The cult of Saint Stanislaus the
Martyr began immediately upon his death. In 1245 his relics were
translated (
i.e., moved) to Kraków's
Wawel Cathedral. In the early 13th century, Bishop
Iwo Odrowąż initiated preparations for Stanislaus'
canonization and ordered Wincenty of Kielce to write the martyr's
vita. Stanislaus of Kraków was canonized by
Pope Innocent IV at
Assisi in 1253.
Pope Pius V did not include the saint's feast day in the
Tridentine calendar for use throughout the
Roman Catholic Church. Subsequently,
Pope Clement VIII inserted it, setting it for 7 May, but Kraków observes it on 8 May, a supposed date of the saint's death, having done so since 8 May 1254, when it was attended by many Polish bishops and princes. In 1969, the Church moved the feast to 11 April, considered to be the date of his death in 1079. As the first native Polish saint, Stanislaus is the patron of Poland and Kraków, and of some Polish dioceses. He shares the patronage of Poland with Saint
Adalbert of Prague,
Florian, and
Our Lady the Queen of Poland.
Wawel Cathedral, which holds the saint's relics, became a principal national shrine. Almost all of the Polish kings from
Władysław I the Elbow-high were crowned while they knelt before his sarcophagus, which stands in the middle of the cathedral. In the 17th century, King
Władysław IV Vasa commissioned an ornate silver coffin to hold the saint's relics. It was destroyed by Swedish troops during the
Deluge but was replaced with a new one c. 1670. Saint Stanislaus' veneration has had great patriotic importance. In the period of Poland's
feudal fragmentation, it was believed that Poland would one day reintegrate as had the members of his body. Half a millennium after Poland had indeed reintegrated, while yet another dismemberment of the polity was underway in the
Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the framers of the
Polish Constitution of 3 May 1791, would dedicate this progressive political document to Saint Stanislaus, whose feast day fell close to the date of the Constitution's adoption. Each year on the first Sunday after 8 May, a procession, led by the Bishop of Kraków, goes out from
Wawel to the
Church on the Rock. The procession, once a local event, was popularized in the 20th century by Polish
Primate Stefan Wyszyński and Archbishop of Kraków,
Karol Wojtyła. Wojtyla, as
Pope John Paul II, called Saint Stanislaus the patron saint of moral order and wanted his first papal return to Poland to occur in April 1979 in observance of the 900th anniversary to the day of his martyrdom, but the Communist rulers of that time blocked this, causing the visit to be delayed until June of that year. Roman Catholic churches belonging to
Polish communities outside Poland are often dedicated to Saint Stanislaus. In
iconography, Saint Stanislaus is usually depicted as a bishop holding a
sword, the instrument of his martyrdom, and sometimes with Piotr rising from the dead at his feet. == Feast Day ==