St. Stanislaus Kostka
Born: October 28, 1550
Died: August 15, 1568
Canonized: December 31, 1726
Feast Day: November 13
Patron Saint of: youth
Stanislaus was born of nobility in Poland in 1550, one of 7 children, under very strict religious rule. At 14 years of age, Stanislaus entered a Jesuit college in Vienna. While there, he became very ill. During that illness, he received Holy Communion from a vision of Saint Barbara who appeared to him surrounded by a contingent of angels. He also reported of a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who asked him to become a Jesuit. Stanislaus' family did not support his decision to become a Jesuit, as that chosen way of life was inconsistent with the noble class of that time and region. Fully convinced that the Jesuit order was in his future, he persisted. While in Germany he met Saint Peter Canisius, who sent Stanislaus to Rome to become a novitiate under Saint Francis Borgia. Realizing his dream, Stanislaus died just 10 months later at the age of 17 on the Feast of the Assumption.
