Feast day: April 11

St. Stanislaus of Kraków

Bishop, Martyr · 1030–1079

Patron of Poland

Bishop of Kraków who rebuked the cruelty of King Bolesław II and was struck down at the altar by the king himself, becoming a patron and symbol of Poland.

Stanislaus was born in 1030 at Szczepanów in Poland, of noble parents, and after his studies became a priest, a renowned preacher, and a canon of the cathedral of Kraków. So great was his reputation for learning and holiness that on the death of the bishop he was chosen to succeed him, accepting the office only when commanded to by the pope, and he governed his diocese with energy, charity, and an unflinching zeal for justice.

His fearless preaching against vice spared no one, high or low, and brought him at last into deadly conflict with the king, Bolesław II — a ruler of cruelty and unbridled passions. When the bishop denounced the king's crimes and his oppression of his people, and at length, after every warning had failed, excommunicated him, the enraged Bolesław resolved to be rid of him.

By the tradition, the king's men were sent to kill the bishop but, awed by his holiness, dared not lay hands on him. So Bolesław went himself: finding Stanislaus offering the Holy Sacrifice in a chapel outside the city, he struck the bishop down with his own sword at the very altar, and had the body cut to pieces.

The murder horrified the nation and the Church; the king was driven into exile and disgrace, while the slain bishop became a symbol and a rallying point for the Polish people. Stanislaus was canonized in 1253, and is honored as one of the principal patron saints of Poland — a bishop who died rather than be silent before the crimes of a king.

He excommunicated a tyrant king for his crimes; the enraged king killed him during Mass — and the bishop, not the king, became Poland's hero.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/14246a.htm