From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
September 28th - Saint Wenceslas, Martyr
(d. 938)
Wenceslas, born towards the end of the ninth century, was the son of a Christian Duke of Bohemia, but his mother was a harsh and cruel pagan.
His holy grandmother, Ludmilla, seeing the danger to the future king,
asked to bring him up. Wenceslas was educated by her good offices in
the true faith, and under her tutelage acquired an exceptional
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. At the death of his father,
however, he was still a minor, and his mother assumed the government
and passed a series of persecuting laws. In the interests of the
Faith, Wenceslas, encouraged by his grandmother, claimed and obtained
through the support of the people, a large portion of the country as
his own kingdom. Soon afterwards his grandmother was martyred, out of
hatred of her faith and services to her country, while making her
thanksgiving after Holy Communion.
His mother secured the apostasy and alliance of her second son,
Boleslas, who became henceforth her ally against the Christians.
Wenceslas in the meantime ruled as the brave and pious king of
Bohemia. When his kingdom was attacked, the prince of the invading
army, which had been called in by certain seditious individuals, was approaching with a lance to slay him. This prince, named Radislas, saw
two celestial spirits beside him; he had already seen him make the
sign of the cross and then heard a voice saying not to strike him.
These marvels so astonished him that he descended from his horse,
knelt at the feet of Wenceslas and asked his pardon. Peace was then reestablished in the land.
In the service of God Saint Wenceslas was constant, planting with his
own hands the wheat and pressing the grapes for Holy Mass, at which he
never failed to assist each day. He provided for the poor and himself
took what they needed to them at night, to spare them the shame they
might incur if their poverty became public knowledge. He desired to
introduce the Benedictine Order into his kingdom, but was struck down
by a violent death before he could do so and himself enter a
monastery, as he wished to do.
His piety provided the occasion for his death. After a banquet at his
brother's palace, to which he had been treacherously invited and wh=
ere
he manifested great gentleness towards his brother and mother, he went
to pray at night before the tabernacle, as he was accustomed to do.
There, at midnight on the feast of the Angels in the year 938, he
received the crown of martyrdom by the sword, at the hand of his own
brother.
Reflection: Saint Wenceslas teaches us that the safest retreat amid
the trials of life, or to prepare for the stroke of death, is the
sanctuary of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary She=
a
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des
Saints, by Msgr. Paul Gu=C3=A9rin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11.
Saint Quote:
By the other virtues, we offer God what we possess; but by obedience,
we offer ourselves to Him. They who obey are conquerors, because by
submitting themselves to obedience they triumph over the Angels, who
fell through disobedience.
--St. Gregory
Bible Quote:
What have you that you have not received? And if you have received it,
why do you boast as if you had not received it?=C2 (I Cor. 4:7)
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O Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray to thy Divine Son for me, a poor sinner;
beg Him to make me humble. Oh, how humble art thou, the purest of
Virgins; thou, my powerful mediatrix; thou, O most holy among the
children of Adam, who art the exalted Mother of God! Thou didst
declare thyself the handmaid of Him Whose Mother thou art.
Behold, my dear heavenly Mother, how gladly I would dedicate myself to
thy Divine Son, that His Will may also be mine. But my pride, my
self-esteem, my vanity, are always against me. I struggle against
them, and yet I allow them to surprise and deceive me so often. Oh,
how this afflicts me! Mary, Refuge of Sinners, if I were only sincere
when I beg of thee to obtain humiliation for me. But alas, whilst
praying for such helps to humility, I fear the granting of my prayer.
I clearly see better things; I even desire their possession and yet I
shrink from what alone can give me true humility.
Behold my trials, my combats in this valley of tears! O my dearest
Mother, if to be freed from this body would give glory to God, how
gladly would I not lay down my life.
Amen.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)