He was born in 1550
at the family estate in east-central Poland. His father was a local
governor and military administrator, and a senator of the Kingdom of
Poland. His mother was the sister and niece of Polish dukes.
According to the standards of those times, all this meant Stanislaus was a
Polish noble destined for public life.
When he was 14, his
father enrolled him and his older brother Paul in a new Jesuit college in
Vienna that was especially favored by the nobility. Paul, who always had
an eye for comfort, found them rooms in the house of an Austrian senator.
Stanislaus was a
serious and quiet person. He avoided all unnecessary contact with
visitors, applied himself to his studies, dressed plainly for a noble, and
spent so much time in prayer that Paul derisively nicknamed him “the Jesuit.”
Paul interpreted Stanislaus’ natural meekness and humility as a reproach
to his own worldly and carefree way of life. Whatever Stanislaus did
either offended or irritated him. So, he harassed his younger brother, abusing
him physically and verbally. Stanislaus didn’t crack under
pressure. He just became more virtuous and determined to become a Jesuit.
In December 1565,
Stanislaus received some heavenly help. Feeling ill and close to death,
he asked to receive Holy Communion. Paul kept putting him off, saying the
illness wasn’t life-threatening. (Their landlord was a staunch Lutheran
and wouldn’t allow a priest into the house). Stanislaus prayed to St.
Barbara to somehow receive Communion, and soon Barbara and two angels appeared
to him in his room, bringing him Communion. They left, and then Our Lady
carrying the baby Jesus appeared, and told him he was to enter the Society of
Jesus. Stanislaus regained his health and returned to college.
Now really resolved
to be a Jesuit, Stanislaus asked the Jesuit provincial of Vienna for
admittance, only to be told he needed his parents’ consent. Stanislaus
knew they wouldn’t give it, and decided to ask further away from home. In
August 1567, he walked the 450 miles to Augsburg, Germany. Paul heard of
it and started after him. Stanislaus was dressed as a simple pilgrim, and
the angry Paul went right past him on the road without recognizing him and gave
up the chase.
Stanislaus reached
the Augsburg provincial, Fr. Peter Canasis, S.J., and together they agreed that
Stanislaus ought to get even further away from his father’s political
influence. They decided on Rome. In September 1567, he and two
Jesuits went on foot, south through Germany and over the Alps to Italy.
It took a month to reach Rome.
There Stanislaus
presented himself to the head of the Society of Jesus, Father General Francis
Borgia, S.J., and entered the Jesuit novititate. For the next ten months,
his prayer was purified and his union with God grew more intense.
In early August 1568,
Stanislaus had a premonition that he would die on August 15. He took sick
on the 10th, and on the 14th he told the infirmarian that he would die the next
day, but this Jesuit shrugged it off; the patient didn’t seem critically
ill. Then suddenly he worsened. After receiving Holy Communion and
the Last Rites, he chatted cheerfully with his fellow novices until
nightfall. After they left, he prayed often, “My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready!” About 3:00 a.m. his face lit up joyfully. He
said Our Lady was approaching with her court of angels and saints to take him
to heaven. Then he died — on August 15, the feast of Our Lady’s own
assumption into heaven.
Only 36 years after
his death, he was beatified. He was canonized on December 31, 1726 by
Pope Benedict XIII. His feast day is November 13.
– Excerpted and
edited from Jesuit Saints & Martyrs: Short Biographies of the
Saints, Blessed, Venerables, and Servants of God of the Society of Jesus by
Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J., Second edition, © 1998 Ignatius Press, Chicago.
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