St Wenceslas Day marked across Czechia

People across Czechia are marking St Wenceslas Day today, honouring the country’s patron saint. Thousands of pilgrims are expected in Stará Boleslav near Prague, where Wenceslas was murdered, for the National St Wenceslas Pilgrimage.

The open-air mass will be celebrated by Prague Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl, who will also deliver the sermon. Pilgrims will see a new silver reliquary containing a relic of St Wenceslas for the first time.

The saint’s skull, normally kept at St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, arrived in Stará Boleslav on Sunday. It is being displayed today in the crypt of Saints Cosmas and Damian at St Wenceslas Basilica before returning to Prague.