Every August 13, the Church celebrates Saint Stanislaus of Kostka, a Polish novice of the Society of Jesus who lived between 1550 and 1668. While still very young, he reached the heights of holiness thanks to his love for the Virgin Mary and the desire to serve the Church.
Saint Stanislaus is the patron of novices, of those preparing for the priesthood and of the Republic of Poland.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
“Walk quickly along the path of life”
Stanislaus was born in the castle of Rostkowo, province of Mazovia (present-day Poland), on October 28, 1550. His father, John Kostka, Lord of Zakroczym, was an influential politician of the Kingdom of Poland who held the position of senator; His mother, Margarita Kryska of Drobni, was related to the Dukes of Mazovia. Estanislao was the second of the couple’s seven children.
At only 13 years old, Estanislao entered the Jesuit boarding school in Vienna (Austria), where despite his young age he was sent to be educated with the Austrian nobility. Soon, the little boy began to stand out for his love of studying, but also for his recollection, devotion and affinity with prayer. There Estanislao studied grammar, humanities and rhetoric for three years.
From the days of his stay at the boarding school, Stanislaus would learn a lot about the tensions that arise between temporal power and the children of the Church: Emperor Maximilian II of Austria began to harass the Jesuits to the point of taking away the house that the King Ferdinand I – his predecessor – had given way to the boarding school. Thus, Estanislao, along with his brother Pablo and other classmates, were forced to leave the boarding school and move away from the community. The group ended up staying at the home of a Lutheran senator living in Vienna.
Endearing love for the Eucharist and the Virgin
Shortly afterwards, while staying as a guest at the senator’s house, Stanislaus fell seriously ill, feared the worst and asked that the Eucharist be administered to him. However, the owner of the house, because he was Lutheran, did not allow the sacred viaticum to enter his property.
In these conditions, Stanislaus, who did not stop praying, went into ecstasy: having entrusted himself to Saint Barbara, to whose brotherhood he belonged, he had a vision in which the saint, in the company of two angels, brought him communion to his room.
Once the illness had passed, the novice was convinced that it had been the Mother of God who had interceded for him to recover. At that time, Estanislao was only about 15 years old.
Later, it was the Virgin Mary herself with the Child Jesus in her arms who appeared to him. The Mother of God told him: “Our will is that you enter the Company of my Son Jesus as soon as possible.” Stanislaus received those words with deep joy, because his heart had long expressed the desire to give his life to Christ.
“Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10, 37)
Stanislaus asked to be admitted to the Company, but unfortunately the Jesuit provincial of Vienna did not agree to his request so as not to upset his father against the Jesuits, since he had a high political position and was close to Emperor Maximilian.
Estanislao then decided to break ties with his family. First, he was sent to Germany and then to Rome, to join the religious order there. While passing through Dillingen, Germany, where he stayed for a time, he sought out Peter Canisius (later a prominent saint) who was the Jesuit provincial in that country.
Pedro Canisio welcomed him kindly and allowed him to stay in the Company’s house, entrusting him with some simple tasks such as caring for students and cleaning.
Stanislaus alternated his work hours with those of intense prayer in the chapel.
Weeks later, Canisio sent him to Rome, where he was received by the general of the Order, Francisco de Borja – who would also reach the heights of holiness – who admitted him to the novitiate. Stanislaus received a letter from his father in which he harshly reprimanded him and threatened the Jesuits with being expelled from Poland. The young saint responded in a filial manner, but also firmly expressed his vocational decision.
Leaving everything in the hands of the Lord, he devoted himself to the practice of constant prayer and study. Every time he entered the Church, his face would light up and he would often be carried away into ecstasy during Mass, especially after communion.
In the month of the Assumption
On the first day of August 1568, Pedro Canisio, passing through Rome, met with the Jesuit novices to give them a talk about the urgency of living life in constant conversion, a condition for going to heaven. After the talk, Stanislaus said in front of his companions: “Father Canisio has exhorted us to walk quickly along the path of life; but his exhortation to me has been a harbinger of my death.”
Those who heard him say those words were surprised and disturbed. Stanislaus didn’t even look sick to begin with. “I’m going to die this month,” he concluded.
Within a few days, his health began to decline. He had frequent fainting spells, apparently due to the heat of the Roman summer, which was causing him great harm. At dawn on the day of the Assumption in 1568, after reporting that he had contemplated the Blessed Virgin surrounded by angels in heaven, he left for the Father’s House at 18 years of age.
In one of the previous celebrations of the day of the Assumption of the Virgin, Saint Stanislaus had exclaimed: “What a happy day that must have been for all the saints when Mary entered heaven! Perhaps they celebrate it with special joy, as we do on earth. I hope to be among them at their next celebration.”
More information:
Central Editorial
The Catholic Information Agency – ACI Prensa, is part of the news agencies of the ACI Group, one of the largest generators of Catholic news content in five languages and which has belonged since June 2014 to the EWTN Global Catholic Network family, the largest Catholic television network in the world, founded in 1981 by Mother Angelica in Irondale, Alabama (United States), and which reaches more than 85 million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories.