During the first years of his priesthood, Saint Stanisław Kazimierczyk worked in the scriptorium and taught the younger, less educated brothers. It quickly turned out that Stanisław Sołtys, who was known as “Kazimierczyk,” due to his place of birth and residence, had a great gift for reaching the hearts of listeners with his words. His sermons or lectures given to younger religious confreres were able to inspire them to follow the path of virtue and piety. Stanisław was aware that – as the ancient saying goes – “words teach, examples attract,” and he tried not only to instruct the pupils, but above all, through his own example, to encourage them to persevere in goodness. Everyone who met him was captivated by his humility and sweetness. In his striving for holiness, the future saint was not afraid of self-denial. (…)
He also mortified himself in other ways. He was sleeping very little, on the bare ground, wearing only a sackcloth. Upon awakening, he either visited his sick confreres or recited the entire Psalter. Often, like the great saints, he scourged himself. In this way, he wished to obtain correction and conversion for sinners. He willingly studied the Scriptures and ascetic works. He regularly made confession and Holy Communion, drawing from them the strength for work and asceticism.
There was no need to wait a long time for the first miracles to occur that would lead to the internship of St. Stanisław Kazimierz. They were written down a month after his death. The first of these happened shortly after the Saint’s funeral. Troubled by a serious illness, Katarzyna, a townswoman from Kazimierz, heard in a dream a promise that she would be healthy and not die. She was supposed to go to the grave of Stanisław Kazimierczyk and order a Holy Mass. She obeyed the dream command and… recovered. Within a few days, in Kazimierz, a small community of less than two thousand people, everyone heard about the miracle of healing Katarzyna.
A year has passed, and thanks to Stanisław of Kazimierz, 176 miracles had been recorded. A lot of information about the graces that God gave to those who prayed for the intercession of St. Stanisław can be found in the votive paintings donated by grateful worshipers of the monk from Kazimierz. We learn from them, among other things, that the chamberlain Czartoryska gave thanks for a light childbirth and for being given a “son,” and that Adam Bosowski, a courtier of King Władysław „and his wife,” gave thanks for the fact that blood stopped flowing from his daughter’s eyes, and that the „previously ill, deaf and blind” were healed.
The most famous miracle through the intercession of St. Stanisław Kazimierczyk was the healing of the Oświęcim starost, Piotr Komorowski, who most likely suffered from an orbital abscess. The disease was a huge blow for him, because he had lost his first eye seventeen years earlier during a military expedition. Nevertheless, he did not lose hope and went to the tomb of St. Stanisław, where he prayed for a gift of health. His prayers were quickly answered. After two days, the starost returned to the Corpus Christi Church and announced that not only the pain had subsided, but he had completely regained his eyesight. As thanks for the grace he had received, he decided to found a church in Sucha Beskidzka.
Litany to St. Stanisław Kazimierczyk
Kyrie Eleson, Chryste Eleson, Kyrie Eleson,
Christ, hear us
Christ, hear us
Heavenly Father, God,
have mercy on us.
Son, Redeemer of the world, God,
Holy Spirit, God,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Holy Mary,
pray for us.
Saint Stanisław Kazimierczyk,
Faithful performer of the evangelical counsels,
Follower of the apostolic life,
Venerator of the Wounds of the Crucified Savior …
The origins of the Order of Regular Lateran Canons can be found in Hippo in Numidia (present-day Algeria), where at the end of the 4th century around the time of St. Augustine, the first clerical community assembled. Its members, adhering to the ideals of the early Christians, combined the asceticism of monastic life with apostolic duties. As time passed, the canonical movement expanded to encompass the entire Christian world of that time. Up to a certain point, each of the newly formed congregations had its own rules …
As the legend, recorded by the master Jan Długosz, goes, the theft of the monstrance from the All Saints Church (which does not exist today) contributed to the creation of the Corpus Christi church. The thieves, realizing that the monstrance was made of copper, and not – as they supposed – gold, abandoned it in the swamp, near the church of St. Wawrzyniec in the village of Bawoł, in the area of today’s Kazimierz. Blue lights began to appear over the monstrance, which led a solemn procession to this place…
April 18, 1993 in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope John Paul II beatified Stanisław Kazimierczyk together with Maria Angela Truszkowska, the foundress of the Felician Sisters, confirming his worship, saying about him:
For many, he was a guide on the paths of spiritual life.
Saint Stanisław Kazimierczyk is an extremely effective saint. Witnesses to numerous miracles confirm that thanks to fervent prayer through the intercession of Stanisław of Kazimierz, you can ask for many favors for yourself and your loved ones.
Right now, you, too, are facing such an opportunity! All you have to do is write down your thanks and petitions to St. Stanisław Kazimierczyk in the form below. There will be a Holy Mass for these intentions every Monday at 8:00 and Thursday at 7.00 p.m. in the Basilica of Corpus Christi.
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