Saint Stanislaus Kostka

Life story

Stanislaus Kostka was born in 1550 at Rostków in Mazovia, into a Polish noble family; his father sat in the Senate. In 1564 he and his older brother Paul were sent to Vienna to study at the Jesuit college. The two boys lodged in the house of a Lutheran family, and later accounts describe Paul as a harsh companion to his younger brother.

At the end of 1566 Stanislaus fell gravely ill. Traditional accounts say that on recovering he resolved to become a Jesuit. The fathers in Vienna would not accept a minor against his father's wishes, so he looked elsewhere. In August 1567 he left the city in plain clothes and walked several hundred kilometres to Dillingen in southern Germany. There Peter Canisius, the provincial superior, received him and sent him on to Rome with two companions.

In Rome the Jesuit superior general, Francis Borgia, admitted him to the novitiate of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale at the end of October 1567. He lived there for less than a year, following the ordinary routine of a novice. In early August 1568 he fell ill again and died on 15 August, at about seventeen years of age.

His life was short and he left no writings or works, yet his story circulated in the Society of Jesus almost at once, and his tomb at Sant'Andrea al Quirinale drew pilgrims. He was beatified in 1605 and canonised in 1726 under Pope Benedict XIII. He is especially honoured in Poland and among young people and Jesuit novices.

Works and witness

• Son of a Polish senator, studied at the Jesuit school in Vienna from 1564
• Left Vienna in August 1567 and walked to Dillingen to meet Peter Canisius
• Admitted to the Jesuit novitiate in Rome by Francis Borgia in late 1567
• Died on 15 August 1568 at about seventeen years old
• Beatified in 1605 and canonised in 1726

Patron of

Poland, Young people

Saints from the same country

Saint Stanislaus of Kraków, Saint John Paul II, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Faustina Kowalska

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Acta Sanctorum, August (vol. 3)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.