St. Ludmila

St. Ludmila (born c. 860, near Mělník, Bohemia [now in Czech Republic]—died September 15, 921, Tetin Castle, near present-day Beroun; feast day September 16) was a Slavic martyr and patron of Bohemia, where she pioneered in establishing Christianity. She was a grandmother of St. Wenceslas, the future prince of Bohemia.

Ludmila married Borivoj, the first Czech prince to adopt Christianity. After their baptism by Archbishop St. Methodius of Sirmium, apostle of the Slavs, they built Bohemia’s first Christian church, near Prague. Borivoj tried to induce his people to accept Christianity, but he was unsuccessful. After Borivoj died, Borivoj and Ludmila’s son, Ratislav, married Drahomíra, Wenceslas’s mother.

Entrusted with the care of Wenceslas, Ludmila brought him up as a Christian. After Ratislav’s death, Bohemia was administered by anti-Christians, who opposed Ludmila and resented her influence over Wenceslas, whom she urged to take over the government and to maintain Christianity. Wenceslas’s ascent to the throne about 921 worsened Ludmila’s relations with the opposing party, particularly with Drahomíra, who, as regent, favoured the pagans. An ensuing feud between Ludmila and Drahomíra ended when agents entered Tetin Castle and strangled Ludmila, a deed that has traditionally been ascribed to Drahomíra’s instigation.

Oral tradition honoured Ludmila with martyrdom. Soon the first legends arose—a “prologue on St. Ludmila” in the Old Church Slavonic language and a Latin hagiography based on it. The best-known legend is the 10th-century Latin life of Wenceslas and Ludmila written by the monk Christian.