4 MARCH – SAINT CASIMIR OF POLAND (Confessor)

Casimir was the son of King Casimir of Poland and Elizabeth of Austria. He was put, when quite a boy, under the care of the best masters who trained him to piety and learning. He brought his body into subjection by wearing a hair-shirt and by frequent fasting. He could not endure the soft bed which is given to kings, but lay on the hard floor, and during the night he used privately to leave his room and go to the church, where, prostrate before the door, he besought God to have mercy on him. The Passion of Christ was his favourite subject of meditation and when he assisted at Mass his mind was so fixed on God that he seemed to be in one long ecstasy. Great was his zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith. He persuaded the king, his father, to pass a law forbidding schismatics to build new churches, or to repair those which had fallen to ruin. Such was his charity for the poor and all sufferers that he went under the name of the Father and Defender of the Poor. During his last illness he nobly evinced his love of purity, which virtue he had maintained unsullied during his whole life. He was suffering a cruel malady but he courageously preferred to die rather than suffer the loss by which his physicians advised him to purchase his cure — the loss of his priceless treasure. Being made perfect in a short space of time, and rich in virtue and merit, after having foretold the day of his death, he breathed forth his soul into the hands of his God in the twenty-fifth year of his age, surrounded by priests and religious. His body was taken to Vilna and was honoured by many miracles. A young girl was raised to life at his shrine, the blind recovered their sight, the lame the use of their limbs, and the sick their health. He appeared to a small army of Lithuanians who were unexpectedly attacked by a large force, and gave them the victory over the enemy. Pope Leo X was induced by all these miracles to insert his name among the Saints.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

It is from a court that we are to be taught today the most heroic virtues. Casimir is a Prince. He is surrounded by all the allurements of youth and luxury. And yet he passes through the snares of the world with as much safety and prudence as though he were an Angel in human form. His example shows us what we may do. The world has not smiled on us as it did on Casimir, but how much we have loved it! If we have gone so far as to make it our idol, we must now break what we have adored and give our service to the Sovereign Lord who alone has a right to it. When we read the Lives of the Saints, and find that persons who were in the ordinary walk of life practised extraordinary virtues, we are inclined to think that they were not exposed to great temptations, or that the misfortunes they met in the world made them give themselves up unreservedly to God’s service. Such interpretations of the actions of the Saints are shallow and false, for they ignore this great fact — that there is no condition or state, however humble, in which man has not to combat against the evil inclinations of his heart, and that corrupt nature alone is strong enough to lead him to sin. But in such a Saint as Casimir, we have no difficulty in recognising that all his Christian energy was from God and not from any natural source. And we rightly conclude that we who have the same good God may well hope that this Season of spiritual regeneration will change and better us. Casimir preferred death to sin. But is not every Christian bound to be thus minded every hour of the day? And yet, such is the infatuation produced by the pleasures or advantages of this present life that we, every day, see men plunging themselves into sin, which is the death of the soul. And this, not for the sake of saving the life of the body, but for a vile and transient gratification which is often times contrary to their temporal interests. What stronger proof could there be than this, of the sad effects produced in us by Original Sin? The examples of the Saints are given us as a light to lead us in the right path: let us follow it, and we will be saved. Besides, we have a powerful aid in their merits and intercession: let us take courage at the thought that these friends of God have a most affectionate compassion for us their brethren who are surrounded by so many and great dangers.

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Enjoy your well-earned rest in heaven, O Casimir! Neither the world with all its riches, nor the court with all its pleasures, could distract your heart from the eternal joys it alone coveted and loved. Your life was short, but full of merit. The remembrance of Heaven made you forget the Earth. God yielded to the impatience of your desire to be with Him and took you speedily from among men. Your life, though most innocent, was one of penance, for knowing the evil tendencies of corrupt nature, you had a dread of a life of comfort. When will we be made to understand that penance is a debt we owe to God, a debt of expiation for the sins we have committed against Him? You preferred death to sin. Get us a fear of sin, that greatest of all the evils that can befall us, because it is an evil which strikes at God Himself. Pray for us during this holy Season which is intended as a preparation for penance. Impress our minds with the truths now put before us. The Christian world is honouring you today: repay its homage by your blessing.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Appia, during the persecution of Valerian, the birthday of St. Lucius, pope and martyr, who was first exiled for the faith of Christ, but being permitted by divine Providence to return to his church, he suffered martyrdom by decapitation after having combated the Novatians. His praises have been published by St. Cyprian.

Also at Rome, on the Via Appia, nine hundred holy martyrs who were buried in the same cemetery as St. Cecilia.

The same day, St. Caius, a member of the imperial household, who was drowned in the sea with twenty-seven others.

At Nicomedia, in the reign of the emperor Diocletian, the holy martyr Adrian and twenty-three others, who endured martyrdom by having their limbs crushed. St. Adrian is especially commemorated on the eighth of September when his body was conveyed to Rome.

Also the martyrdom of the Saints Archelaus, Cyril and Photius.

In Chersonesus, the passion of the saintly bishops Basil, Eugenius, Agathodorus, Elpidius, Jetherius, Capito, Ephrem, Nestor and Arcadius.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.