Also known as:
German: Wenzel;
Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, St. Wenceslas;
French: Venceslas;
Italian: San Venceslao, Václav
WENCESLAUS, saint, martyr - Statue of St. W. by Peter Parler (1373) - Prague, Cathedral of St. Vitus.
WENCESLAUS, Saint, Martyr. - Duke of Bohemia, of the Přemyslid family, b. ca. 907, d. at Stará Boleslav, on 28 Sept. 935.
Educated in the Catholic faith by his grandmother Ludmila, he took the reins of the government of Bohemia ca. 925; but from the outset he clashed with the strong hostility of the anti-German party, which was favored by his mother Drahomira. Since the spread of Christianity, among populations attached to their pagan practices, was impossible without the assistance of Bavarian or Swabian missionaries, a silent hatred was nourished and developed among the nobles against the young prince. The animosity of the subjects increased, moreover, when the king of Germany Henry I appeared beneath the walls of Prague (929) with a powerful army and imposed recognition of his authority. The Germanophobe party, then, decided on the death of the duke, who seemed to them anti-national. Boleslaus, the younger brother of V., invited him to the castle of Stará Boleslav and brought about his assassination on 28 Sept. 935. Subsequently the unfortunate victim came to be venerated as a martyr. Feast on 28 Sept.
Bibliography7 workssome lives of St. V., in J. Martinov, Annus ecclesiast. graeco-slavicus, Bruxelles 1863, p. 234-36; Fontes rerum Bohemicarum, I, Praga 1873,
BIBL.: some lives of St. V., in J. Martinov, Annus ecclesiast. graeco-slavicus, Bruxelles 1863, p. 234-36; Fontes rerum Bohemicarum, I, Praga 1873, pp. 125-26, 144-56, 167-90, 199-227; Acta SS. Septembris, VII, Anversa 1760, p. 700 ff.; A. Naegle, Der hl. Wenzel, Warnsdorf 1928; P. David, Bohême, in DHG. IX, col. 475; Martyr. Romanum, p. 421 f.; Fliche-Martin-Fruta, VIII, p. 404 f.
Mollat, Guglielmo. “Venceslao, santo, martire.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, col. 1179. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/venceslao-santo-martire.
MLA
Mollat, Guglielmo. “Venceslao, santo, martire.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, col. 1179. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/venceslao-santo-martire.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec12_venceslao_santo_martire,
author = {Mollat, Guglielmo},
title = {Venceslao, santo, martire},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XII},
pages = {1179},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1954},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/venceslao-santo-martire}
}
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