Saint of the Day

01 · Read · A life to discover

St. Stanislaus Kostka

Stanislaus Kostka was a young Polish man who sought admission to the Society of Jesus despite opposition from his family. His determination eventually brought him to the Jesuit novitiate in Rome while he was still a teenager. He had only a short period of religious formation before illness ended his life.

Sent with his brother to study in Vienna, he encountered the Jesuits as teachers before seeking to join them. Admission was complicated by his family’s opposition. He traveled on foot to Germany, where Peter Canisius recognized his determination and arranged for him to continue to Rome.

There he presented himself to Francis Borgia and entered the Society’s formation. His story is marked by the contrast between a noble family’s expectations and a teenager’s chosen vocation. Accounts of visions during illness belong to Jesuit devotional tradition; the journeys and brief novitiate explain the concrete cost of his decision.

He died in August 1568, approximately ten months after entering the novitiate. The Jesuits remember him for the seriousness of his vocation and the quality of his spiritual life, rather than for a long career of public achievements. His November 13 feast particularly speaks to novices and young people discerning their vocation.

August 15 commemorates Stanislaus Kostka in the Roman Martyrology; his Jesuit celebration on November 13 remains in his biography.