Marnie Posted December 20, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 811 Topics Per Day: 0.12 Content Count: 7,338 Content Per Day: 1.08 Reputation: 76 Days Won: 2 Joined: 10/06/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 20, 2007 I think this is my favorite Christmas carol because it tells the story of a real person. But the story of how this carol came to be written is really the story of two men--a Bohemian Duke and an Anglican minister--who lived a thousand years apart. Wenceslas was a real man. Truth be told, he was a real amazing man. He was born in Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) in the 900's. He was born into a family of privilege, his father was Duke Ratislav and his grandmother made sure young Wenceslas received a good and godly education. Unfortunately, any intelligence the grandmother had was not passed down to her daughter, Wenceslas' mother. When her husband, the Duke, died suddenly, she took over the affairs of state and made a real mess of things. At 18, Wenceslas stepped in and took over. Right away the people could see he was a different sort of ruler. His foreign policies were farsighted and progressive; he built good relations with surrounding nations, especially with German. He brought about major social reforms inside his own country, beginning with the corrupt judicial system. Under his tenure as king, the poor were taken care of and churches were built and they flourished in a climate of religious freedom. History tells us that this king actually went out and cut firewood for orphans and widows and could be seen delivering firewood and food to those in need on cold winter nights. Sadly, Wenceslas' reign ended much too soon. Boleslav, his spoiled and rebellious brother, murdered Wenceslas on Sunday, September 28, 929, as he was leaving for church. The citizens of Bohemia venerated Wenceslas as a martyr, and today he is the patron saint of Czechoslovakia. But the story is far from over. The world would hardly know anything about this godly king had it not been for an Anglican minister with a passion for church architecture. His name was John Mason Neale. Neale had established a committee (as Anglican ministers do often) to investigate and restore the crumbling churches of Great Britain. Something that Neale particularly disliked were the old, ugly cast iron stoves that heated so many of the churches in Victorian times. He also disliked the hymns of Isaac Watts, and in addition to restoring old churches to their former grandeur, he sought to return congregational singing to its medieval roots. In fact, he abhorred the "modern" hymns so much that he spent many years translating ancient Greek, Latin, and Syrian hymns into English. In doing so, John Neale gave the world "Good Christian Men Rejoice," O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and "All Glory, Laud, and Honor," which became a Palm Sunday hymn. "Good King Wenceslas," though was not a translation, but an original poem written by Neale to pay honor to the king who did more for the less fortunate than any other king in history. So moved was he by the story of Wenceslas, that John Neale would give up his crusade to restore old churches and establish a "residence for indigent old men" serving as its warden for many years. John Mason Neale, touched by the life of a young man who lived a thousand years earlier, spent the last half of his life touching many more lives and today, though we may not care for his strange opinion about architecture, his songs are still touching lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tah Posted December 20, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 105 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 3,131 Content Per Day: 0.45 Reputation: 126 Days Won: 1 Joined: 05/12/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 20, 2007 Thanks for the reminder.. I had forgotten his story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan4257 Posted December 20, 2007 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 421 Content Per Day: 0.07 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/24/2007 Status: Offline Share Posted December 20, 2007 Thanks for the reminder.. I had forgotten his story... And I never knew it. Thanks. Another reminder of how Christians behave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redefine_Me Posted December 20, 2007 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 7 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 543 Content Per Day: 0.09 Reputation: 3 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/28/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/15/1966 Share Posted December 20, 2007 New information for me. Thanks for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricH Posted December 20, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 366 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,933 Content Per Day: 1.57 Reputation: 212 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 20, 2007 Wonderful background Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtletwo Posted December 20, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 35 Topic Count: 1,192 Topics Per Day: 0.19 Content Count: 7,264 Content Per Day: 1.18 Reputation: 15,710 Days Won: 194 Joined: 07/15/2007 Status: Offline Share Posted December 20, 2007 Very interesting! I love the stories behind the Christmas carols. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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