Casimir was the son of Casimir III, King of Poland, by Elizabeth of Austria, his wife. From his childhood he was taught by the best masters, and was trained in all godliness and good learning. While he was still a boy he wore rough haircloth, and chastened himself with much fasting. He forsook the softness of his princely bed, and lay upon the hard ground, and on stormy nights he would go out secretly and prostrate himself before the doors of the churches, crying to God for mercy. He was unwearied in contemplating the Passion of Christ, and when he was present at Mass, so profound was his recollection, that he seemed to be altogether beside himself.
He made the propagation of the Catholic faith one of the chief works of his life, and strove hard against the schism in Ruthenia. He persuaded his father to forbid by law that the schismatics should build any new churches, or repair the existing ones when they fell into decay. So great was his liberality and tenderness toward the needy and the afflicted that he came to be called the father and guardian of the poor. From his infancy he never soiled his purity, and in his last illness, when his physicians advised him to seek for relief from his grievous sufferings by the sacrifice of his chastity, he cheerfully determined rather to die.
Being made perfect in a short space, and full of piety and good works, he foretold the day of his own death, and, gathering round him a choir of priests and monks, he rendered his soul into the hands of God whom they were praising, the 25th year of his age. His body was carried to Vilnius, where many miracles are reputed to have been wrought around it. At his grave a dead girl is said to have received her life again, blind men their sight, cripples the power of walking, and many sick folk health. Moreover, on an occasion when the Lithuanians in scanty numbers were exposed to the shock of a powerful enemy, they believed that he appeared in the air, and gave them the signal victory which they won. On the assurance of these things, Leo X was moved to add his name to those of the Saints.
He made the propagation of the Catholic faith one of the chief works of his life, and strove hard against the schism in Ruthenia. He persuaded his father to forbid by law that the schismatics should build any new churches, or repair the existing ones when they fell into decay. So great was his liberality and tenderness toward the needy and the afflicted that he came to be called the father and guardian of the poor. From his infancy he never soiled his purity, and in his last illness, when his physicians advised him to seek for relief from his grievous sufferings by the sacrifice of his chastity, he cheerfully determined rather to die.
Being made perfect in a short space, and full of piety and good works, he foretold the day of his own death, and, gathering round him a choir of priests and monks, he rendered his soul into the hands of God whom they were praising, the 25th year of his age. His body was carried to Vilnius, where many miracles are reputed to have been wrought around it. At his grave a dead girl is said to have received her life again, blind men their sight, cripples the power of walking, and many sick folk health. Moreover, on an occasion when the Lithuanians in scanty numbers were exposed to the shock of a powerful enemy, they believed that he appeared in the air, and gave them the signal victory which they won. On the assurance of these things, Leo X was moved to add his name to those of the Saints.
