Right-Believing Princess and Martyr Ludmila of Bohemia

Saint Ludmila was born around 860 and became the wife of Bořivoj I, the first historically attested Christian Duke of Bohemia of the Přemyslid dynasty. Together with her husband she received baptism from St. Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia, disciple (with St. Cyril) of the mission to the Slavs, and actively supported the building of the first churches and the establishment of Christianity in a still largely pagan land.

After Bořivoj's early death (at about 36 years of age), Ludmila devoted herself to works of mercy, generously giving away her wealth to the poor. When her son Vratislaus I died, she took charge of raising her grandson — the future St. Wenceslaus of Bohemia — instilling in him deep Christian piety. This role brought her into direct rivalry with her daughter-in-law Drahomíra, Wenceslaus's mother and regent, who feared losing influence over the young duke to his grandmother.

According to tradition, Drahomíra sent two boyars to Ludmila's residence at the fortress of Tetín; they found the princess at prayer in her private chapel. Tradition holds she rebuked her killers ("Have you forgotten my kindness to you?"), but she was strangled with her own veil on the night of September 15–16, 921. Initially buried at Tetín, she was later translated by her grandson Wenceslaus, once he came to power, to the Basilica of St. George in Prague.

Together with her husband Bořivoj, St. Ludmila is venerated as one of the founding figures of Bohemian Christianity; her formation of St. Wenceslaus played a decisive role in his later canonization, and she is regarded, alongside her grandson, as one of the patron saints of the Czech lands. Her feast is kept on September 16/29.