Originally published at The Catholic Thing
Duke Václav I, sometimes called Václav the Good, ruled over Bohemia during the first half of the tenth century. Christianity was still very new to that part of the world (the modern-day Czech Republic), and Václav did a great deal to help Christianity – specifically Latin Christianity – take root. During his short life, he was renowned for his piety and love for the poor. He built a small Romanesque church within the walls of his castle to house the relics of St. Vitus; the small church would eventually be expanded into what is today Prague’s great, gothic Cathedral of St. Vitus.
Václav only lived to be about 30 years old, give or take. He was assassinated – martyred, really – by his younger brother, Bolesłav. The murderous Bolesłav later repented of his fratricide and lived to see his own son-in-law, Mieszko I, establish Latin Christianity in a newly unified Poland in 966.
As for poor martyred Václav, it wasn’t long after his death that the late duke received, by general acclamation, the title of “saint” and even (the Holy Roman Emperor conferring upon him posthumously the royal dignity and title) the honorific title of “king.”
More than a millennium
