Adalbert of Prague

Saint Adalbert of Prague was born around 956 at Libice in Bohemia, into the noble Slavník clan, and was given the name Vojtěch. After surviving a grave childhood illness, he was dedicated to God and sent to study in Magdeburg, where he took the name Adalbert at Confirmation. Ordained a priest, he became Bishop of Prague in 982. Though gentle by temperament, he lived with notable austerity and charity, and he bravely challenged the slave trade, polygamy, and lingering pagan practices—reforms that stirred fierce resistance and drove him more than once into exile in Rome among the Benedictines. Released from his episcopal duties, Adalbert embraced the life of a missionary, preaching among the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe and laboring for the conversion of those who had not yet heard the Gospel. In 997 he set out from Poland to evangelize the Baltic Prussians. There, after being rejected and threatened, he continued to preach and was stoned and killed, sealing his witness with martyrdom on April 23, 997. He is honored as a patron of Poland and the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest. His feast day is April 23.