St. Stanislaus Kostka
Feast 11-13 · Canonized 1726
Patron of
About
Stanislaus was born in 1550 into a noble Polish family. As a young student at the Jesuit college in Vienna, he felt a strong call to religious life, but his family opposed him and his older brother mistreated him.
Determined to follow his vocation, he walked over four hundred miles to Rome, where he was received into the Society of Jesus by St. Francis Borgia in 1567. He was known for his cheerfulness, his devotion to the Eucharist, and his tender love for the Virgin Mary.
He died on August 15, 1568, at the age of seventeen, and was canonized in 1726. He is venerated as the patron saint of youth.
Suggested prayer
O God, who gave Stanislaus the courage to walk four hundred miles to Rome rather than abandon his vocation, grant through his intercession that the young may follow Your call with courage and joy. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.