By Fr Hedwig Lewis, SJ –
On 15 August this year the Society of Jesus celebrates the 451th death anniversary of St Stanislaus Kostka (1550-1568). His liturgical feast day is celebrated on 13 November.
Stanislaus was born on 28 October 1550 in his ancestral castle in Rostkovo, Poland, into a noble and wealthy family. He received his early education from a private tutor, and then was sent, and in 1564 was sent, with his older brother Paul, to the Jesuit College in Vienna, Austria, and lodged at the Jesuit-run boarding. Being in such close contact with the Fathers, Stanislaus felt God’s call to become a priest, and a Jesuit. He began to devote time regularly to prayer. He dressed very plainly for a nobleman. He deliberately stayed away from unbecoming company; and practiced self-discipline. His motto was “I am born for greater things”.
In December 1565, Stanislaus fell gravely ill, the remedies prescribed by the doctors proved useless and he was on the brink of death. He prayed fervently and had overwhelming spiritual experiences. He confided to his spiritual director that the Blessed Mother bearing the Christ Child came to visit him, and in her maternal manner she placed the Child in his arms. He began to feel energized and recovered miraculously. He was convinced that the gesture and healing were signs from Our Lady that he should enter the Society of Jesus.
Stanislaus contacted the Jesuit Provincial Superior of Austria who assured him that he would grant him admission, but he would have to obtain the permission of his father. That left Stanislaus in a quandary; he was well aware that that would be next to impossible. His father had other exalted plans for him.
Undaunted, Stanislaus consulted several Jesuits and finally found an escape route from his dilemma. He would seek entrance into a Jesuit province out of bounds of potential family interference. Stanislaus set his sights on Germany.
At break of dawn on 10 August 1567, bearing a letter of introduction from his confessor, Stanislaus set out on his venture unnoticed because he had disguised himself as a mendicant. He walked the highways and by-lanes, sleeping in the fields and begging for food, taking humiliations and uncertainties in his stride, crossing the whole of Austria from east to west, to Dilligen in Germany, 570 kilometres at a stretch in two weeks! He met St Peter Canisius, the Jesuit provincial of Germany.
Canisius was impressed by this determined youth. In order to ascertain, nevertheless, that this lad of noble upbringing would fit into the demanding tasks of religious life, he put him to the test for a few weeks. Stanislaus was assigned to live with the servants and to accompany them in doing menial jobs for the large number of boarders at the Jesuit-run College. Stanislaus fulfilled his tasks beyond everyone’s expectations.
Canisius was only too happy to admit him as a Jesuit, and as requested by Stanislaus who wanted to be far from home, made arrangements for him to proceed to Rome in the company of two Jesuit students. In late September, the trio set off on foot for the 1,000-km trek, arriving in Rome on 25 October, where he presented himself to the Superior General, St Francis Borgia.
Stanislaus was admitted to the Jesuit novitiate on his seventeenth birthday. He impressed everyone by his sanctity, serviceability and simplicity.
On 10 August 1568, he developed a malarial fever but his condition suddenly took a turn for the worse on 14 August. Early morning on the feast of Our Lady’s Assumption his face lit up joyfully as he announced that Mother Mary was approaching to take him to heaven and died peacefully.
Fr Hedwig Lewis SJ is the author of “Profiles in Holiness, Brief Biographies of Jesuit Saints”, and several other books. Website: http://joygift.tripod.com Contact: [email protected]