St. Stanislaus Kostka

St. Stanislaus Kostka was born on 28 October 1550 at Rostkowo, in Poland, into a noble family, and died on 15 August 1568 at Rome, aged only seventeen. Sent with his elder brother to study at Vienna, he was mocked and mistreated by his brother for his piety, yet he clung to his prayer and his intense devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Eucharist. Falling gravely ill and unable to receive Communion in a Protestant household, he was, he believed, brought the Sacrament by angels and healed through Mary's intercession.

Resolved to become a Jesuit despite his family's certain opposition, he fled Vienna on foot and journeyed hundreds of miles across Europe, evading his pursuing brother, until he was received into the Society of Jesus at Rome by St. Francis Borgia. He lived only ten months more as a novice, but with such fervor and purity that he seemed to burn himself out in love of God, dying on the feast of the Assumption as he had foretold. Canonized in 1726, he is honored as a patron of novices and of youth.