Saint Stanislaus Kostka: Travelling Far in a Short Time
Saint Stanislaus Kostka – who died in 1568 just a few months shy of his eighteenth birthday – is one of the most popular saints in Poland. His short life demonstrates two primary lessons: That much can be done in little time, and that whatever time we are given here on earth, it’s all given us to get to heaven.
Stanislaus realized this from his earliest years, whether by natural intuition, or by the grace of God, or, most likely, both. He was from noble lineage, his family wealthy, and the last thing they wanted was for their boy to join the newly-founded radical Jesuits, which to their mind was throwing it all away.
But that’s just what he did. One morning, the young lad dressed himself as a mendicant to escape detection, and set out on the 400-mile (!) trek to Augsburg, where fellow saint Peter Canisius was the provincial, to seek permission to enter the Jesuit novitiate.
When they realized Stanislaus had gone missing, his older brother Paul and his tutor took off in haste to catch up, but they were not able to do so, by a series of mysterious, and perhaps miraculous, setbacks. Stanislaus arrived at his destination – also quasi-miraculous – was accepted after a brief postulancy, and eventually made his way to Rome to begin his novitiate.
He was, by all accounts, a model religious, not only keeping the rule, but going above and beyond, always cheerful and jovial, yet serious about serious things. He was sickly, experiencing severe chest pains, but would not spare himself. His devotion to the Blessed Virgin was exemplary, and she granted him many favours, including the final one, which was to receive Stanislaus into heaven on the morning of her primary solemnity, the Assumption, after the young novice had fallen into his final fever on the eve of the feast of Saint Lawrence, August 10th, 1568. Stanislaus had predicted this, in full hope and assurance – and when he died five days later, on the Solemnity of the Assumption, he was by popular acclaim declared a saint – subito santo! Sure enough, rare in those days, he was soon beatified by Pope Paul V on October 8th, 1605, and canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on December 31st, 1726.
Devotion to Saint Stanislaus continues throughout the world, and especially in his native Poland, which could certainly use his intercession, especially for the young, so many of whom are abandoning the Faith which has held their nation together through her bitter trials.
We were not made for this world, but for heaven, summed up in Stanislaus’ own motto, ad maiora natus sum – I was born for greater things. Just so, and a message our world immersed in a blind and deadly secularism desperately needs to hear.
Saint Stanislaus Kostka, Módl się za nami!
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→