Posted on 04/11/2005 8:10:18 AM PDT by Salvation
Saint Stanislaus of Cracow b.1030 d.1079 Feastday: April 11
Snislaus of Cracow This Statue is located in a niche above the old server sacristy (now the archive office) door next to the main altar. This Statue was placed in its niche sometime in 1918 by Daprato Statuary Company who also crafted this statue. St Stanislaus was born June 26, 1030 at Szsepanow in the diocese of Crakow, Poland. He studied in Gniezno and possibly Paris, France, where he studied canon law and theology. Out of humility, he refused the degree of doctor and returned home. On the death of his parents, Stanislaw gave away his ample fortune, to the poor, and received the priesthood from the Bishop of Cracow. He was a parish priest in Czembocz. In 1072, he was the Bishop of Cracow. After his conflicts with King Boleslaw II of Poland and his pagan ways, Stanislaus was condemned as a traitor on April 11, 1079, and died by the hand of Boleslaw at the altar during mass in St. Michael's church outside the gates of Cracow. His body was initially at Skalka church in Cracow, but in 1088 it was transferred to Wawel Cathedral. St. Stanislaus reproached King Boleslaw for his immoral way of life, since it was his practice to have mothers suckle dogs instead of their children as a punishment for crimes against their husbands. This punishment was mainly for wives of his soldiers who had cheated on their husbands while they were away on campaigns. Boleslaw Smialy ("the Bold") (1040-1081) ordered the unfaithful wives to breastfeed young puppies, while children born of their illegitimate liasons were to be fed by bitches. St. Stanislaus was reputed to have raised Piotowin from the dead, who appeared as a witness before the king over the rightful acquisition of a piece of church land. Stanislaus' body was cut up over a pond and a fish swallowed his finger. Boleslaw was excommunicated and expelled from the church by Pope Gregory VIII because of Stanislaus' condemnation of his practices. Stanislaus is the national saint of Poland, and patron saint of the archbishops of Cracow.
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From a Polish website:
SAINT STANISLAS
Évêque de Cracovie, Martyr
(1030-1078)
Interesting read. Thanks
We recently lost great Grandpa Stan who was a member of the Polish Falcons for decades.
Spitting image of Pope John Paul II as well . . .
April 11, 2005
St. Stanislaus
(1030-1079)
Anyone who reads the history of Eastern Europe cannot help but chance on the name of Stanislaus, the saintly but tragic bishop of Kraków, patron of Poland. He is remembered with Saints Thomas More and Thomas Becket for vigorous opposition to the evils of an unjust government. Born in Szczepanow near Kraków on July 26, 1030, he was ordained a priest after being educated in the cathedral schools of Gniezno, then capital of Poland, and at Paris. He was appointed preacher and archdeacon to the bishop of Kraków, where his eloquence and example brought about real conversion in many of his penitents, both clergy and laity. He became bishop of Kraków in 1072. During an expedition against the Grand Duchy of Kiev, Stanislaus became involved in the political situation of Poland. Known for his outspokenness, he aimed his attacks at the evils of the peasantry and the king, especially the unjust wars and immoral acts of King Boleslaus II. The king first excused himself, then made a show of penance, then relapsed into his old ways. Stanislaus continued his open opposition in spite of charges of treason and threats of death, finally excommunicating the king. The latter, enraged, ordered soldiers to kill the bishop. When they refused, the king killed him with his own hands. Forced to flee to Hungary, Boleslaus supposedly spent the rest of his life as a penitent in the Benedictine abbey in Osiak. Quote:
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Sorry about the loss of your great grandfather.
Sounds as though he were one to be reckoned with!
I wish I had a photo to show you. He looked exactly like the Pope!
And yes, he was a very strong man, spiritually and physically.
Thanks again.
Spiritual Bouquet: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. St. John 7:37
SAINT STANISLAUS
Bishop of Cracow, Martyr
(1030-1079)
Saint Stanislaus was born in answer to prayer, when his parents were advanced in age. Out of gratitude they educated him for the Church. When his parents died, he sold their vast properties and gave the price to the poor. He was ordained, and being a holy priest, soon afterwards became a Canon of the Cracow cathedral.
It was necessary to have recourse to the Pope to have him accept the see of Cracow when it became vacant. But the bishop of Cracows virtues increased with his dignity and obligations; Saint Stanislaus donned a hair shirt, which he wore until he died. He had a list drawn up of every poor person of the city, and gave orders to his servants never to refuse anything to anyone.
Boleslaus II was at that time King of Poland; he was a prince of good disposition, but spoilt by a long series of victories and successes. After many acts of lust and cruelty, he outraged the whole kingdom by carrying off the wife of one of his nobles. Against this public scandal the chaste and gentle bishop alone raised his voice. Having commended the matter to God, he went to the palace and openly rebuked the king for his crime against God and his subjects, and threatened to excommunicate him if he persisted in his sin. Boleslaus, with the intention of irrevocably ruining the bishops good reputation, suborned the nephews of a man named Paul who had recently died, to swear that their uncle had never been paid for land which the bishop had bought for the Church. Saint Stanislaus stood fearlessly before the kings tribunal, though all his frightened witnesses forsook him, and guaranteed to bring the dead man to witness in his favor within three days.
On the third day, after many prayers and tears, he raised the dead man to life and led him in his grave-clothes before the king, where Paul testified that the bishop had reimbursed him fully for the terrain he had sold. He was then taken back to the grave, where he lay down and again relapsed into his former state, before a large number of witnesses.
Boleslaus for a while made a show of a better life. Soon, however, he returned to the most scandalous excesses, and the bishop, finding all remonstrance useless, pronounced the sentence of excommunication. In defiance of the censure, on May 8, 1079, the king went to a chapel where Saint Stanislaus was saying Mass and commanded three groups of soldiers in succession to slay him at the altar. Each in turn came out, saying he had been alarmed by a light from heaven. At this the king himself rushed in and slew with his own hand the Saint at the altar during the Holy Sacrifice.
The Pope placed the kingdom of Poland under interdict, excommunicated the king and declared his royalty null and void. Boleslaus repented, took refuge in another country for a time, then set out dressed as a pilgrim for Rome. On the way he knocked on a monastery door to ask for an alms, then decided to enter there anonymously, and was received. He spent seven years there as a Benedictine lay brother, rendering every humble service to the monks, patiently bearing rude treatment. Only on his deathbed did he identify himself, taking out his royal ring which he had concealed until then. He had spent hours praying before a statue of Our Lady in the chapel, by which we may conclude that the Mother of God had obtained for him the grace of conversion and a happy death. His body remains in the church of the same monastery of Ossiach.
Saint Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.
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