Daily Saints - March 04

Prince Casimir was the third of the thirteen children of King Casimir IV of Poland and Princess Elizabeth of Austria. He was born on October 5, 1458.
Casimir was educated under Canon John Douglas, a profound devotee and historian. Casimir, who was a devotee of God from a young age, dedicated himself for deeds of devotion and repentance. He spent a good part of his nights in prayer and meditation.

Apart from fasting and praying, he slept on the floor without even wearing adequate clothes. His love and compassion for the poor had no boundaries. Thus Casimir became the protector of the poor and suffering. He spent all his possession to uplift the poor. He also did many things for the poor, using his influence with his father and his brother Ladislaus, the king of Bohemia.

Casimir family was extremely devoted to the Holy Mother. He would always recite the Latin hymn "Omni die, dic Mariae". According to the saint's wishes, a copy of the hymn was buried with his body. Bittleston’s translation has a special mention about this hymn. This hymn, 'Daily, daily sing to Mary’ is called the hymn of St. Casimir.
At that time, some Hungarian lords were unhappy with the rule of their king, Matthias Corvinus. So in 1471 they offered the throne to Casimir, son of the king of Poland. Casimir, who was not even fifteen at the time, was not at all interested in this.

However, he led an army to the border so as not to disobey his father. Nevertheless, since Matthias had mobilized a large army and a large part of his own troops had dropped out of the mission because they had not received their wages, Casimir decided to withdraw from there in consultation with his army officers.
Meanwhile, Pope Sixtus IV sent a delegation to King Casimir to demand that the prince be withdrawn from the war and allowed to live a life as he wished. The pope was persuaded by the firm belief that what the prince was doing was right.

However, the King, enraged over the failure of his ambitious military mission, prevented his son Casimir from entering Krakow and deported him to Dobski Palace. He obeyed his father without any resistance and remained imprisoned in the palace for three months. Realizing the amount of injustice happening during the war, Casimir decided that he would never take part in those wars, which were destructive for the countries involved and would help the Turks to dominate Europe. He never took up arms again, despite the requests of his father and the nobles of Hungary. Returning to his studies and prayers, he served as Viceroy of Poland for some time in the absence of his father.

There was huge pressure on him to marry the daughter of Emperor Frederick III, but Casimir refused it. He died in 1484 at the age of 26 due to respiratory problems. In 1522, Pope Adrian VI canonized Casimir. He was buried in Vilna. The relics of the saint are still preserved in the local church of St. Stancillos. Many miracles have been reported at this tomb. St. Casimir is the patron saint of Poland and Lithuania.

Other saints of the day 

1. Basinus in Treves
2. Adrian and company on May Island
3. Russian missionaries Agathodorus, Basil, Eugene, Elpedius, Etherius, Capito, Ephraim, Nestor, Arcadius.

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