Born circa 1230 A.D., St. Wapniacl is known to have been a monk in the order of St. Dominic. He lived in a small monastery in what is now eastern Hungary.

Wapniacl lived a contemplative life as the keeper of the monastery's collection of holy books and relics, including what is said to be a lock of hair belonging to St. Paul. This, the greatest of the monastery's treasures, still exists today in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. It has been subjected to rigorous scientific testing, and has been found to indeed date from the time of St. Paul.

Sometime late in the thirteenth century, the monastery was overrun by soldiers from the Crusades, godless mercenaries who fought only for glory and gold, caring nothing for the true Mission of Christ that was the purpose of those Holy Wars. The soldiers demanded the treasures of the holy order, and looted the meager stores of food that the brethren had cached against the coming of winter.

As keeper of the treasure house and library, Wapniacl alone carried the keys to the cases in which the holy relics were kept. While the soldiers were busy plundering the storehouse, he crept away to his cell, where he kept his most treasured posession, a few locks of his own hair that had been severed by the abbot when he took the tonsure. These he secreted in the pocket of his robe, and stole away to the treasure house, where he exchanged them for the hair belonging to St. Paul. When the mercenaries came to break down the door of the treasure house, Wapniacl opened it himself and showed them that, far from the golden chalices and jeweled crucifixes they expected, the only treasures contained therein were a few books and manuscripts, some holy relics of minor importance, and one beautifully made yet humble reliquary containing a few locks of hair.

The soldiers, seeing that they were unlikely to find much of value here, turned to leave, but their leader thrust Wapniacl out of the way and made straight for the reliquary containing the supposed hair of St. Paul.

"What is in this container?" he asked, catching it up in his war-callused hands and frowning mightily. "Such a box must contain something of great value, as it was obviously made with great skill, humble though its materials may be."

Wapniacl was loth to answer, knowing that he had sworn an oath to his Lord and Father never to tell an untruth. He trembled, fearing that the jig was up.

"No matter," said the warrior. "I see that this is a sacred object, and that these locks of hair within must be those of a very holy man indeed. I understand now the error of my ways. I, too, shall become a member of your brotherhood, and my men, who have followed me so faithfully through pillage, war and rape, they shall follow me too in this."

So speaking, he removed his helmet, and taking out his great hunting knife, began to cut his own hair in accordance with the holy custom. Seeing their leader so undone by the godly relic, his men threw down their weapons and prostrated themselves before it.

And so it was that the small monastery became large and powerful, and St. Wapniacl its abbott, for the soldiers gave their war-plunder into his keeping, for the use of the brethren in furthering their good deeds.

Today, St. Wapniacl is known as the protector of hairdressers, curators, and mercenaries. The monastery is now called the Monastery of St. Wapniacl, and a Mass is said in his honor every July 12 in churches throughout Europe.
 
 

from Lives of the Lesser Saints by J. L. Zentmyer, Ecclesiastica Press, 1937

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