St Jacek (Hyacinth, 13th c.)

The first Pole to be a Dominican and the first Dominican in Poland. The father and founder of the Polish Province of the Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum), Jacek Odrowąż was born in Kamień Śląski around 1200. The cult of Saint Jacek began to develop immediately after his death in 1257. The efforts to have him canonised, initiated in the 13th century, continued for a few hundred years. One of the most important saints hailing from the Dominican Order, he might have been the person who had the Knights of the Teutonic Order excommunicated for betraying the will of the Church and crimes perpetrated on the Christianised population. He directly influenced the spiritual formation of the Blessed Czesław, Blessed Bronisława, St Kinga, Blessed Sadok, and St Janusz of Uppsala. Buried in the Dominican Church in Kraków.




St. Jacek (Hyacinth), print from Żywoty Świętych Patronów Polskich by Rev. Piotr Pękalski, Kraków, 1862