Legenda maior Sancti Stephani regis
Devotion to Mary and the Basilica of Alba
Stephen entrusts himself and his kingdom to the Virgin Mary and builds a magnificent basilica in her honor at Alba, richly adorned with precious ornaments.
This man was faithful, completely devoted to God in all he did, entrusting himself and his kingdom to the protection of the perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of God, through vows, offerings, and constant prayer. Her honor and glory are so renowned among the Hungarians that the feast of her Assumption is called, in their own language and without adding her name, simply 'the Queen's Day.' And so that he might win still greater mercy from her protection, he began to build, in the royal city called Alba, a famous and great basilica of marvelous workmanship, dedicated to the praise and title of that same perpetual Virgin, with carvings on the choir wall and a floor laid with marble slabs.1 Anyone who has seen it can testify to the truth of our words: that there are countless kinds of altar cloths, vestments, and other ornaments there; around the altars, many panels made of purest gold with rows of the most precious stones; a ciborium of marvelous craftsmanship raised above the table of Christ; and a chamber fully stocked with every kind of vessel—crystal, gold, and silver.2
Total Surrender to Christ
Stephen resolves to give back to Christ everything he has received, trusting that the Lord who honored him in this life will grant him citizenship in heaven.
This son of God now resolved to hand over to Christ everything he then possessed and could still acquire—everything he had brought together by His gift—so that the One who had made him worthy of the glory and honor of the present world might mercifully deign to number him among the citizens of the heavenly homeland.✦✦3
Read the original Latin
Erat vir iste fidelis, in omnibus actibus suis Deo perfecte deditus, per votum et oblationem semet cum regno suo sub tutela perpetue virginis Dei genitricis Marie precibus assiduis conferens, cuius honor et gloria tam celebris inter Ungaros habetur, quod ætiam festivitas assumptionis eiusdem virginis sine additamento proprii nominis ipsorum lingua regine dies vocitetur. Et, ut maiorem ipsius defensionis misericordiam consequi valeret, in ipsa regalis sedis civitate, que dicitur Alba, sub laude et titulo virginis eiusdem perpetue famosam et grandem basilicam opere mirifico, celaturis in chori pariete distinctis, pavimento tabulis marmoreis strato construere cepit. Quam qui vidit, testimonium veritati verborum nostrorum perhibet innumerabilia palliorum, paramentorum et aliorum ornamentorum ibi esse genera, circa altaria tabulas plures auro purissimo fabricatas, lapidum series preciosissimorum in se continentes, cyborium arte mirabili supra Christi mensam erectum, cameram omni genere vasorum cristallinorum, aureorum, argenteorum pleniter refertam.
Decrevit iam filius Dei, que tunc habebat et adquirere poterat, omnia Christo, que ipsius dono iunxerat, conferre, ut, qui eum gloria et honore mundi presentis dignum fecerat, celestis patrie civibus clementer associare dignaretur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.8.6 — You have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.
- ↩Phil.3.20;Heb.12.22 — For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Heb.12.22 — But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
Notes
- 1 ↩celaturis taken as caelaturis, "carvings/engravings"; cepit as coepit, "began."
- 2 ↩Christi mensam rendered as "the table of Christ" (the altar); cyborium kept as ciborium, the canopy or vessel structure over the altar.
- 3 ↩filius Dei is rendered as 'this son of God' for King Stephen as God's child, not as Christ the Son; Christ is the recipient (Christo) and qui...fecerat is the One who had made him worthy.
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