Catholic Heroes . . . St. Wenceslaus
By DEB PIROCH Good King Wenceslaus, originally a duke, was born in Bohemia, in today’s Czech Republic, during the tenth century. (The former Czechoslovakia was composed of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia; Slovakia is now its own country.) His father was an honorable Christian, but died or was killed in battle when Wenceslaus was only about 13. His mother, Drahomira, was instead a pagan, and had her other son, Boleslaus, raised likewise. In contrast, Wenceslaus was largely cared for by his grandmother, also a saint, St. Ludmila.She and her husband were Bohemia’s first Christian rulers, converted by the famous saints Cyril and, specifically, Methodius, known across Eastern Europe as the “Apostles of the Slavs.” It was St. Ludmila who determined that…Continue Reading