St. Hyacinth

St. Hyacinth, in Polish Jacek Odrowąż, was born about 1185 of a noble family in Silesia, in the land of Poland. According to tradition he was in Rome when he witnessed the holiness of St. Dominic and received the Dominican habit from the founder himself, becoming one of the first Polish members of the Order of Preachers, and he carried the new order back to his homeland, establishing its first houses at Kraków and elsewhere.

From Poland he undertook, over many years, vast missionary journeys through the lands of the north and east, preaching and founding communities across Poland, Bohemia, the Baltic regions, and into the lands of the Rus' and beyond, so that he came to be called the Apostle of the North. Countless miracles and conversions were attributed to his labors, and a famous legend tells how, fleeing an invasion, he carried to safety both the Blessed Sacrament and a heavy statue of Our Lady. He died at Kraków on 15 August 1257 and was canonized in 1594, celebrated on 17 August.