Stanisław Kazimierczyk (born Stanisław Sołtys, 27 September 1433 – 3 May 1489) was a Polish

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and a professed member of the

Canons Regular of the Lateran The Canons Regular of the Lateran (CRL), formally titled the Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of the Most Holy Savior at the Lateran, is an international congregation of an order of canons regular, comprising priests and lay brot ...

. He became noted for his ardent devotions to both the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

and to his personal patron saint,

Stanislaus of Szczepanów Stanislaus of Szczepanów ( pl, Stanisław ze Szczepanowa; 26 July 1030 – 11 April 1079) was Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by the Polish king Bolesław II the Generous. Stanislaus is venerated in the Roman Ca ...

, as well as for his charitable dedication to the ill and poor of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. The canonization cause started under

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 14 October 1986 and he was titled as a Servant of God. This came after previous attempts in the past to launch the process though the cause started at that time due to the personal intervention of the pope who was a cardinal at the time. That same pope named him as

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

on 21 December 1992 at the same time he approved the beatification which was celebrated on 18 April 1993.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

later canonized the late priest as a saint of the Catholic Church on 17 October 2010 in Saint Peter's Square.

Life

Stanisław Sołtys was born 27 September 1433 in

to Maciej Sołtys and Jadwiga. His parents had long wanted a child and he was born on exactly the same date that the remains of

were being moved. His parents were members of the Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament. He received his education from the

at their school not too far from his home which was attached to their

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

and to the local

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of Corpus Christi Basilica that the order administered. He went on to receive doctorates in theological studies and in his philosophical studies from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He received a bachelor's degree in 1451. The successful completion of his studies in 1456 saw him enter the Canons Regular of the Lateran and thus became a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

in his novitiate. He took the religious name of "Stanisław Kazimierczyk". His choice was due to the

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

of the popular Saint Stanisław, a former Bishop of Krakow, to whom he had a strong devotion his entire life. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

as a

in 1456 and was then named as the vice-prior of the order despite being a new priest and not having enough experience. He was also made the novice master in charge of new candidates to the order. He also dedicated himself to the care of the ill and the poor and was noted for the deep devotion of the religious services that he celebrated. He developed a reputation for great spiritual insight as a

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denomin ...

in the

against the preachings of the Polish followers of

John Wycliffe John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of ...

and

Jan Hus Jan Hus (; ; 1370 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the insp ...

. It was due to this that he gained the title "Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament". Saint John Cantius - a colleague of his at the Jagiellonian and a major scientist of the period - was a close friend of his. The priest fasted numerous times and kept vigils on several occasions. He slept little and often slept on the ground more as a penitential act. On one occasion he went to visit the tomb of his patron saint when he saw the

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations ar ...

with the

Infant Jesus The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12. The four canonical gospels, a ...

in her arms; Saint Stanisław and other saints were around her. He often delivered his sermons in German as well as his native Polish. King John I Albert once attributed an 8 September 1487 battle win against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

to him. He died in mid-1489 in Kraków and had been known in his life as a living saint. He had fallen quite ill at

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

and towards his death requested anointing. He put his hands on his conferees' heads to bless them and to bid them farewell and died with his hands upraised to entrust his soul to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

. The faithful referred to him often as "Blessed" despite the fact that he had not been beatified but was called this due to his great reputation for personal holiness - in the 1500s this title was recorded as being given. His remains were moved in 1632 after the priest Martin Kłoczyński commissioned a splendid altar in his honor to house the remains; a total of 176 purported miracles were reported to have taken place in the first year since his death.

Sainthood

The Canons Regular of the Lateran made several requests to the pope to seek beatification in 1773 but no cause was ever initiated. The Cardinal

Archbishop of Kraków The Archbishop of Kraków is the head of the archdiocese of Kraków. A bishop of Kraków first came into existence when the diocese was created in 1000; it was promoted to an archdiocese on 28 October 1925. Due to Kraków's role as Poland's politic ...

Karol Józef Wojtyła (the future

) asked the order in 1971 to collect existing documents and evidence on the life of the late priest and set up a historical commission to aid them in this on 15 December 1972. The beatification process was launched under Pope John Paul II on 14 October 1986 and the priest was titled as a Servant of God once the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

(CCS) issued the official ''

nihil obstat ''Nihil obstat'' (Latin for "nothing hinders" or "nothing stands in the way") is a declaration of no objection that warrants censoring of a book, e.g., Catholic published books, to an initiative, or an appointment. Publishing The phrase ''ni ...

'' to the cause. Cardinal

Franciszek Macharski Franciszek Macharski (; 20 May 1927 – 2 August 2016) was a Polish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed Archbishop of Kraków from 1978, named by Pope John Paul II to succeed him in that role. Macharski was elevated to the car ...

inaugurated the diocesan process on 17 December 1987 and later oversaw its successful completion on 22 January 1998 while the CCS validated this process in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on 11 November 1988. The postulation later submitted the Positio dossier to the CCS in 1990 for assessment. Historians met and approved the cause's direction on 15 January 1991, deeming no historical obstacles existed, while theologians assented to the cause on 5 June 1992; the CCS followed suit on 1 December 1992. On 21 December 1992 John Paul II both named him as

upon the confirmation of his

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

and approved his longstanding "cultus" which allowed for the pope to preside over the beatification on 18 June 1993 as a solemnization of that "cultus". The process for a miracle required for his sanctification opened on 22 September 1995 and closed on 29 February 1996 while it later received validation from the CCS on 25 October 1996. The medical board approved this on 23 April 2009 as did theologians on 8 July 2009 and the C.C.S. on 29 September 2009.

approved this healing to be a miracle on 19 December 2009 and on 19 February 2010 confirmed the date for canonization; the pope canonized him on 17 October 2010 in Saint Peter's Square. The postulator at the time of the canonization was Emilio Dunoyer.

Feast Day

* 3 May – commemoration * 5 May – commemoration in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

External links

Hagiography CircleSaints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazimierczyk, Stanisław 1433 births 1489 deaths 15th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests 15th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Canonizations by Pope Benedict XVI Canons regular Canons Regular of the Lateran Canonical Augustinian saints Jagiellonian University alumni Medieval Polish saints Clergy from Kraków Polish Roman Catholic saints Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II