Prince of Poland, born in the royal palace at Cracow, 3 October,
1458; died at the court of Grodno, 4 March, 1484. He was the grandson of
Wladislaus II Jagiello, King of Poland, who introduced Christianity
into Lithuania, and the second son of King Casimir IV and Queen
Elizabeth, an Austrian princess, the daughter of Albert II, Emperor of
Germany and King of Bohemia and Hungary. Casimir’s uncle, Wladislaus
III, King of Poland and Hungary, perished at Varna in 1444, defending
Christianity against the Turks. Casimir’s elder brother, Wladislaus,
became King of Bohemia in 1471, and King of Hungary in 1490. Of his four
younger brothers, John I, Albert, Alexander, and Sigismund in turn
occupied the Polish throne, while Frederick, the youngest, became
Archbishop of Gnesen, Bishop of Cracow, and finally cardinal, in 1493.
The
early training of the young princes was entrusted to Father Dlugosz,
the Polish historian, a canon at Cracow, and later Archbishop of Lwów
(Lemberg), and to Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus. Father
Dlugosz was a deeply religious man, a loyal patriot, and like
Callimachus, well versed in statecraft. Casimir was placed in the care
of this scholar at the age nine, and even then he was remarkable for his
ardent piety. When Casimir was thirteen he was offered the throne of
Hungary by a Hungarian faction who were discontented under King Matthias
Corvinus. Eager to defend the Cross against the Turks, he accepted the
call and went to Hungary to receive the crown. He was unsuccessful,
however, and returned a fugitive to Poland. The young prince again
became a pupil of Father Dlugosz, under whom he remained until 1475. He
was later associated with his father who initiated him so well into
public affairs that after his elder brother, Wladislaus, ascended to the
Bohemian throne, Casimir became heir-apparent to the throne of Poland.
When in 1479 the king went to Lithuania to spend five years arranging
affairs there, Casimir was placed in charge of Poland, and from 1481 to
1483 administered the State with great prudence and justice. About this
time his father tried to arrange for him a marriage with the daughter
of Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, but Casimir preferred to remain
single. Shortly afterwards he fell victim to a severe attack of lung
trouble, which, weak as he was from fastings and mortifications, he
could not withstand. While on a journey to Lithuania, he died at the
court of Grodno, 4 March 1484. His remains were interred in the chapel
of the Blessed Virgin in the cathedral of Vilna.
St. Casimir was possessed of great charms of person and character,
and was noted particularly for his justice and chastity. Often at night
he would kneel for hours before the locked doors of churches, regardless
of the hour or the inclemency of the weather. He had a special devotion
to the Blessed Virgin, and the hymn of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “Omni
die dic Marix mea laudes anima”, was long attributed to him.
After his death he was venerated as a saint, because of the miracles
wrought by him. Sigismund I, King of Poland, petitioned the pope for
Casimir’s canonization, and Pope Leo X appointed the papal legate
Zaccaria Ferreri, Bishop of Guardalfiera, the Archbishop of Gnesen, and
the Bishop of Przemysl to investigate the life and miracles of Casimir.
This inquiry was completed at Turn in 1520, and in 1522 Casimir was
canonized by Adrian VI. Pope Clement VIII named 4 March as his feast.
The silver sarcophagus of St. Casimir in Vilnius Cathedral (main altar of Saint Casimir’s Chapel.) |
St. Casimir is the patron of Poland and Lithuania, though he is
honoured as far as Belgium and Naples. In Poland and Lithuania churches
and chapels are dedicated to him, as at Rozana and on the River Dzwina
near Potocka, where he is said to have contributed miraculously to a
victory of the Polish army over the Russians. In the beginning of the
seventeenth century King Sigismund III began at Vilna the erection of a
chapel in honour of St. Casimir, which was finished under King
Wladislaus IV. The building was designed by Peter Danckerts, of the
Netherlands, who also adorned the walls with paintings illustrating the
life of the saint. In this chapel is found an old painting renovated in
1594, representing the saint with a lily in his hand. Two other pictures
of the saint are preserved, one in his life by Ferreri, and the other
in the church at Krosno in Galicia.
POTTHAST, Biblotheca historica medii ævi, Wegweiser (2nd ed.), 1236; CHEVALIER, Bio-bibl., s. v.; ESTREICHER, Bibliografia poloka (Cracow, 1903), XIX, 210-12; PRILESZKY, Acta sanctorum Hungariæ (Tyrnau, 1743), I, 121-32; FERRERI, Vita beati Casimiri confessoris ex serenissimis Poloniæ regibus (Cracow, 1521) in Acta SS., March, I, 347-51; ST. GREGORY, Miracula S. Casimiri in Acta SS., March, I, 351-57; IDEM, S. Casimiri theatrum seu ipsius prosapia, vita, miracula (Vilna, 1604); CIATI, La santità prodigiosa di S. Casimiro (Luccoa, 16..); Officium S. Casimiri confessoris M. D. Lithuaniæ patrini (Vilna, 1638); COLLE, Compendio della vita di S. Casimiro (Palermo, 1650); TYSZKIEWICZ, Królewska droga do nisba albo zycie sw. Kazimierza (Warsaw, 1752); Sw. Kazimier, in Przyjaeiel ludu (Lissa, 1846), XIII; PEKALSKI, Zywoty sw. Patronów polskich (Cracow, 1866); PRZEZDZIECKI, Oraison de saint Casimir à la très sainte Vierge (Cracow, 1866); LESZEK, Zywot sw. Kazimierza Jagiellonczyka (Cracow, 1818); PALLAN, Sw. Kazimierz (Tarnów, 1893); PAPÉE, Swiety Kazimierz królewicz polski (Lemberg, 1902); PAPÉE, Studya i szkice z czasów Kazimierza Jagiellonczyka (Warsaw, 1907), 141-54.
L. ABRAHAM (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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