Casimir
was the third of thirteen children born to King Casimir IV of Poland
and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Elizabeth of Habsburg, an Austrian
princess, daughter of Emperor Albert II.
Casimir and two of his
brothers studied under the historian Jonh Dlugosz, a man of great
knowledge and piety. Under the holy man, the young prince, already
devout from infancy, embarked upon the pursuit of sanctity. Giving
himself up to devotion and mortification, he often spent part of the
night in intense prayer and meditation. Prince Casimir also had a great
devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
At the death of Casimir’s
uncle, King Ladislaus of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus a Hungarian nobleman
was elected king. In 1471, at the instance of a group of Hungarian
noblemen, Casimir IV decided to advance his fifteen-year-old son Casimir
for the throne of Hungary. Both father and son participated in the
endeavor. A Polish army of 12,000 advanced on Buda, but the campaign was
unsuccessful.
Returning to Poland, Casimir resumed his studies.
The prince was known for his intelligence, capacity, wisdom and charm.
For four years, while his father was away in Lithuania, he administered
Poland. Around this time his father tried to arrange a marriage for him
to Kunegunde of Austria, daughter of Frederick II, but the prince
refused, choosing to remain celibate.
Shortly after, the saintly
prince succumbed to a severe attack of lung trouble. While on a journey
to Lithuania he died at the court of Grodno on March 4, 1484 at the age
of twenty-six.
A miracle attributed to Prince Casimir in 1518
caused his brother Sigismund I to advance his cause for canonization.
During the Siege of Polotsk, Casimir appeared to the Lithuanian army and
showed them where to cross the Daugava River and relieve the city
besieged by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
Canonized in 1522 by Pope Adrian VI, St. Casimir is greatly revered in Poland.
Thursday, March 4, 2021
St. Casimir of Poland
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