Saint Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr (1962 Roman Calendar)

Saint Stanislaus was born in the year 1030 at Szczepanów in Poland, of devout parents, and was educated for the service of the Church. Ordained a priest and esteemed for his learning and holiness, he was chosen Bishop of Kraków about the year 1072, and proved himself a faithful and fearless shepherd of his people.

A faithful shepherd

As bishop, Saint Stanislaus laboured diligently for the good of his flock: preaching, caring for the poor, and admonishing high and low alike to walk in the ways of God. The tradition handed down in his honour relates that he did not shrink from rebuking the king himself for grievous and public wrongs, and that, when his warnings went unheeded, he employed the spiritual censures of the Church for the correction of sin and the defence of justice.

For this fidelity he drew upon himself the wrath of the king. According to the account long kept in the Church, Stanislaus was struck down while he offered the sacred mysteries, slain by violence as he stood at the altar, in the year 1079. So he gave his life in defence of the law of God, and the Church venerates him among the martyrs who suffered for righteousness’ sake.

Patron of Poland

Saint Stanislaus was canonised in the year 1253, and his memory has ever since been held in highest honour by the Polish people, who venerate him as one of their principal patrons. His relics rest in the cathedral of Kraków, long a place of pilgrimage and prayer. The collect of his feast recalls that the glorious bishop fell beneath the swords of the wicked for the honour of God, and asks that all who implore his aid may obtain a saving answer to their prayers.

His feast, kept on the seventh of May, honours the courage of a shepherd who feared God above the powers of this world, and who counted his own life as nothing beside his duty to truth and to the souls in his care.

The Collect

O God, for whose honour the glorious bishop Stanislaus fell beneath the swords of the wicked: grant, we beseech thee, that all who implore his help may obtain the saving fruit of their petition.

Deus, pro cuius honóre gloriósus Póntifex Stanisláus gládiis impiórum occúbuit: præsta, quæsumus; ut omnes, qui eius implórant auxílium, petitiónis suæ salutárem consequántur efféctum.

Patronage

He is one of the principal patrons of Poland and of the city and archdiocese of Kraków.

In the Modern Calendar

In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on 11 April.

Common Questions

When is the feast of Saint Stanislaus?

In the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal his feast is kept on 7 May as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on 11 April.

Who was Saint Stanislaus?

He was the eleventh-century Bishop of Kraków in Poland, slain at the altar about the year 1079 for his fidelity to the law of God in rebuking grave public wrongs. He is venerated as a martyr and a chief patron of Poland.

Why is he a patron of Poland?

As a bishop who gave his life for justice and the law of God, and whose veneration spread throughout the Polish lands after his canonisation in 1253, Saint Stanislaus came to be honoured as one of the nation’s principal heavenly patrons. His relics rest in the cathedral of Kraków.

See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.

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