Even if you don't know the words you've heard of the old Christmas Carol, Good King Wenceslas and recognize the tune. Instrumental versions are played every Christmas.
Did you ever wonder who Good King Wenceslas was and how he got into a Christmas carol that hardly anyone knows anymore? He was born in the city of Prague in what is now the Czech Republic in the year 907. The Christian faith was new in that part of Europe then, and Christians were often persecuted. Wenceslas’ father Vratislav was a Christian but his mother DrahomÃra was a pagan. His Christian grandmother Ludmila raised Wenceslas and taught him about Jesus. Growing up he loved outdoor living, helping with harvests and making bread and wine for communion.
In 921, when Wenceslas was 13 years old, his father was killed in battle. His mother became the regent and set about to wipe out the Christians. She had Ludmila strangled and tried to get Wenceslas to give up his faith in Christ, which he refused to do. At 18, when Wenceslas came of age in 925, he became the ruling Duke and had his grandmother sent into exile.
Unlike most of the other princes of the time, Wenceslas did not use violence to maintain and expand his power, and he did not oppress and impoverish his subjects. The power of his piety won him the title “righteous king.” He was known to get up in the middle of the night with a single chamberlain and go barefoot to the churches in his realm. Through the churches he gave alms to widows, orphans and prisoners and was called “the father of all the wretched.”
By 935, Wenceslas had a son, and his pagan younger brother Boleslav was afraid he wouldn’t get to become ruling Duke. With the help of their mother and some pagan princes, Boleslav invited Wenceslas to a feast at the chapel in his castle. After a phony Christian worship service, Boleslav invited Wenceslas to spend the night. Even though he had been warned of a plot on his life, Wenceslas stayed. In the morning he got up and went to the chapel for early prayers. Boleslav and the pagan princes jumped out of hiding and stabbed Wenceslas to death.
These are things we know about the life of Wenceslas. But almost immediately after his death legends about him began to spread. Though he was a Duke and never a King, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I conferred on him the title of “King” because of his holy reputation, and the Church declared him to be a martyr for the faith and a saint. A statue of Wenceslas riding a horse with a drawn sword was erected in Prague, even though he was anything but a military leader. A legend grew up that when the Czech people were in trouble the statue would come to life and thousands of ancient knights who were hiding in a mountain would follow Wenceslas into battle to save them.
In 1853 John Mason Neale was inspired to write the Christmas carol by a legend that Wenceslas and his page went out to give alms to the poor on the day after Christmas. This was called the Feast of Stephen after the first Christian martyr and was when Christians gave the leftovers from their Christmas feast to poor people. The legend is that it was cold and snowy and the page was having trouble walking through the snow to deliver the gifts. But the miraculous warmth of barefoot Wenceslas’ feet melted the snow so the page could get through.
John Mason Neale used a 13th century Latin Easter hymn tune that was published in Finnish in 1582 to tell the legend of Good King Wenceslas. It was titled Now Is the Time for Flowering, and Neale was criticized for using a spring song in winter. Even if we don’t know the words or the story of Good King Wenceslas, we only hear that tune at Christmas never at Easter. Perhaps one reason the words of the Good King Wenceslas carol are not used much at Christmas is that they say nothing about the birth of Jesus.
Only the timing of the Feast of Stephen ties them to the Christmas season. However, the tradition of giving to care for the needy at Christmas time does trace its roots to Good King Wenceslas. Also, Wenceslas is an example of how the birth of Jesus transformed the world and all the people who follow Jesus as the Prince of Peace.
Good King Wenceslas
Good King Wenceslas 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
Gath'ring winter fuel.
"Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know'st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?"
"Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes' fountain."
"Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither."
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather.
"Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer."
"Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly."
In his master's steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.
FLOWER CAROL
Tempus Adest Floridum (tune used for Good King Wenceslas)
Words: Author unknown, 13th Century; first appeared in the Swedish Piae Cantiones, 1582; translated from Latin to English in The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928. Piae Cantiones was compiled and edited by Jaakko Suomalainen, a Protestant, and published in Finland by Theodoric Petri, a Catholic; this type of interdenominational cooperation was all too rare in those days of violent sectarian strife.
Spring has now unwrapped the flowers, day is fast reviving,
Life in all her growing powers towards the light is striving:
Gone the iron touch of cold, winter time and frost time,
Seedlings, working through the mould, now make up for lost time.
Herb and plant that, winter long, slumbered at their leisure,
Now bestirring, green and strong, find in growth their pleasure;
All the world with beauty fills, gold the green enhancing,
Flowers make glee among the hills, set the meadows dancing.
Through each wonder of fair days God Himself expresses;
Beauty follows all His ways, as the world He blesses:
So, as He renews the earth, Artist without rival,
In His grace of glad new birth we must seek revival.
Earth puts on her dress of glee; flowers and grasses hide her;
We go forth in charity—brothers all beside her;
For, as man this glory sees in th’awakening season,
Reason learns the heart’s decrees, hearts are led by reason.
Praise the Maker, all ye saints; He with glory girt you,
He Who skies and meadows paints fashioned all your virtue;
Praise Him, seers, heroes, kings, heralds of perfection;
Brothers, praise Him, for He brings all to resurrection!
Latin
Tempus adest floridum, surgent namque flores
Vernales in omnibus, imitantur mores
Hoc quod frigus laeserat, reparant calores
Cernimus hoc fieri, per multos labores.
Sunt prata plena floribus, iucunda aspectu
Ubi iuvat cernere, herbas cum delectu
Gramina et plantae hyeme quiescunt
Vernali in tempore virent et accrescunt.
Haec vobis pulchre monstrant Deum creatorem
Quem quoque nos credimus omnium factorem
O tempus ergo hilare, quo laetari libet
Renovato nam mundo, nos novari decet.
Terra ornatur floribus et multo decore
Nos honestis moribus et vero amore
Gaudeamus igitur tempore iucundo
Laudemusque Dominum pectoris ex fundo.
