nichil preter mortem spei dabat corpus sanctum advehentibus. Sed tali in angustia constitutis menti occurrit, ut ipsum sibi misereri deposcerent beati Wenceslai precibus, ut qui idem martyr transferretur, frequentissimis revelacionibus declarare dignatus est, et dicunt: O beate martyr, quia tue iussioni devota mente studuimus, nunc omnes hostili gladio puniendi tradimur. Sinul et laborant, ut pons qualiscunque fabricaretur. Dum hec aguntur, respicientes subito, vident se plaustrumque cum corpore preciosi martyris ea parte fluvii, qua ire disposuerant, constitutos.
Quod videntes sancti martyris ministri, Deum et sanctum suum voce grandi et toto corde collaudant, qui famulos suos, tali discrimine positos, potenti tam virtute liberaverat. Hinc pietas Domini, hinc meritum servi tali miraculo patuit, hinc gloria Dei et hinc virtus martyris declaratur, dum et corpus digna translacione veneratur, et exequiarum eius baiuli tali virtute sunt liberati. Ad fluvium quoque properantes Wltave, pontem fractum reperientes, ingemiscunt, insuper et gravari ceperunt ac omnino eum sustollere non valentes, rursus precibus insistunt, quo eis solita pietate succurreret, ne vitam presentem amitterent, quoniam secundum edictum principis gallicinium matutinum transibat. Mox se exauditos intuentes, sustollunt eum humeris, ac si nil oneris umquam habuisset, pontemque fractum sine obstaculo transisse se gratantur.
Venerunt igitur sine aliquo obstaculo aut impedimento ad locum, quem sibi olim sanctus preparaverat. Tunc quoque accenso lumine intuentes, viderunt corpus eius integrum et omnia vulnera eius sanata, preter vulnus illud unum, quod frater eius crudelissimus capiti eius inflixerat. Et quidem quamvis locus sanus foret, a reliquis tamen distabat, velut quodam limo albo [nive] tectus, quod eciam studuerunt abluere, similisque reliquis apparuit.
In eadem vero hora ferunt inter reliquos eiusdem sepulture procuratores quendam venerabilis vite affuisse clericum, qui huic sancto, dum hac lucis vita pociebatur, amicus fidissimus nectebatur. Qui corpus sanctissimum dum per singulos palparet artus, manum sancti, lacrimarum imbre perfusus oculis, manui sue inpositam leviter ungulas ipsius attrectabat, ex quibus unam vacillantem reperiens, lacrimosa ad socios voce profatur: Peccatoribus, inquit, ve nobis, quoniam corrupcioni cernitur proximum fore sacratissimum corpus hoc. Ecce enim et titubantes parent ungule. Quem reliqui increpantes: Quare, inquiunt, frater, talia profaris, ac intellectu capaci haut prospicis, quod obedicionis tue causa, qua fervebas, reliquias tibi sui corporis inpartiri cupit? At ille pugno pectus tundens: Vere, inquit, vere, et existimo fore ita. Apprehensaque rursus sanctissima manu ungulam repetendo tangit, quam ita firmiter carni relique herentem reperit, ac si nulla vacillacionis signa paruissent in ea.
Auricula quoque eius, que funditus abscisa ictu gladii fuerat atque a sorore ipsius, eodem revelante, inventa fuerat, sanissima iunctaque loco suo invenitur. Siquidem memorata venerabilis matrona, soror videlicet beati martyris, Pribislawa vocabulo, ab ipsis cunabulis Christo domino edocta fuerat servire Deo secundum documenta ewangelica sine querela. Postquam enim eam Dominus a iugo maritali solverat, totam se mancipaverat Deo famulandam, estuandi siciens animo velamine sacro contegi, die noctuque instanter oracionibus, vigiliis ieiuniisque persistens. Huic in visione beatus Wenceslaus astitit et inquit: Auriculam mihi persequentes me absciderunt, que actenus inter arborem, que ecclesie iungitur, parietesque ipsius ecclesie iacet, ex quo tempore abscisa fuerat. Hac comperta revelacione matrona venerabilis sompno sese excuciens ecclesieque expetens locum, thezaurum auricule sanctissime, ubi et locata fuerat, reperit eamque cum reverencia gaudioque magno sumens, omnipotenti Deo gracias referens, monumentum fratris dominique sui ac martyris adiens, cum quibusdam fidelissimis maxima cum reverencia aperuit, auriculamque imposuit et cum diligencia rursus clausit. Que post translacionem glebe ipsius venerabilis ita incorrupta iunctaque carni relique, ut prediximus, inventa est, ac si nec vestigium ferri unquam passa fuisset.
Venientes igitur, quotquot adesse poterant, clerici et populi, cum ymnis et canticis condiderunt corpus sanctum in sarcophago et sepeliverunt in basilica sancti Viti martyris, ubi Domino opitulante meritis sancti Wenceslai martyris multa et innumera operantur miracula ad laudem et gloriam nominis Christi domini nostri. Celebratur autem translacio eius IIII. Nonas Marcii, prestante domino nostro Iesu Christo, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et regnat in secula seculorum, amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Zech.13.7;Matt.26.31 — Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me — declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. Matt.26.31 — Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'"
- ↩Deut.32.35 — Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slips; for the day of their calamity is near, and what is appointed for them hastens.
- ↩Deut.32.35 — Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slips; for the day of their calamity is near, and what is appointed for them hastens.
- ↩Ps.1.4 — Not so the wicked; but they are like chaff that the wind drives away.
- ↩Ps.58.6-Ps.58.7 — who do not listen to the voice of whisperers, a charmer of charms, skilled in sorcery. Ps.58.7 — O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; break out the fangs of the young lions, LORD.
- ↩Acts.10.35 — but in every nation the one who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him
- ↩Rom.5.20 — The law came in alongside so that the trespass might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
Notes
- 1 ↩pietas Domini rendered as 'the Lord's devotion' — could also carry the sense of 'the Lord's loving-kindness' or 'mercy' in this hagiographic context.
- 2 ↩gallicinium matutinum rendered as 'morning cockcrow' — the term marks the hour of dawn/matins; the narrative urgency is that the deadline set by the prince's decree was expiring.
- 3 ↩Wltave (Vltava) is a river name; the form in the source is uncertain but treated as the accusative of the Vltava.
- 4 ↩The source text shows editorial brackets around 'nive' (snow), suggesting a possible variant or interpolation; the translation includes it as an alternative reading.
- 5 ↩cum rendered as 'with' (accompanying circumstance) rather than 'when' or 'since,' given the narrative context of the burial procession.
- 6 ↩translatio in the ecclesiastical sense: the transfer or solemn relocation of relics.
- 7 ↩autem taken as continuative ('now, and so') rather than adversative ('here'), as the narrative moves to the date of the feast.
- 8 ↩cum here is a preposition with the ablative ('together with'), not a conjunction.
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