St Stanislaus (11th c.)

Bishop of Kraków, patron saint of Poland (together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Adalbert) and of the Archdiocese of Kraków and the Diocese of Sandomierz. Brought the legates of Rome to Poland and re-established the Gniezno metropolis, which allowed the coronation of Polish monarchs. For reasons unexplained, he entered a conflict with King Boleslaus the Bold (Bolesław Śmiały). He was punished with death for high treason. According to legend, the king barged into the church while the bishop was celebrating a mass, struck him down with a single blow of the sword to the back of the bishop’s head, and had his body quartered in the monastery’s court in 1079. The king was exiled from the country for his hot-headedness, and the cult of St Stanislaus developed in Poland from the second half of the 12th century. Wawel Cathedral, where the Confession and sarcophagus of the Saint are located, is the Cathedral of St Stanislaus and Wenceslaus of Bohemia. The Sanctuary of St Stanislaus is the Church of Pauline fathers “on the rock”, that is “ na Skałce”, where the bishop was murdered.




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