Happy Thanksgiving!! As we have come to the end of the alphabet with the letter 'Z' today, I want to assure you that I will still post for the remaining days of November - just not in alphabetical order.
For the letter 'Z' we have St. Zdislava of Lemberk who was born in 1220 in Bohemia (what is now the northern part of the Czech Republic). She was said to be a "precociously pious child", giving money to charity from a young age. At the age of seven she ran away from home to become a hermit in the woods. Her family found her and returned her home. Zdislava's mother was born in Sicily and came to Bohemia as a member of the retinue of Queen Kunigunde and Zdislava was taken to visit the Queen as a child.
At the age of 15, Zdislava was married to the wealthy nobleman, Havel of Markvartice, who owned Lemberk castle. She objected to the marriage, but young women often did not have much say in these things in those days. The couple had four children. Havel had a temper and treated Zdislava badly, but she remained patient and gentle. She devoted herself to the poor, opening the castle doors to those dispossessed by Mongol invasions. Havel tolerated her "extravagant charity" because she bowed to his wishes in wearing clothing befitting her station and would indulge in "extravagant feasts" with him. Zdislava joined the Third Order of St. Dominic as one of the earliest lay Dominicans.
Shortly after her death, Zdislava appeared to her grieving husband to comfort him; her appearance strengthened him in his conversion from a life of wildness. She is patron of Bohemia, difficult marriages and people who are ridiculed for their piety. Her feast day is January 1.
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