Stanislas saint

Holy Stanislas , born the July 26th 1030 with Szczepanów and dead it April 11th or the May 8th 1079 with Cracow, initially called Stanislas Szczepanowski (in Polish Stanisław Szczepanowski ), also known under the name of Stanislas de Szczepanów (in Polish Stanisław ze Szczepanowa ), is a bishop of Cracow and Martyr, it became a Saint Catholique and the owner of the Poland.

It is difficult to disentangle truth and the forgery concerning the life of Stanislas. The oldest sources mentioning it are the chronicles of Gallus Anonymus and Wincenty Kadłubek, like two Latin biographies written by Vincent de Kielce. These sources are not very objective and nourish legends.

According to the tradition, it would have been born in Szczepanów, a village located close to the small town of Bochnia, in the south of Poland. He would be the single child of a couple noble the very pious one, Wielisław and Bogna. The weather initially was studies with Gniezno, in a school depending on the cathedral. Thereafter, according to several sources, it continued studies with Paris or Liege. On its return in Poland, it is ordered priest by the bishop of Cracow. In 1072, with died of this one, it is chosen by Boleslas II the Generous to succeed to him, but it accepts this load only with the explicit request of the Pape Alexandre II. Stanislas becomes one of the first bishops of Polish origin.

To advise of Boleslas II the Generous one, it has a very important influence on the Polish policy. Thanks to him, a Roman legate settles in Poland. He also restores the archbishop's palace of Gniezno, which was a prerequisite with the royal crowning of the Duc Boleslas II the Generous which takes place in 1076. Stanislas incites the King to invite the Bénédictins in Poland, to continue the christianization country.

The reasons of the conflict which bursts between Stanislas and Boleslas the Generous one are badly known. According to Wincenty Kadłubek, Stanislas would have taken the defense of the inaccurate wife of a knight who had accompanied the king in his countryside against the Rus' by Kiev. The king had heavily condemned this woman whereas her husband had forgiven him. To have dared to be opposed to royal justice, Boleslas condemns Stanislas to the capital punishment, in order to make an example and to frighten its many opponents.

Undoubtedly influenced by a similar case in England (Thomas Becket, bishop and saint), the pope Innocent IV canonizes Stanislas the September 17th 1253, in spite of the lapse of memory in which had fallen the former bishop from Cracow. It is only starting from the second part of the XII {{E}} century that a true worship with Saint Stanislas starts to develop in Poland. In Cracow, it gives its name to the cathedral of the Wawel. In Cracow also, a sanctuary is devoted to him in the church of Paulins.

The Stanislas Saint is celebrated the April 11th.

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