January 1
Zdislava of Lemberk (c.1215–1252)
Wife and mother
Roman Martyrology
At Jablonné in Bohemia (now Czechia), Saint Zdislava, mother of a family, who brought consolation to the afflicted.
Practical advice
Turn one household task today into prayer: do it well, without complaining, and try to lighten another person’s burden.
Biography
(Czech: Zdislava z Lemberka).
She was born at Křižanov Castle in Moravia, in the present-day Czech Republic, into a noble family. In 1240, at her father’s insistence, she married Havel of Lemberk, lord of Lemberk Castle near the Bohemian town of Jablonné, and they had four children. She persuaded her husband to found two Dominican convents, Saint Lawrence at Jablonné and another at Trutnov. She belonged to the lay movements that would later become the Dominican Third Order; Saint Ceslaus of Kraków gave her the habit.
Her generosity toward the poor caused several quarrels with her husband, but she calmed him through her heroic patience. She succeeded in changing his harsh and haughty character, and their marriage prospered. She personally went to hospitals to nurse and assist the sick. She also cared for prisoners and asked that they be pardoned, which she often obtained. With no less love she attended pilgrims, generally traveling to the Holy Land, and maintained a hospice for them. She also received refugees fleeing Mongol raids. Several miracles are attributed to her. She died with a reputation for holiness in the priory of Saint Lawrence at Jablonné. Saint John Paul II canonized her on 21 May 1995.