Caput 5
The King's Generosity
King Ladislaus is praised for his extraordinary generosity, enriching churches and establishing bishoprics, so that his almsgiving is remembered throughout Hungary.
And so, devout king that he was — armed with humility, strong in piety — he was outstanding above all in generosity. For every royal church and monastery, whether founded by him or by anyone else, was enriched by his almsgiving. For that reason, deservedly, to this very day the whole Church of the Hungarians still tells of his almsgiving. He also established two bishoprics and enriched them with royal generosity. For he was great and generous, true to his glorious name.
Devotion and the Miracle of Levitation
Ladislaus's rigorous practice of fasting, prayer, and vigils culminates in a miraculous levitation witnessed by his chamberlain at the monastery of Várad.
He persevered in fasting and prayer. He mourned the sins of his people, and on the altar of his heart he offered himself to God as a living sacrifice.✦ And if night vigils and longer prayers had wearied him, he would not return to a soft bed, but would rest a little in the side chambers of the churches. One night, then, he went into the monastery of Várad according to his custom, so that he might pray. It happened that while he was lingering longer in prayer, his chamberlain—who was waiting for him alone outside—grew tired of the long wait, stood up, and looked in, and saw his lord miraculously lifted into the air with a glorified body: a blessed man whom, though still living in the flesh, the weight of flesh did not weigh down, but the privilege of his merits was lifting him toward the company of the citizens of heaven.✦12
Read the original Latin
Cum itaque ipse pius rex esset, armatus humilitate, potens pietate, precipuus tamen erat largitate. omnes enim ecclesie et monasteria regalia, siue ab eo, siue a quocunque alio fundata, elemosinis eius sunt locupletata. unde merito usque in hodiernum diem elemosinas eius enarrat omnis ecclesia Ungarorum. duosque episcopatus ordinauit et regia largitate locupletauit. erat enim magnus et munificus, secundum nomen suum gloriosum.
ieiuniis et oracionibus iugiter insistebat. peccata populi sui plangebat, et in ara cordis semetipsum deo hostiam uiuam offerebat. quod si nocturnis uigiliis et prolixioribus oracionibus ipsum fatigari contigisset, non delicatum thorum repetebat, sed in exedris ecclesiarum paululum pausabat.
quadam siquidem nocte monasterium Waradiense iuxta consuetudinem subiit ut oraret. factum est autem dum in oracione diucius moraretur, cubicularius eius, qui foris eum solus expectabat, pre nimia mora tedio affectus surrexit et introspexit, uiditque dominum suum glorificato corpore mirabiliter in aera subleuatum, quem beatum uirum, quamuis adhuc in carne constitutum, carnea moles non premebat, sed prerogatiua meritorum ad consorcia supernorum ciuium subleuabat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rom.12.1 — Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.
- ↩Phil.3.20;Eph.2.19;Heb.12.22-Heb.12.23 — For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Eph.2.19 — So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 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, Heb.12.23 — to the assembly and festival gathering of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
Notes
Legenda Sancti Ladislai regis (Life of Saint Ladislaus of Hungary) companion
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