The Feast Day for the Saintly King Wenceslaus

Today is the feast day of King Wenceslaus – yes, the King Wenceslaus from the Christmas Carol!

Good King Wenceslaus: “

King Wenceslaus Good King Wenceslaus looked out on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel”

Read more about the good saint here
here, and a great article at Catholic culture.

Lest we forget, today is a good day to sing this hymn!

When you think YOUR family is bad, you can always remember King Wenceslaus and then count your blessings.  Wenceslaus was the product of a mixed marriage – his mother,Drahomira, being a Pagan convert to Christianity. After his father’s death, Drahomira became the regent and greatly enjoyed her position, especially the part about persecuting Christians.

Wenceslaus was raised in the faith by his devoted grandmother Ludmilla, and when he became 18, Wenceslaus took over his kingdom and stopped the official persecution of Christian, although the blood shed continued.

In the end, Drahmira had Ludmilla murdered, and shortly thereafter Wenceslaus was attacked and killed by his brother while he was on the way to mass. This was the epitome of family dysfunction.

Christmas sheet music to download and play. You can dowload Good King Wenceslas here.