SAINT WENCESLAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 December 1929, Page 9

SAINT WENCESLAS

HERO IN LIFE AND LEGEND.

Hagiologists differ concerning the year in which the saintly Prince of Bohemia met his death by the hand of a treacherous and envious younger brother, but in the land which venerates him as founder and patron of the Czech nation 929 is the accepted date, writes C. B. Mortlock in the “Daily Telegraph.” All agree that he died on September 28, the day on which he is commemorated in the Roman calnedar.

On that day the Cathedral, originally projected by the saint a thousand years ago and completed this year, is solemnly consecrated. Wenceslas built up a little church which he dedicated in honour of St. Vitus, and the great cathedral which is at last complete was begun by the Emperor Charles IV. (who was also King of Bohemia and the second founder of the nation) at a time when the kingdom was at the height of its power and prosperity. It is a happy circumstance that the consummation of his work coincides with the national and political renaissance of the nation.

Though in the St. Wenceslas Festival the religious element is naturally uppermost, it has been conceived as a great national celebration, symbolising the achievement of unity in the Czechoslovak nation.

The name of Wenceslas is familiar as that of the good king whose charitable deeds provided John Mason Neale with the theme of his famous Christmas carol; yet it may be doubted whether the knowledge of most of us goes beyond that of the story of his carrying faggots on. a winter night to a poor old man suffering from cold. There are many such tales reflecting' the gentle piety o fhis character. One relates how he would go into the fields and vineyards to cut wheat and pick grapes, and made therewith the sacramental bred and wine. Diligent as legend represents him to have been in such acts of charity and devotion, it is as a wise and far-seeing ruler and great reformer that Wenceslas is venerated in Czecho-Slovakia to-day. He assumed the government of his country when but a youth. The Emperor of the West was on the threshold with his armies, and the young prince, unlike his neighbours, saw the hopelessness of attempting to resist the Germanic forces. Instead of allowing his people to be swallowed up in bloodshed, thus sharing the fate of other Slav peoples on the eastern borders of the Empire, Wenceslas concluded a peaceful treaty with Henry. He took an oath of allegiance to the Imperial Crown, and engaged to pay a yearly tribute of 500 silver marks and 120 head of oxen. PAGAN RIVALS’ REVENGE. The consequences were twofold —the nation retained its national character and traditions, with support against the Magyars on its other frontier, and by the encouragement of German priests Wenceslas was able to further his passionate desire to Christianise the nation. With the princiaplity at peace, the saint was able to devote his remarkable energies to raising the religious, cultural, and moral standards of the Bohemians. When one considers the social state of Europe at the . beginning of the tenth century, Wenceslas seems remarkably in advance of his times. He carried out, for instance, drastic reform in the prison system, and abolished public gallows on the ground that they tend to brutalise the minds of the people rather than deter them from crime. He also put an end to torture as a means of extorting confession. Such activities, and the German aliiance were extremely distasteful to the pagan party, and Boleslas, Wenceslas s brother, gauging the extent of the discontent, resolved to take advantage of it He contrived the young prince s death while he was his guest. Wenceslas was accustomed to visit the principal cities of his realm at the dedication festivals of their churches. On the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian he came to Altbunzlau. His brother prepared a banquet in his castle, and, prevailing upon Wenceslas to remain until the morrow, fell upon him in the early morning as he was going to Mass. The cult of St. Wenceslas has_ been continuous ever since his tragic death, after a reign of but nine years. During the nation’s darkest period, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it inspired the people with courage. The Hussites had borne his image on their shields, and his name was invoked to lead the people back to the Papa] allegiance. Many years later, when the Czech delegates went to the Vienna Parliament in 1848 to uphold the nation’s rights, their departure was signalised by a Mass celebrated m the public .square of Prague before the statue of the saint. , , During the Great War the Austnan Government prohibited, the singing of the anthem of the saint, which had been in use at least seven hundred years, because they regarded it as a national protest. The’Czech battalions whose service on the side ot the Allies was one of the most romantic episodes of the war, had a picture- ot Wenceslas on their standards, . and when the nation recovered its indenendence as a result of the revolution If 1918 and by the treaties of 1920, one of the early acts of the new Parhament of the Republic was to decree that the first gold coms to be minted should bear the figure of Saint Wenceslas. ’