Legenda maior Sancti Stephani regis
The Prince Foretold and Prepared
Stephen is born, baptized, named, and designated as successor, all according to God's plan.
Meanwhile, the prince's son, as foretold by the Lord, was born—the one whom the Lord knew, according to the prophet, before he was even conceived in the womb.✦ Bishop Adalbert, beloved of God, baptized him with chrismal baptism in accordance with the truth of his faith and served as his sponsor.12 He was named Stephen, a name we believe was part of God's plan, for in Greek, Stephen means 'crowned' in Latin. God willed that he hold royal power in this age and decreed that he be crowned with the crown of everlasting beatitude in the age to come, so that he might receive perpetual, unfailing glory.34 The child grew up with a royal upbringing. Once his childhood had passed and he had crossed the threshold of adolescence, his father summoned Hungary's leading men and their followers. By their collective counsel, he appointed his son Stephen to reign after him and required an oath from each of them to confirm it.56
The Year of Two Crowns
In 997, Stephen's father Géza dies and Bishop Adalbert is martyred in Prussia.
After this, full of days, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 997,7 he exchanged the hardships of this wicked age for heavenly joy. In that same year, Blessed Bishop Adalbert entered Prussia to preach the word of God, where he was crowned with the palm of martyrdom.8
Read the original Latin
Nascitur interea predictus a Domino principis filius, quem secundum prophetam, antequam in utero conciperetur, novit Dominus. Hunc Deo dilectus Adalbertus episcopus crismali baptismate secundum credulitatis sue veritatem intinxit et susceptor eius fuit. Nomen sibi inpositum est Stæphanus, quod alienum a consilio Dei non credimus, Stephanus quippe Grece, coronatus sonat Latine. Ipsum quod et in hoc seculo Deus voluit ad regni potentiam, et in futuro corona beatitudinis semper permanentis redimere decrevit ad percipiendum iugis indeficientemgloriam. Crevit infans regali nutritus educatu, qui transvadata pueritia, postquam primum gradum adolescentie transcendit, convocatis pater suus Ungarie primatibus cum ordine sequenti, per communis consilium colloquii filium suum Stephanum post se regnaturum populo prefecit et ad hoc corroborandum a singulis sacramentum exægit. Post hec plenus dierum anno dominice incarnationis dcccc xc VII. seculi nequam erumpnas cælesti mutavit gaudio, et eodem anno Beatus Adalpertus episcopus causa predicandi verbum Dei Pruziam ingressus est, et ibidem cum palma martyrii coronatus est.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Jer.1.5 — Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Notes
- 1 ↩crismali baptismate: baptism associated with chrism; rendered as 'chrismal baptism' rather than flattened to ordinary baptism alone.
- 2 ↩susceptor: baptismal sponsor/godparent, not merely a generic supporter.
- 3 ↩Normalized reading treats indeficientemgloriam as two words (indeficientem gloriam).
- 4 ↩redimere is taken in the crowning/adorning sense with corona (cf. redimire), not as 'redeem' in the soteriological sense.
- 5 ↩sacramentum here is a sworn oath of loyalty, not the Eucharistic Sacrament.
- 6 ↩cum ordine sequenti: the next rank/order accompanying the primares; likely lesser nobles or ecclesiastical estate, left slightly open.
- 7 ↩dcccc xc VII parsed as 997 (900+90+7).
- 8 ↩erumpnas read as aerumnas ('hardships/toils').
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