SAINT OF THE DAY - St. Stanislaus

St. Stanislaus

He was born on July 26, 1030 in Szczepanow, Poland. He was the only son of his parents Wielislaw and Bogna. He was ordained a priest by Lambert-II Sulo, Bishop of Krakow. After the death of bishop Lambert, Stanislaus was elected bishop of Krakow and accepted the office of bishop only when commanded by pope Alexander-II. He encouraged King Boleslaw to establish Benedictine monasteries to spread Christianity in Poland. Augustin Calmet, an eighteenth century bible scholar recorded a miraculous incident that happened in the life of bishop Stanislaus. Bishop Stanislaus purchased a piece of land from one Peter (Poitr). But after the death of Peter, his sons claimed the land from the bishop. King Boleslaw also was in favor of the sons of Peter. But the bishop asked the king three days’ time to bring witness for the sale by Peter and his legal purchase. After three days’ of intense prayers, Bishop Stanislaus went to the cemetery with a procession, opened the grave of peter and resurrected him from death. Peter was then covered with a cloak and brought before the king. Peter testified before the dumbfounded king about his actual sale of the land to the bishop and also reprimanded his three sons for their mischief of claiming the land. When Peter did not want to live anymore, he was again buried in the same grave. Bishop Stanislaus ex-communicated the King Boleslaw because the king became crueler towards his subjects and was immoral. The king wanted to kill Stanislaus without trial. The king personally killed Stanislaus when he was celebrating mass in the Shalka outside the walls of Krakow. His body was cut into many pieces and thrown into the pool outside the church. King Boleslaw was dethroned due the outrage caused by the murder of the bishop. 

Stanislaus was canonized by pope Innocent-IV on September 17, 1253. Pope John Paul-II called Saint Stanislaus the patron saint of moral order.