SAINT STANISLAW
KOSTKA
by SCTJM
Saint
Stanislaw Kostka was born at the Castle of Rostkowo, near Przasnysz,
Poland, on October 28, 1550; he died as a novice in Rome during the
night of August 14-15, 1568. Once when asked: What should one do to
show the Blessed Mother that we love her? And, he said: “Offer her
small tributes, but never stop offering them to her”.
Stanislaw was the second son of seven children of John Kostka,
senator of the Kingdom of Poland and Lord of Zakroczym, and of
Margaret de Drobniy Kryska, the sister and niece of the Duke of
Masovia, and the aunt of the celebrated Chancellor of Poland. He was
taught at home, under the guidance of John Bilinsky, together with
his older brother, Paul. When he was 14 years old, Stanislaw joined
the school of the Society of Jesus in Vienna. He was used to
dedicating his day to prayer and to his studies. The coarse language
deeply annoyed him.
When there were tactless guests at his home, Stanislaw’s father
would tell them: "Do not tell your stories in front of Stanislaw.”
During his years at the boarding school in Vienna, his growing
religious fervor, prayer life and piety, surprised many. Eight
months after Stanislaw’s arrival to Vienna, Emperor Maximilian II
took away from the Jesuits the house which Ferdinand I had granted
to them for the boarding school. There began a long series of abuses
against the Society of Jesus.
Paul Kostka, two years older than Stanislaw, was a joyful young man,
fond of all entertainment. He was able to get permission from
Bilinsky to stay in the home of some Lutherans. Since Stanislaw
disliked this prospect, Paul made fun of his piety and devotion. So
much piety did not please his older brother. On one occasion, tired
of all the abuses of his brother who treated him with violence,
Stanislaw uttered the most common threat made by all children: "Your
rough treatment will end in my going away never to return, and you
will have to explain my leaving to our father and mother.”
Stanislaw would receive communion every Sunday and Feast days. He
always fasted on the vespers of the day before He would receive the
Eucharist. When he was not in Church or in school, he would be in
his room totally dedicated to his studies or in prayer. He would
dress very modestly, and exercised corporal mortifications. He
loathed dancing lessons. Paul’s dislike for his brother gradually
increased. On the other hand, Bilinsky, even though he was a
reasonable man, did not have a particular affection for Stanislaw
either. One day, Stanislaw fell ill
and he asked for the viaticum, but the Lutheran, whose house he
lived in, did not allow the Blessed Sacrament to enter
his place. Then, Stanislaw, very sorrowful, fervently entrusted
himself to Saint Barbara, to whose fraternity he belonged. He then
had a vision in which two angels brought him the Eucharist.
It is also said that on one occasion, the Blessed Virgin Mary
appeared to him and told him that his time of death had not arrived
yet and to enter the Society of Jesus. Stanislaw, who had previously
thought of entering, asked to be admitted as soon as he recovered
his health. Fr. Laurence Maggi, Vienna’s Provincial, did not want to
receive him, fearing the tempest that would probably be raised by
his father against the Society. Therefore, Stanislaw decided to go
on foot to Rome, if it was necessary, to request admission from the
Superior General of the Society in person. He embarked on his
journey, walking to Augsburg, then to Dillingen. His sole purpose
was to meet with Saint Peter Canisius, the provincial of that time
in Germany. To make this trip of almost 500 kilometers, he dressed
as a beggar. As soon as his brother, Paul, and Bilinsky found out
about his escape, they started to follow him but were not able to
overtake him. The reason why they were not able to catch up to him
was either because their exhausted horses refused to go further, a
wheel of their carriage would break, or they had mistaken the route,
having left the city by a different road from the one Stanislaw had
taken. St. Peter Canisius received him kindly, and put him to serve
the students in the dining room and to clean their rooms. Stanislaw
did as told with such a reverence and humility that the students who
did not know him were astonished.
At the end of three weeks, Saint Peter Canisius sent him to Rome
with two classmates. In the Eternal City, Stanislaw interviewed with
St. Francis Borgia, and explained to him the purpose of his trip.
St. Francis Borgia agreed with his request and in 1567, admitted him
into the novitiate. He was 17 years old. In the meantime, Stanislaw
received a strong letter from his father, threatening him to expel
all the Jesuits from Poland and reprimanding him for taking "a
despicable cassock and having embraced a dreadful profession
unworthy of his lineage.” Stanislaw responded in filial terms, but
expressed his firm decision to serve God in the vocation He had
called him to. Afterwards, leaving everything in God’s hands, he
calmly dedicated himself to fulfill all his duties. According to Fr.
Giulio Fazio, master of novices of Stanislaw, the saint’s main
objective was to sanctify himself perfectly in the ordinary life.
The only limit to his mortification was obedience to his spiritual
director. Even though he exaggerated in his faults with true
simplicity he lived his novitiate with a constant life of prayer.
His love for Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was so passionate
that when he was
inside the Church, his face would light up. Furthermore, during Holy
Mass and after receiving the Eucharist, he would frequently fall
into ecstasies. But such model of a novice was only destined to live
nine months. As a matter of fact, the Roman summer heat was bad for
him and it caused him frequent fainting, to the
point that he felt he would die soon. The day of the Feast of the
Dedication of Saint Mary Major, August 15th, 1568, speaking with
Father Manuel about the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, Stanislaw
told him: “What a happy day it must have been for all the Saints the
day Mary entered heaven! Perhaps they celebrate it with special joy,
just as we do it here on earth. I hope to be among them in their
next celebration.” For the time being, no one paid attention to
those words, which were fulfilled 10 days later.
On the eve of the Feast of St. Lawrence, Stanislaw felt a mortal
weakness made worse by a high fever, and clearly saw that his last
hour had come. Two days later, when they took him out of bed to
transfer him to a more comfortable place, he made the sign of the
cross upon himself and said, “I will never get up again.” Fr. Fazio
laughed (very paternally) and told him: “Man of little faith, you
abandon all hope for a slight illness?” Stanislaw replied: “True, I
am a man of little faith, but this is not a slight illness, it will
kill me.” On August 15th, towards 4 in the morning, he whispered to
Fr. Ruiz that he was contemplating the Blessed Mother surrounded by
angels. He then died peacefully at 18 years of age, in 1568.
Within a month, Paul Kostka got to Rome with specific instructions
from his father to make sure Stanislaw would return to Poland at all
costs. When he heard of his brother’s death, Paul understood how
badly he had behaved towards him. He was one of the principal
witnesses in his beatification process. Another one of the witnesses
was Bilinsky, who stated, among other things, that Paul had never
said a kind word to his brother. “We both had complete consciousness
of the holiness of all of Stanislaw’s actions.” Paul lived destroyed
by remorse, until he was 60 years old when he asked to be admitted
into the Society of Jesus.
Stanislaw’s Beatification was decreed by Pope Clement VIII in 1604.
Later on, in the year 1726, while his devotion grew rapidly in the
Universal Church, Pope Benedict XIII proclaimed him a Saint.
Numerous miracles were obtained through his intercession, and the
Holy Father canonized him and proclaimed him the Patron Saint of all
novices and of all those preparing themselves for the priesthood.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
Copyright © 2006- SCTJM
