And why does he get his very own carol? This is the second installment in my search for the origins of some of the more popular carols, so I should quote it:
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,
gathering winter fuel.
Wenceslas was a Bohemian. Duke of, in fact. He’d been raised by his Christian grandmother, Ludmila, in the early 900s. But, his mother, Drahomira, was the daughter of pagan tribal chief and there were concerns about the Christians coming in and taking over everything. Mom and Grandma had a bit of a spat over this, and Granny Lud took off for Tetin Castle in hopes of finding sanctuary. She was later murdered there. Drahomira had the right to rule after that (her hubby, Lud’s son, had died in a war), and fought valiantly to return the country to paganism and keep their borders secure. She also tried to turn her son back to his pagan roots but he still practiced Christianity in secret.
This, no doubt, helped saint him later, as did his takeover of the country by age 18 and the exile of his pagan mum from the lands. He pushed Christianity further into the country and had several churches and cathedrals built. He also made sure his grandmother was sainted for her martyrdom.
There’s some dispute over the year of his death (September 935, or 929) and the politics which hurried him along. The Germans had invaded and Wence wound up being a vassal of the German King Henry I which he may or may not have agreed to do willingly. It looks like he might have been willing, since it would help maintain the Christian influence. But, his pagan brother wanted him out of the way and arranged for his murder so he could take over as Prince.
The reason Wenceslas was the “Good King” comes from stories of charity and help he gave the poor of his country. The author of the carol was John Mason Neale, a warden at Sackville college. It was published in 1953 and has been sung at Christmas ever since.
The Feast of Stephen is not celebrated by name in many places anymore, but it falls on December 26th, a day more commonly known now as Boxing Day. In the world of retail it’s the super sale day – more like Boxing Week Blowout now – and stores encourage people to line up all night for the chance at getting super discount deals. Historically, though, the reason for Boxing day is nothing that greedy (or cheap). Snopes lists a lot of good theories, most having to do with giving extra food and other things to the poor on that day.
Stephen was a friend to the poor, but his beliefs as an early Christian were not really tolerated and after shouting about how he’d seen Christ and his pop in the heavens, they hauled him out of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. He’s considered to be the first martyr because as he was about to die, he reportedly begged God not to punish his enemies for their actions. God was supposedly impressed by this show of love for his enemies that he put Stephen first in line for heavenly rewards. It’s all in Acts, apparently.
Plus:
In the Acts of the Apostles the author tells us two more things about Stephen. First, Stephen is given a lengthy speech in which he describes the great sweep of Jewish history, from Abraham onwards, all pointing towards the birth of Jesus, and in which he criticizes the leaders of the Jews for resisting the Holy Spirit, persecuting the prophets, and not keeping God’s law.
Secondly, the description of Stephen parallels that of Jesus in many ways: being filled with the Holy Spirit; seeing the Son of Man at the right hand of God, as Jesus promised he would be; commending his spirit to Jesus, as Jesus commended his to the Father; kneeling as Jesus did in Gethsemane and asking forgiveness for his persecutors.
Witnessing to Jesus by acting like Jesus in every way is thus seen by the author of Acts to be essential to the Christian life.
And yet, how many people really do act like Jesus?
