St. Stanislas

St. Stanislaus (1030–1079), bishop of Kraków and martyr, is one of the principal patrons of Poland. He was born on July 26, 1030, at Szczepanów in southern Poland, and after studies—tradition adds a period abroad, possibly at Liège or Paris—he was ordained a priest and became a canon of the Kraków cathedral. In 1072 he was named bishop of Kraków, where he proved a vigorous pastor: preaching, visiting his diocese, caring for the poor, and strengthening the young Polish Church's ties to Rome. His episcopate brought him into conflict with King Bolesław II the Bold. The sources closest to the events are sparse and partisan, but they agree that the bishop courageously rebuked the king—tradition says for cruelty and scandalous injustice toward his subjects—and finally excommunicated him. The king, in turn, condemned the bishop as a traitor. On April 11, 1079, Stanislaus was put to death. According to tradition, when the king's men refused to touch the bishop, Bolesław himself cut him down while Stanislaus was celebrating Mass in the church of St. Michael at Skałka, outside the walls of Kraków; hagiographical accounts add that the body was dismembered and miraculously made whole. The outrage contributed to the king's fall from power, and the martyred bishop quickly became a symbol of moral authority standing against tyranny. Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV at Assisi on September 8, 1253, the first Pole to be raised to the altars. His relics rest in a silver shrine at the center of Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, the spiritual heart of Poland, and the church at Skałka remains a place of pilgrimage. A patron of Poland and of the city and archdiocese of Kraków, he is commemorated in the General Roman Calendar on April 11; in Poland his solemnity is kept on May 8.