Saint Wojciech (photo:public domain)
Wojciech Sławnikowic (956-997) - Czech priest, bishop of Prague, martyr of the Catholic Church, patron of Poland. He came from the Sławnikowice family, whose head was his father, Sławnik. He was born in the family headquarters in Libice. Initially, my parents wanted Wojciech to become a knight. It was only the boy's serious illness that determined his destiny for the clergy. In 983 he became the head of the Prague diocese, where he established himself as an uncompromising priest.
In 989, due to tense relations with the faithful, he left his diocese and took up missionary activity. Consequently, he fell into conflict with the pagan Arpad court in Hungary. He also opposed the sale of Slavic slaves to Muslim countries. The Sławnikwic family competed with the Czech Przemyślids and played with Bolesław II. The ruler decided in 955 to deal with them by invading Libice, where almost the entire family was brutally murdered. Radzim Gaudenty, Sobiesław (who was in the service of Bolesław the Brave at the time) and Wojciech survived.
The later saint, after various perturbations, found himself at the court of Otto III. He was unable to return to the Czech Republic, where his family had just been murdered. He set off for the country of the imperial ally, Bolesław the Brave. From there he embarked on his last mission of Christianizing the pagan Prussians in 997. When he began to preach, he was martyred. Already two years after Wojciech's death, the "Older Roman Life of St. Adalbert ", and the development of his cult was supported by the then emperor, who founded churches dedicated to him. C In 1000, Otto III made a pilgrimage to Gniezno, to the martyr's tomb, and took his relics from there (severed arm).