St. Casimir

March 4 is the feast of St. Casimir (1458-1484), the Polish prince and patron of Poland and of youth. Born at Wawel Castle in Krakow, the second son of King Casimir IV of Poland and Elizabeth of Habsburg, he was educated by the Franciscan historian Jan Długosz and from childhood practised austerity — sleeping on the floor, wearing a hair shirt, refusing marriage. He died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-five, at Grodno, while on a campaign against Lithuania.

Casimir was buried in the Cathedral of Vilnius, and his tomb became the great pilgrimage site of Lithuania. The chapel of St. Casimir in the cathedral, built in 1623, holds his silver reliquary, and the three-handled silver coffin that holds his body is one of the masterpieces of Baroque metalwork. He was canonized in 1522 — one of the few saints canonized in the 16th century — and his feast was extended to the universal Church in 1602.

Casimir is the patron of Poland and Lithuania, and of the young. From Krakow, where he was born, to Vilnius, where he is buried, the March 4 feast is the feast of the prince who chose poverty and chastity over the throne.