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Daly, S.J. + + +PREFACE + +Among Christian evidences the heroic virtue and holiness of Catholic +youth must not be overlooked. Juvenile and adolescent victories of a +conspicuous kind, over the flesh, the world, and the devil, can be +found in no land and in no age, except a Christian land and age, and +in no Church except the Catholic Church. It is of all excellences +the very rarest and most difficult, this triumphant mastery over +human weakness and human pride. It has defied the life-long +strivings of men whom the world recognizes as beings of superior +wisdom and power of will. The philosophers who have described it +most beautifully and encouraged its pursuit in the most glowing and +impressive terms remain themselves sad examples of human futility in +the struggle to disengage the spirit from the claws of dragging and +unclean influences. For the forces of evil are infinite in their +variety, insidious beyond the ability of natural sharpness to detect +and guard against, and unsleeping in the pressure of their siege +upon the heart of man. Who will explain how it comes to pass that +youth, whose callowness and inexperience are the mockery of the +world, has laid prostrate in single combat this giant of evil and +won fields where the reputations of the world's wisest and noblest +and most tried lie buried? + +It is a matter of idle curiosity with us how an unbelieving +generation, ingenious in devising natural explanations (which are +most unnatural) of supernatural phenomena, would explain away the +wonder of the young Saint's life which is the subject of the +following pages. It presents to us a picture of Divine Condescension +guiding and inspiring and aiding human effort, so convincingly clear +and transparent in its smallest details and in its general effect as +to seem outside the pale of all possible mutilation and +misinterpretation by malice or skeptical analysis. Natural reaction +against sinful excess, thwarted ambitions, disappointed hopes, meek +conformity with environment, ecclesiastical manipulation of pliant +material, tame acquiescence in family traditions and arrangements, +these and all the other stock "explanations," with which a groveling +world seeks to pull down the Saints to its own dreary level, cannot +be invoked to dissipate the mystery and the glory surrounding +Stanislaus. How did he come so early in life, and in a nobleman's +family, to set such store upon spiritual values? How did his tender +and immature mind grasp with such swift sureness the one lesson of +all philosophies, that life on its material side is an incident +rather than the sum of human existence and can never satisfy +the soul's desires ? How could this mere boy have developed, so +young, an iron will which wrought that hardest of all laborious +tasks, namely, the conformation of conduct with lofty ideals? There +are supernatural answers to these and similar questions which might +be raised concerning the brief career of St. Stanislaus. We know of +no merely natural answers. + +The lively and energetic style adopted in the present biography may +create a trace of mild surprise in older readers. Sanctity, it is +true, some one may say, is a very beautiful achievement in a world +of poor and, at best, mediocre performance; but, after all, the +business of sanctity is a serious business. It calls for grit and +endurance, and, as a picture, is only saved from the sordid by +spiritual motives which are unseen. If all moral life is a +monotonous warfare, the life of a Saint is warfare in the very first +ranks where the trenches are filled with water and the shells fall +thickest and the general discomfort and pettiness are at their +maximum. It is misleading and not in strict accord with known +realities, to paint the portrait of a Saint in rose color and +sunlight, diffusing an iridescent atmosphere of cheerful gayety and +buoyancy. + +The criticism is not without some foundation; but youthful readers +will not adopt it. For youth is generous, and age is crabbed. And +because Saints never become crabbed we are right in concluding that +they always remain youthful. And, to draw out our conclusion, the +lives of Saints, contrary to the popular belief, are much more +interesting to the child than they are to the man. It is a pity that +Catholic parents do not recognize this outstanding truth. No +Saint's life is dull to the average intelligent child. Grown-ups +are dull: they never yield to sublime impulses: they measure, +calculate, practice a hard-and-fast moderation, reduce the splendid +possibilities of life to a drab level of safe actuality, and pursue +ideals at a canny and cautious pace. Not so the Saints. They always +retained the freshness and confidence and generous impulses of +childhood. If God spoke to their inner ear and bade them leap +boldly forth into His Infinite Arms, spurning irretrievably the +solid footing of our spinning globe, without hesitation or question +they took the leap. And every child can see the wisdom of it. To +the child it is common sense: to his elders it is inspired heroism +or unintelligible hardihood. We have always entertained a deep- +seated suspicion that there is no child who does not think it easy +to be a Saint, so native is sanctity to Catholic childhood. Cardinal +Newman, we believe, exhorted us all to make our sacrifices for God +while we are young before the calculating selfishness of old age +gets hold of us. + +Still it may not be quite clear to the inquiring mind why the +desperate difficulties of sainthood can be truthfully viewed in the +light of a breathless adventure. Learn, then, the great secret. The +love of God in the heart is the magical light which touches the +dreariness and hardship of self-thwarting with a splendor of sublime +Romance. You cannot have holiness without love. Holiness can be +either greater nor less than the love of God. Let this love faint +or grow cold, there is at once a loss of holiness, even though it +retain all its external gear. This is a cardinal truth; it is a key +which will solve many a puzzle. It will explain why fanatics and +similar oddities are not Saints, though secular history sometimes +honors them with the title. + +Merely concede that the Saint possesses love for God in an +extraordinary measure and degree, and it is the most comprehensible +thing in the world that he will not only accept all tests of his +love readily, but will go forth in search of them with eager +alacrity. First and last and always the only keen satisfaction of +great love, whether human or divine, is to welcome opportunities of +proving itself in some heroic form of courage and endurance. Danger, +suffering, battling against odds, discouragement, overwork, pain of +mind and body, failure, want of recognition, rebuffs, contempt and +persecution, are no longer the subject matter of a strong-jawed +stoicism or a submissive patience but rather the quickening bread +and wine of an intense and high-keyed life. This is why the Saints, +be the provocation ever so great, never develop nerves, or +experience those melancholy and humiliating reactions which are the +natural ebb-tide of spiritual energies. This is why Saints can fast +and keep their temper sweet, can wear hair-shirts without +cultivating wry faces, can be passed by in the distribution of +honors without being soured, can pray all night without robbing the +day of its due meed of cheerfulness, can rise superior to frailties +and weaknesses without despising those who cannot, can be serious +without being testy and morose, can live for years in a cell or a +desert or a convent-close without perishing of ennui or being +devoured by restlessness, and can mingle with life, where all its +currents meet, without losing their heads or swerving a hairbreadth +from the straight line of a most uncommon and most impressive kind +of common sense. + +Unless we keep before our eyes this mainspring of a Saint's life, +that life will be as enigmatical to us as it is to the world. Jesus +balked at no test of the love which He bore towards us: nay, He +devised tests passing all human imagining. Let Him make trial of our +love for Him! We are unhappy till He does! And with this daring +spirit in his heart every Saint enters upon a career of Romance in +its sweetest and highest form. And, we submit, to recur to the +literary style of the following biography, Romance is light-hearted, +light-stepping, cheerful, with the starlight on its face and in its +eyes. + +James J. Daly, S.J. + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter I ON THE ROAD +Chapter II THE PURSUIT +Chapter III EARLY DAYS +Chapter IV OFF TO VIENNA +Chapter V SCHOOL DAYS +Chapter VI IN THE HOUSE OF KIMBERKER +Chapter VII THE TEST OF COURAGE +Chapter VIII IN DANGER OF DEATH +Chapter IX VOCATION +Chapter X THE RUNAWAY +Chapter XI AT DILLIGEN +Chapter XII THE ROAD TO ROME +Chapter XIII THE NOVICESHIP +Chapter XIV GOING HOME +Chapter XV AFTERMATH + + +FOR GREATER THINGS + +CHAPTER I + +ON THE ROAD + +Mid-August in Vienna, the year 1567: when Shakespeare was still a +little boy; twenty years before Philip II fitted out the Spanish +Armada; forty years before the first English colony settled in +America. The sun had just well risen, the gates of Vienna had been +opened but a few hours. Through the great western gate, which cast +its long shadow on the road to Augsburg, came a strange-looking boy. + +He lacked but a month or two of seventeen years, was some five feet +two or three inches in height, had an oval face of remarkable beauty +and liveliness, jet black hair, and eyes in which merriment dwelt as +in its home. He was dressed as became a noble of the time, and in +apparel of unusual splendor and costliness; plumed bonnet, slashed +velvet doublet, tight silken hose, jeweled dagger at his girdle. + +But it was odd to see so brilliant a figure on foot in the dusty +highway; still more odd that be carried a rough bundle slung on a +staff over his and that, peasant fashion, he munched at a loaf of +bread as he trudged the road. + +By no means stalwart-looking, still he swung along with an easy +stride and a confident strength that many a stouter man might envy. +He was bound for Augsburg, 400 miles to the west, and he set himself +thirty miles a day as his rate of travel. + +He wore splendid clothes, because he was Stanislaus, the son of John +Kostka, Lord of Kostkov, Senator, and Castellan of Zakroczym in the +Duchy of Mazovia, Poland. He ate his rough breakfast, like a +peasant, on the road, because he had just been to Mass and received +Holy Communion at the Jesuit church in Vienna. He carried a bundle +on his staff, because he laughed merrily at fine clothes and had in +the bundle a coarse tunic and a stout pair of brogans, which he +meant to put on as soon as he got well out of the city. And his face +and his eyes shone with joy, because he loved God most wonderfully +and was as happy a boy as ever moved through this dull world. + +Every age has its adventurers: men who for fame, or for place, or +for money, cross wide seas, fight brave battles, endure great +hardships. The age in which Stanislaus lived was filled with them. +All the world reads with delight the story of such men. And every +decent boy who reads feels himself, if only for the moment, their +fellow in spirit, eager to do what they did and as bravely as they +did. + +But was there ever adventure finer than this, ever spirit more gayly +daring? Stanislaus Kostka, son of a noble house, a boy in years, +starting without a copper in his pocket to cross half of Europe +afoot! And for what? Not to have men say what a brave chap he was; +not to win a name, or rank, or money: but because God would be +pleased by his doing it, because God called him to do something +which he could not do in Vienna. + +He felt he had a vocation to be a Jesuit. He knew his father would +not consent. He took six months to think it over, to pray for light, +to make sure it was no mere whim or fancy of his own, but the very +voice of God. And when he felt sure, he left a letter for his +brother Paul and his tutor, Bilinski, with whom he had been studying +in Vienna; he gave his money to a couple of beggars; he said, "If +God wants me to do this, He'll furnish the means"; he put on his +best attire, tied up a rough suit in a cloth, took a stout staff in +his hand, and with God's blessing upon him and His Eucharistic +Presence in his heart, stepped out cheerfully on a journey that +would stagger most men. + +That is the stuff of which heroes are made. If Stanislaus had done +this for the glory of the world, we should have his praises in our +histories, we should have stories woven about him, the whole world +would cry "Bravo!" But he did it for God, and the world cannot +understand him at all: the world is silent. + +An hour or so of that steady, tireless stride carried him well away +from Vienna. He slipped off his velvet and silk, put on his coarse +tunic - a shirt-like garment that came below his knees - girded +himself with a bit of rope, tied his stout shoes on his feet, and +took the road again. There were folk aplenty journeying from the +countryside to Vienna in the early morning. Stanislaus picked out +one of the poorest-looking peasants and handed him the gala dress he +had just taken off. + +"I can't carry these with me, friend," he said. "Won't you please +take them? I have no use for them, and perhaps you can sell them in +the city." + +And he was gone before the peasant, gaping in wonder at the rich +garments and dagger in his hands, could much more than catch a +glimpse of that bright face and those laughing eyes. + +He tramped all day, and made his thirty miles. When he was hungry, +he asked some one he met for food. It is not likely that any one +would refuse the smiling, handsome boy, from whose face innocence +simply shone. But if any one had refused him, it would not have +annoyed Stanislaus. His good humor came from heaven, as well as +from his own cheery soul - and you cannot rebuff that kind of good +humor. + +Night came down at last, and he was tired out. He came to an inn +and asked for shelter. + +"I have no money," he told the landlord, smiling, "and I have no +claim upon you. Will you take me in?" + +The landlord looked at him shrewdly a little, then said with respect: + +"But what is your grace doing in such a garb?" + +Stanislaus thought for a moment that he was recognized; but he put +on a bold front, and laughed as he said: + +"I am not 'your grace. I am what you see me, and I have a long +journey to make." + +In those days it was not unusual for even nobles to go, roughly +clad, upon pilgrimages of devotion. That Stanislaus was a noble, +the landlord was quite certain. That he might be engaged on some +such pious business, was possible. But who ever heard of a mere boy +going upon pilgrimage? + +The whole affair puzzled the landlord more than a little. However, +the face of the boy reassured him. At least there could be no evil +behind that frank, brave countenance. So he shook his head, saying: + +"I do not understand. But come in. You are welcome." + +He gave Stanislaus his supper and a bed to sleep in. + +"You shall not be the poorer for this," said Stanislaus, as he +thanked him. "You know God makes it up to us for even a cup of cold +water given in His name." + +And as the boy spoke, the landlord saw his face glow when he spoke +of God and he was very glad at heart that he had given shelter and +food, to this strange boy. + +Stanislaus slept soundly. But he was up with the sun, washed and +dressed quickly, and went to thank his host again before setting +out. + +"But you will have something to eat before you go?" cried the man, +as Stanislaus stood before him, staff in hand, ready for the road. + +"It is good of you to offer it," the boy answered. "But perhaps I +shall find a church before long, and I must go fasting to Holy +Communion." + +Then the landlord marvelled again, for at that period even good +people did not go very often to Holy Communion, especially when they +were traveling hard, as Stanislaus evidently was. And his +admiration and liking grew for this boy with the merry face and the +heart so near heaven. + +"At least," he said, "you must take something with you for the way." + +And that Stanislaus did not refuse, but accepted gratefully, and so +parted from the kind landlord, leaving him gazing in the doorway +with wonder in his eyes. + +His legs were a bit stiff and sore this second day. But the first +few miles wore that off, and he swung on his way as bravely and +gayly as before. + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PURSUIT + +Meanwhile, there was a hubbub in Vienna. Stanislaus had lived in +that city about three years with his brother Paul, who was about a +year older than he, and in the care of a tutor, a young man named +Bilinski. He had left them in the early morning. As the day wore on +and he did not return home, they became uneasy. They went about all +afternoon, inquiring amongst their friends and acquaintance if any +had seen him. Only one or two were in the secret, and they kept +discreet silence. + +Unable therefore to get any trace of Stanislaus, they soon came to +the conclusion that he had fled. And, as we shall see, they had +good reason in their own hearts for guessing that from the first. +They returned to the house of the Senator Kimberker, where they were +all lodging, and taking Kimberker, who was a Lutheran, into their +confidence, they held a council of war. + +It was decided that Stanislaus must have gone to Augsburg. Paul +recalled something that Stanislaus had said to him only the day +before, when he had threatened plainly to run away. And they had +heard him say, another time, that at Augsburg was Peter Canisius, +the Provincial of the German Jesuits. Of course they were going to +follow him and bring him back. But night had come on before their +inquiries and deliberations were finished. They must wait till the +next day. + +Accordingly, bright and early the following morning, all three, with +one of the Kostkas' servants, drove out in a carriage over the +Augsburg road. They had four good horses and they told their +coachman not to spare the whip. They came to the inn where +Stanislaus had spent the night. They questioned the landlord. + +"Have you seen a boy of seventeen, a Polish noble, pass westward +along this road yesterday or today?" + +But the landlord was shrewd, and though the whole matter was beyond +him, he fancied somehow that these eager folk were no great friends +of the boy who had lodged with him. And as he trusted that boy and +could scarcely help being loyal to him, he shrugged his shoulders +and answered: + +"How should I know? So many travel this road." + +Then Bilinski described Stanislaus and his doublet of velvet and +hose of silk and jeweled dagger. But at that the landlord shook his +head in denial. + +"I have seen no such person as your graces describe," he said. + +Bilinski called out to the coachman: + +"Drive on. We have nothing to learn here." + +But Paul said: "NQ let us turn back. He cannot have walked this far +in one day. We must have passed him on the road." + +"Perhaps you could not have walked so far," said Bilinski, with a +sneer. "But Stanislaus could. Drive on!" + +Forty miles or more out of Vienna, they saw a boy trudging ahead of +them, in a rough tunic, rope-girdled, with a staff in his hand. At +the noise of the hurrying wheels the boy glanced back, then quickly +turned up a lane which there entered the road. He did not look in +the least like a nobleman's son, and the carriage passed the bottom +of the lane without so much as slacking speed. + +Stanislaus ran up the lane until he came to where it ended at a +rough, brawling stream. Without a moment's hesitation he put off his +shoes, tucked up his tunic, and began wading in the course of the +stream. The water was cold, the sharp stones in the bed of the +stream bruised his feet, at any moment he might fall into a deep +hole and be drowned. But he splashed and stumbled ahead, as fast as +he could go, praying to his guardian angel to have care of him. A +little farther, he knew, the highway crossed this stream by a +bridge, and there he could leave the water and regain the road. + +The carriage meantime kept on and came to this bridge. But Paul had +been thinking of the young fellow who took to the lane when he saw +the carriage approach and a shrewd suspicion came into his head. + +"Did you see that boy who ran up the lane?" he cried at length to +Bilinski. "I believe it was Stanislaus." + +"But he was dressed like a peasant," said Bilinski. "And Stanislaus +had on a handsome suit." + +They debated for a time, but Paul prevailed. Round they turned and +drove furiously back to the lane. But as the driver tried to turn +his horses into it, the animals reared and balked and refused to +enter. Blows and curses were showered on them; they merely stood and +trembled; no efforts could urge them into the lane. Then the driver +grew afraid, and cried out: + +"My Lord Paul, we cannot go into this lane. And before God, I have +fear upon me! Never have the horses acted this way." + +And indeed fear seized them all. They saw the hand of God in this +strange obstinancy of their beasts. Even Kimberker cried the pursuit. + +"Fear God!" he said. "For this is no common mishap!" + +And when they turned the horses' heads again toward Vienna, the +animals snorted and pranced and went very willingly. + +And so, when Stanislaus came to the bridge, the highway was clear. +After a look about, he put on his shoes, gripped his staff afresh, +and took up again cheerily as ever his thirty miles a day to +Augsburg. + +Day after day, tired and footsore, he told off the long miles, +begging his food and lodging as he went; fearless and happy, praying +like an angel of God as he walked along. + +Many were kind to him for the brave, bright spirit that shone out in +his face. Many remembered those words of our Lord, "Whatsoever you +have done unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto +me," and willingly sheltered the boy and gave him to eat. Sometimes +he turned into the fields beside the road and slept through the warm +August night beneath the open sky. Whenever he came to a church in +the morning, he heard Mass and received Holy Communion, for he +started out each morning fasting. And on the fourteenth day he +reached Augsburg. + +What happened there, we shall see in another chapter, and how within +three weeks this smiling boy turned his face southward and tramped +another eight hundred miles on foot to Rome. But just that will +show you something of the spirit of Stanislaus, the spirit of a +hero. All that a knight might do out of love for his lady, he did +out of love for God. He really loved God with a sort of fierce +intensity. And he wanted to show his love in deeds, just as we want +to show our love for a person by doing something, by giving +something. God had given him everything, he would give God +everything: that was the whole of his life. And with that generosity +went a fine common sense. He was not rash or headlong, acting first +and thinking afterward. He reckoned things out calmly and sensibly, +and then went ahead with a pluck and determination that nothing in +the world could stop. + +God asked a fearfully hard thing of him; to leave his people, his +home; to set out afoot on an enormous journey; to undergo no end of +hardships and humiliations; to live in a strange land, among strange +people. And he did it, did it smilingly, joyfully, with a simple, +quiet bravery seldom if ever matched by any other boy in the world. + +The one thing that staggers us is his reason for doing it, his great +love for God. And that is because we have not got, what we could +easily get, his secret. He prayed, he kept close in thought to God +always. God and heaven and our Lady were as familiar to his mind as +the sun and the earth and the air are to our mind's. The earth to +him was only the antechamber of heaven. He looked upon life as one +looks upon a little delay at a railway station before the train +leaves; the only important thing is to catch the train. + + +CHAPTER III + +EARLY DAYS + +Bilinski and Paul Kostka went back to Vienna, much troubled at +heart. They really loved Stanislaus, for one thing, though they had +been pretty rough with him. And for another, they had to face the +anger of the Lord John Kostka, when he should hear of Stanislaus' +flight. + +Shortly after they had got back, a young friend of the runaway came +to them and said: + +"If you look between the leaves of such-and-such a book, you will +find a letter which Stanislaus left for you." + +They looked and found the letter. It was very simple and +straightforward, a genuine boy's letter. He had run away, he said, +because he had to. He was called to enter the Society of Jesus. He +had to do what God wanted of him. He knew they would prevent him if +they could. And so he just went. He left them messages of +affectionate regard, and begged them to forward his letter to his +father. + +Bilinski sent this letter on at once. Paul also wrote, as did +Kimberker and even the servant who had gone with them in the +carriage. Each tried to shift the blame from himself, told of the +strange behavior of the horses, explained that everything possible +had been done to overtake the fugitive. + +And when their letters came, there was high wrath in Kostkov. The +Lord John raved and swore. He blamed everybody, but most of all +Stanislaus and the tricky Jesuits who, he said, were back of the +whole scheme. He wrote to Cardinal Osius that he would not rest +until he had broken up the Jesuit college in Pultowa and driven +every schemer of them out of Poland. As for Stanislaus, he would +follow him across the world, if need were, and drag him back to +Kostkov in chains. + +He was a great lord, the Lord John. He loved his second son, +Stanislaus, most dearly, and he loved dearly the honor of his house, +which he thought that son had stained by hi& conduct. A son of his +in beggar's garb, tramping the highways of Europe, begging his bread +from door to door! It nearly broke his heart. + +He had princely blood in his veins, he was a Senator of Poland, he +might even become a king. His dearest hopes were in Stanislaus, his +second son. Paul, the eldest, was wild and unsteady. And though +there were two other sons and a daughter, none gave such promise as +Stanislaus. So that the Lord John looked chiefly to him to carry on +the great name and make it more glorious still. No wonder he raged! + +Stanislaus had figured all that out beforehand. It hurt him too, +hurt terribly. But what can one do when God calls? God had made all +the Kostkas, given them name and rank. God was the Lord of Lords. It +was heart-breaking to Stanislaus to leave his father in anger. Yet +he trusted that since that was God's will - well, God would find a +way to bring peace out of all this trouble. He put all his fears and +heartache away from him, and went out to do what God wanted. + +He had always done that, even when he was a little tad in the rough +castle at Kostkov. God had taught him, God had helped him +wonderfully. But more wonderful still to our eyes is the way the boy +listened to God's teaching and obeyed it. + +We think things come easy to the saints. We read or hear of wonders +in their lives, which are evidently God's doing; and we say: + +"Of course the saint was good and holy. But it was all done for him. +God made everything smooth. The saint was never in my boots for a minute." + +And all the time we forget the things which the saint himself did, +the superb efforts he had to make. + +So Stanislaus began to pray as soon as he well began to speak. Do +you think he would not sooner have kept on with his play? Do you +think he did not naturally hate the effort just as any boy naturally +hates effort? + +He lived amongst rough men, men used to the ways of camps and the +speech of soldiers. Yet he not merely kept his own lips" clean, but +he shrank, as from a blow, from every coarse or indecent speech in +others. He did not go around correcting people. He was too sensible +for that. He was not a prig or a prude. But he knew, as we know, +that vile speech is hateful to God; and, as so many of us do not do, +he set his face against it. + +Did that cost him no effort? Had he no human respect to fight +against? Think of how many times you may have grinned, cowardly, at +a gross remark or shady story of a comrade - because you were not +fighter enough to resent it! And then give this Stanislaus, who did +resent, credit for his stouter courage, his more manly spirit. + +His biographers tell us that he was simply' free from temptations +against purity. That does not mean what many may think it means: +that he was physically unlike other boys, that he had no animal +desires, that he had nothing to fight against. It means that he was +such a magnificent fighter that he had won the battle almost from +the start. It means that he was not content, as so many of us are, +with merely pushing a temptation a little aside, and then looking +around in surprise to find it still there. He was like a skillful +boxer, who wards off every blow of his adversary, so that he goes +through the contest absolutely untouched. He watched, as we are too +lazy to watch; he kept out of danger, where we foolishly run into +it; he did not wait until temptation had set upon him and nearly +battered him down before he began to resist; he saw it coming afar +off, just as we can if we look out, and he met it with a rush that +sent it again beyond reach or even sight. + +OF COURSE he was the same as other boys; OF COURSE he had the same +inclinations, the same promptings of the animal man; but with them +he had more daring, more force and energy of will to cooperate with +God's grace. + +You always find it that way. The things the saints seem to do with +ease are terrifically hard things, huge battles, regular slugging +fights. The ease, if there be any, is not in the things they did, +but in the men who did them. + +You have seen skilled pianists sit down at their instruments and run +off into brisk flowing music what looks like a hopeless jumble of +notes. You may have seen an artist sketch in, whilst chatting idly, +a swift, striking portrait. Well, all really good men are artists +too; artists in fighting. And Stanislaus was one of the cleverest +and strongest artists of the lot. + +He began early, just as the musician Mozart did, just as the painter +Raffaele did; and he studied hard at his art, just as all great +artists have done. He began by saying his prayers well, not mere lip +prayers, but heart prayers. He began by getting on easy terms with +God, with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, with our Blessed Lady. + He learned to talk with them as we learn to talk with our fathers +and mothers. He told them his troubles, his plans. He talked +everything over with them. And it no more made him queer or stiff +or unpleasant than talking things over with your comrades or your +parents makes you queer or stiff or unpleasant. If you believe in +God, it is the most natural thing in the world to try to take Him +into your confidence. + + +Then it is easy to see how, as Stanislaus grew older, he liked to +pray, he liked to talk about God and our Lady. You see, he had +grown to know them. They were not remote, far away. They were as +near to him as his own folk. They were his own folk. And it is +easy to see how, keeping in God's sight all the time, he kept his +soul clean and his heart merry. + + +CHAPTER IV + +OFF TO VIENNA + +In this way Stanislaus went on until he was nearly fourteen years +old and his brother Paul was approaching fifteen. Then the Lord +John Kostka thought his boys had better continue their studies, not +at home, but at a regular school. He picked out John Bilinski, a +young man who had lately completed his college course, as tutor for +them. He gave them a couple of servants, mounted them all on good +horses, and sent them off six hundred miles or more on horseback to +Vienna. + +You may be sure Stanislaus enjoyed the long ride. It would be +strange if he, a nobleman of the finest cavalry nation in the world, +were not a good horseman. He loved the smell of the open fields, he +loved the boisterous song of the mountain torrent. The hills and +the plains were his home, for the hills and the plains were nearer +to God than the houses of men. + +In those days all travel was on foot or on horseback. The wealthy +and noble rode, the poor footed it. Great highways cut Europe from +end to end; though there were tracts in Stanislaus' country where +the roadway was only the broad steppe, where the grasses waved and +tossed like the sea, where men were few and their dwellings +scattered far apart. + +They crossed great rivers, they climbed the foothills of the +Carpathian mountains. Many a night Paul and Stanislaus, with their +people, slept under the stars. Many a wild, rough border town they +passed. Many a great forest they penetrated, the home of the wild +boar and the aurochs. + +And the tar burners in the forests looked up from under their matted +brows at the fair oval face of the Polish boy, and said: + +"He is like a wild flower blown by the wind. He is like the violets +that laugh in spring at the sun." + +And the shaggy fighting-men of the frontier villages watched him +ride through their streets, and thought: + +"This is an angel. He looks toward heaven because he sees his +Brothers there." + +They crossed themselves piously as he passed. And some of the light +and laughter of his face glowed 'for a moment in their dark lives, +as a gloomy glen in the forest is brightened up by a darting ray of +sunlight. + +He was wonderful, but he was always a boy. He was glad to feel the +good horse under him, to grip the Tartar saddle with his knees, to +feel the air rush by his cheek. + +Sometimes they met poor people staggering wearily afoot along the +road. Often Stanislaus checked his horse and lightly dismounted. + +"Get up, get up, old father!" he would cry. "My legs are stiff from +the saddle. I want to walk." + +And though a peasant might often be afraid to accept the favor from +a noble, or be surly and churlish, the folk never were so with +Stanislaus. Up climbed the old father into the saddle, and +Stanislaus stepped out by his side. + +"God give your grace long years!" said the thankful old man. + +"Long years!" cried Stanislaus. I want more than that. I want +eternity. I was born for greater things than long years." + +And the old man would understand; for he was of the poor, and the +poor know more of this longing for heaven than do the rich. But he +looked almost with awe at this richly dressed noble boy who had +learned even now to value life so justly. Then it was easy for +Stanislaus to talk of heaven to the old man. + +"Old father, in the barony of the Lord Jesus there is no poverty or +old age or weariness. Nor is there any difference of rank there as +here, for we shall all be great lords and castellans in heaven." + +"Aye, but your grace will be a hetman surely in the army of the Lord +Jesus," said the old man. + +"Who knows!" cried Stanislaus. "I should love that dearly. Though +the generals in His kingdom are not always from amongst the nobles. +It may be that you will be hetman, and I a common soldier. But it is +good to be even a common soldier with Him." + +"I went against the Tartars in my youth," said the old man. "Perhaps +we shall have a campaign against that dog-brother Lucifer, and Saint +Michael and Saint Wenceslaus will lead us under the Lord Jesus; and +our Lady of Yasna Gora will look on when we come back victorious!" + +And so they talked on until it was time to set the old man down, and +Stanislaus mounted again to catch up with his party, which had gone +ahead. + +"With God!" cried the old man. + +"With God!" echoed Stanislaus. 'And if you go to heaven before me, +father, do not forget to plead for me with the Lord Jesus and with +His Mother." + +Then he clattered along the road, and shortly came up with Bilinski +and Paul. + +Sometimes they came to districts infested by robbers, and waited to +join themselves to some larger party for protection. Sometimes they +made long stretches of many hours in the saddle, when the inns were +far apart and they could get no food on the road. Sometimes they +tarried a day or two in a little town to rest their horses. + +But everywhere Stanislaus thought of God, and prayed, and when +occasion offered spoke of holy things as only he could speak. +Bilinski and Paul often laughed at him, for they were of a different +stamp. But he did not mind their ridicule, and he bore them no +grudge for it. And so, after. many days, they came at length to +Vienna, on July 26, 1564. + + +CHAPTER V + +SCHOOL DAYS + +Vienna WAS a great city, even in those days, since for a long time +it had been the residence of the Roman Emperors of the West. It was +a Catholic city, though even in 1564, little more than forty years +after Luther's revolt, the Lutherans in the city had begun to be +quite numerous. + +The Society of Jesus had been founded in 1540, only ten years before +Stanislaus was born. But it had spread quickly. For some years now +there had been a Jesuit house in Vienna. In i56o, four years before +Stanislaus came to Vienna, the Emperor Ferdinand I had loaned to the +Viennese Jesuits a large house next to their own, which they might +use as a college. The Fathers built a connection between the two +houses, so that they became practically one. Here they received +boys from the city, from the country round about, even from Hungary +and far Poland. Here Stanislaus took up his residence. + +It was a simpler, less formal sort of school than we perhaps are +accustomed to. The Fathers and the boys lived together, almost as +one big family. They ate together in one large dining hall. There +were always some of the Fathers with the boys in their games, as +well as in their studies. It was a very pleasant place, and a very +good place. + +In those early days of Protestantism, Catholics, even Catholic boys, +felt that they were in a fighting situation. The attacks upon the +old faith woke new courage and devotion in those who remained +faithful to the Church of the ages. And so, filled with that spirit +of loyalty, that new earnestness which the times called forth, and +living under the example of the simple manly piety of their Jesuit +teachers, it is no wonder that the boys in the College of Vienna +were an unusually good set of boys. + +They had their regular classes, in languages, mathematics, and such +science as the age knew. Latin was then the language of all educated +people in Europe, the language of courts, the common meeting ground +of all nations. Many a time, both in those days and later; a noble +proved his rank and saved himself from mischance by the mere fact +that he spoke Latin. It was not a dead language then, as it is now. +It was in current use. Greek was comparatively new in Western +schools. And though from their beginnings the Jesuits were famous +teachers, we can hardly suppose that in their new and small college +at Vienna the boys were much troubled by the speech of Plato and +Demosthenes. + +Of their games it is hard to know much at this late day. Sword-play +and bouts of a soldierly sort were common enough. These boys were +almost all of noble birth; most of them perhaps looked for-ward to +the army for their profession. So they held mimic tournaments and +played games in which they hurled lances through suspended rings; +they shot with bows and arrows; and of course they had matches in +running, jumping and wrestling. + +We know that Stanislaus did uncommonly well in the schools. He was +quick, had a good memory, and was too sensible to be lazy. And +though the writers of his life say nothing about it, we are quite +sure that he excelled in games and sports also. For one thing, he as +a general favorite, esteemed by all his fellows; and that must mean +that he was one with them in their play. For another, he was +naturally no dreamer or moper, but the jolliest, cheeriest sort of +boy. And finally, the boy who walked twelve hundred miles in a few +weeks must have been well accustomed to using his legs. Try thirty +miles a day on foot, day after day, you football players and +baseball players, you trained athletes, and say whether it is the +work of a weakling or of a boy who never played. + +But it takes more than success in studies and in games to account +for his great popularity with the other college boys. Such success +may win a certain admiration and respect, but it does not of itself +win friends. And Stanislaus had pretty nearly every one for his +friend. To do that requires other gifts, gifts of character. +Everybody liked him, because he had such gifts. He was pious, but +not merely pious; much more than pious, he was good. That means he +was unselfish. There is only one way to make people really love +you, and that is to love them. That is what Stanislaus did; he loved + the people he lived with. He was naturally good hearted, and big +hearted. He had kept away from petty meannesses. He had fought +down his natural selfishness. He had learned not to be always +seeking his own little advantage, not to put himself forward for +praise, not to insist on his " rights," not to boast and carry a +high hand with his comrades, not to talk a lot about himself. +He had learned to forgive little offenses, and big ones, too, for +that matter. He knew all about how our Lord had suffered and put up +with things and forgiven those who hurt Him. And he loved our Lord +so much, was so much at home with Him, that almost without effort he +acted as our Lord would want him to act. He had plenty of spirit, +and a whole world of pluck and daring; but he was not quarrelsome. +Then he was as cheerful as sunshine, and he made every one else +cheerful. Why, the boys could not help loving a boy like him. + +Sodalities were rare in those days; but the college boys of Vienna +had a sodality, devoted to the honor of our Lady, and under the +patronage of Saint Barbara. At their meetings; the sodalists in turn +had to address their companions, give a little talk about the +Blessed Virgin, or on some virtue, or the like. + +Whenever Stanislaus' turn came, the boys were all expectation. He +was no older than most of them; indeed, younger perhaps. But he had +an older head. He had done more thinking than they, and a deal more +praying. He had no false shame or babyish timidity. If he had +anything to say, he was not afraid to say it. And he certainly had +something to say. It had come to be as easy for him to talk about +our Lady and heaven as for other boys to talk about their mothers at +home. He had treasured up stories of the Blessed Virgin's help, with +which Catholic Poland was filled. He spoke simply, unaffectedly, of +our Lady's love for us, of her power, her willingness to aid us. And +from him, though simply their school mate, the boys heard these +things eagerly. He seemed well privileged to speak, as indeed he was. + +To talk about pious things, and do it acceptably, is a mighty hard +matter. You have to know how. And the first part of knowing how is +to be at home with pious things, to have thought about them, often +and long, to have woven them into your life as Stanislaus had done. + +The trouble with us is that we live so far removed from thoughts of +God, of His Mother, that they never cease to be strange to us. We go +blunderingly about mention of them, or we lack the courage to speak +at all. But why should they be strange or remote? We are destined +to live forever in heaven, we are the daily recipients of God's +favors, we are sheltered, protected, every way by our Lady's loving +care. + +The things that touch us most nearly are the things of the spiritual +world; they are the most thrillingly important; they are the only +really important things. We are not afraid to talk baseball, or +politics, or business. Why be afraid to talk of God's power, His +dominion over us, His love for us, our duties to Him, the helps He +gives us, the reward He holds out to us? There is only one answer: +we don't think enough about these things. There is only one remedy: +do thing about them, as Saint Stanislaus did. + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE HOUSE OF KIMBERKER + +The house which the Jesuits in Vienna used for their boarding +college was not theirs. It belonged to the Emperor Ferdinand I, who +had merely loaned it to them. Now the Emperor Ferdinand had died on +July 25, 1564, the day before Paul and Stanislaus came to Vienna. +The new Emperor, Maximilian II, left the house with the Jesuits for +a time; but in March, 1565, withdrew it from their use. Of course, +that meant the breaking up of the boarding-school. The Fathers still +had their own residence, and they could teach a small number of day +scholars. Many of their pupils went to their homes when they could +no longer live with the Jesuits. Those who remained had to take +lodgings elsewhere in the city. + +It was decided that Paul and Stanislaus should be amongst the latter +number. At once Bilinski set out with the two to get a house. In +the Platz Kiemark, a fashionable quarter of the town, there was a +splendid mansion, belonging to a Lutheran noble, the Senator +Kimberker. + +It took Paul's fancy immensely. On inquiry, they found that +Kimberker used less than half of the house, for it was a huge +building with many rooms, and that he was more than willing to rent +the unused rooms to the young Poles. Stanislaus felt a little ill +at ease over living with a Lutheran. But Bilinski and Paul pooh- +poohed at his fears, and had their own way in the matter. + +So in a few days they moved in, and fitted up a couple of the vacant +rooms. Stanislaus was to live more than two years in this house, +two years filled with a great deal of annoyance and pain, and yet +blessed in wonderful ways. His difficulties began almost at once, +and they were no slight difficulties. Of course, he and Paul went +daily for classes to the Jesuits' house, and met daily the few boys +who continued their studies in Vienna. But the old companionship, +the old life of the boys in common, was gone. Only two or three of +his best friends remained, and these were scattered through the +city. He saw them for a little while after classes, he might now and +then go out with them on a holiday. But for the most part he was +thrown back upon the company of his tutor and his elder brother. + +Both Paul and Bilinski liked a good time." They were far removed +from the authority of home. Bilinski, who was in charge, was only a +few years older than Paul; and whilst a good fellow in the main, was +little able, or perhaps little willing, to put much check upon him. + +And Paul was a pretty gay blade. Rough, boisterous, wild in manner, +he picked companions like himself. Kimberker' 5 house soon became a +noisy place. There were dinners at which the wine went round very +freely, plenty of cards and dice, now and then brawling quarrels. +It did not suit Stanislaus at all. He was too much of a gentleman, +and too good, to act unpleasantly or resent the rough company that +Paul brought home. But he could not mix freely with them, he did +not like their talk or their manners, and he slipped quietly away +from their noisy gatherings as soon as he decently could. + +And so he was left alone; and lonesomeness for a boy of fourteen is +a very unpleasant thing. He still did well in his classes, but he +was no book-worm. When he had done his duty in study, the books had +no further claim upon him, and no attraction in themselves. And yet +he kept up his wonderful brightness and cheeriness all the time; so +that Bilinski often wondered at him. And it was worth wondering at, +for there is nothing, as everybody knows, which sooner breaks down +one's spirits and brings on the blue devils than being left alone, +without friends and companionship. + +How did he do it? The fact is, he refused to be alone. As his +friends in Vienna left him, he simply turned more to his friends in +heaven. And heaven came down to him. Any old vacant room in the +big, half-empty house was his chapel. And through the long, lonely +days, often through great part of the night, he prayed. + +If you could have seen him pray! Imagine any good-hearted boy who +has been away from home for a long stretch, say a couple of years, +and who comes back and meets father, mother, brothers, sisters. He +may not say much, but he LOOKS a good deal, and he feels more than +any words can say. That is the way Stanislaus prayed. He just +turned to God and his Mother in heaven, with all his love in his +eyes and immense happiness in his heart. And if he spoke, or said +things to them in his mind, he could speak simply, like a little +child, because no one else would hear him and he would not need be +shy or bashful. + +If you could have seen him pray, you would never think, as so many +do, that praying is a gloomy business. His face was lit up, his +eyes bright, his whole body spoke of peace and courage and joy. He +kept thinking so much about heaven that he seemed to live there in +advance. Everybody knows how, when the school year is nearly over +and vacations are at hand, there is a joyful atmosphere about the +days. Lessons do not seem so hard, though they really are just the +same old lessons. Classes seem to have more life and spirit in +them. Boys are in better temper. Every detail of work and play is +colored by expectation, as if the relief of vacation were already +foretasted. Stanislaus looked forward just that way to the Great +Vacation, to going Home forever. He knew that even the longest +life. ends soon, that all its difficulties and troubles pass away +and eternity begins; and he felt so light-hearted looking ahead to +that eternity that nothing happening here could sadden him - except +sin, and he kept away from that. + +Paul and his boisterous fellows thought that Paul's younger brother +was a queer chap. But they liked him, just the same, because he was +always pleasant and smiling. He never said a word to them about +their conduct. But when they talked to him, he naturally spoke of +the things he was always thinking about. And they did not like +that. Such talk tended to stir up their consciences, even to +frighten them. And they did not want their con-sciences stirred up. +You can often see that. You may have noticed in yourself that, if +you are not living as you ought to live, any word about God or death +or heaven or our Blessed Lady irritates you, makes you feel horribly +uncomfortable. And so Stanislaus became a puzzle to them, because +they would not see. And little by little they left him alone, or +only spoke to him to tease him or make fun of him. + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE TEST OF COURAGE + +Paul was the worst at this teasing; nor did it stop at mere teasing. +He was not a really bad fellow, but he was selfish, set upon having +his own will in everything, and had a very quick and fierce temper. +Stanislaus' quiet refusal to join in the noisy revels of himself and +his companions, his unaffected piety, his long hours of prayer, were +things he could not understand. They seemed a sort of standing +rebuke to him, and they constantly nettled him. Of course he sought +reasons to justify himself, as we all do when we are in the wrong. +When they were alone, he and Bilinski fell to scolding Stanislaus. + +"You shame us!" Paul would cry. "You do not act like a nobleman, +but like some boorish peasant." + +Then Stanislaus would be troubled. He knew he was in the right. He +simply could not stand the free ways and freer speech of Paul and +his companions. But how could he justify himself? How could he +defend his own position without at least seeming to attack his +brother's? And that last he would never do. S6metimes he tried to +smooth matters over by saying: + +"We take different ways, Paul. I do not condemn yours. Why not let +me alone in mine?" + +But oftenest he could only smile and say nothing. And whether he +answered or kept silence, Paul was sure to grow more irritated. Then +Bilinski tried to exert his authority. + +"Your father gave you into my charge," he would say. "I order you to +act like the rest of us and not make yourself odd and shame us by +your conduct." + +But Stanislaus knew well enough what were the limits of Bilinski's +authority and he was not at all the sort of boy to be easily bullied +by a mere assumption of authority that did not exist. + +The result always was that Stanislaus continued to do what his own +conscience urged him to do, and that Bilinski and Paul felt helpless +in the face of his quiet, fearless persistence. And that made them +the more vexed with him. They nicknamed him "The Jesuit," they +mimicked him, they sneered at him. He had a pretty hot temper +himself, but he kept himself well in hand, and was always kind and +pleasant with these cross-grained comrades. He was not the least bit +afraid. Whenever he thought that speaking would do any good, he +spoke up without hesitation. Many a time, when Paul taunted him +with acting in a way to bring discredit upon his name, he answered: + +"No man shames his name by trying to please God. As for what men +may think or say, that does not matter much. Do you think we shall +bother much about that in eternity?" + +There were two cousins of theirs who often stayed with the Kostkas; +one of them was also called Stanislaus, the other, who afterwards +rose to high rank in his native country, was named Rozrarewski. +These sided with Paul and did their best to help him in making +Stanislaus' life miserable. + +It was not long before Paul went on from words to blows. One day +Stanislaus quietly tried to answer some of Paul's sneers. Paul +sprang at him in a rage and, striking out savagely, knocked him +down. Bilinski interfered, and when he had drawn off Paul, proceeded +to scold Stanislaus as being the cause of all the trouble. Such +meanness and injustice must have made the boy's blood boil. But he +mastered himself and said nothing. + +That afternoon Paul was going out riding. He could not find his spurs. +"Take mine," said Stanislaus, pleasantly, as if nothing had happened. +And Paul took them, a little ashamed, saying to himself: + +"He's a decent little beggar, after all - if only he weren't so +insufferably pious!" + +But Paul, though he might be touched for the moment by his brother's +readiness to forgive, continued to grow even more irritated with +him. Many and many a time he struck Stanislaus; and often, after +knocking him down, kicked him and then tramped on him. And Bilinski +always took the same line, trying to make peace by blaming +everything on Stanislaus. + +Now Stanislaus was very nearly Paul's equal in size, and easily his +match in strength. He lived simply and frugally, kept himself in +condition, did not over-eat and over-drink as Paul did. He could, +without much difficulty, have met Paul's brutality in kind, and very +likely have given him a good beating. And he knew well enough that +if he did so, Paul would let him alone. For when was there ever a +bully who was not also a coward? + +And you may be sure he felt like doing it. He was in the right, and +knew he was. He was high-spirited and utterly without fear. And yet +he never even defended himself. lie let Paul bully him and beat him. +He endured to have himself looked upon as a coward - although you +may observe that all the time he did not budge an inch from the line +of conduct he had chosen. And why? Well, for a lot of reasons. + +In the first place, he kept saying to himself, "What difference +does it make for eternity? Then, he knew his own high temper and he +would not let himself go, for fear he should commit a sin - and he +hated sin with all his soul. + +And then he recalled what our Lord had suffered for him, and he +said: + +"If you will give me the courage to stand it, I'll be glad, Lord, to +suffer this much for You." + +And that last was the reason why, in the midst of this real +persecution, he never lost his cheerfulness. More than that, he +never missed a chance to do Paul and his friends a good turn. He said: + +"When men were treating our Lord worst, even killing Him, that was +when He was opening heaven for them. And I'm sure He would like me +to be kind as He was kind to those who treated Him meanly." + +He did what he could to avoid annoying Paul. He kept out of +everybody's way when he wanted to pray. He used to wait at night +till the others were asleep, for they all slept in one great room +together, and then slip out of bed and on to his knees. Sometimes +his cousins, thinking it a great joke, would pretend to stumble over +him in the half-dark, and kick him as hard as they could. + +And this went on for two years. He could have stopped the whole +matter with no trouble at all, by simply writing to his father. But +he never so much as hinted to any one at home of the way Paul and +Bilinski and his cousins treated him. He was as plucky as he was +gentle and forgiving. Although, for good reasons, he would not +quarrel, he had the tenacity of a bull-dog, he held on to the hard +purpose he had formed and nothing could beat him off. + +And that is the very highest sort of courage, the courage that +endures, that has no show or heroics about it. Again I say, if he +had done all this, put up with all this, to gain riches, to make a +name for himself, the world would understand and would praise him +tremendously. It is his motive that leaves the world cold, it is the +source and reason of his courage that the world cannot understand. + +Yet he was not obstinate and pig-headed, bound to do as he wished +just because he wished it. No, he was very sensible and did +everything with reason. He would not stop saying his prayers when +Bilinski and Paul objected, he would not join in gay dinners and +drinking-bouts and gambling, he would not sit and smile at shady +stories or smutty wit. He would no? do anything his conscience +forbade. But he was most ready to do anything else they wanted. + +For instance, he had been used to give his rich clothes away to the +poor, and dress very simply. Bilinski and Paul insisted on his +dressing as became his rank, and he yielded readily. Bilinski +wanted him to take dancing lessons, and he took them, and learned to +dance very well. He was not keen about any of these things, because +he reckoned they would not count for much in eternity. But neither +was he foolish, nor a fanatic, nor one who saw evil where no evil +was. He was simply a level-headed boy, who figured out the business +of life clearly and convincingly, and who had the courage of a hero +in living up to his convictions. + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN DANGER OF DEATH + +Two years of loneliness; when his brother and his cousins and his +tutor, who should have been his comrades, were his persecutors; two +years in which he was always under a strain, always having to +control his anger, to be patient and sweet-tempered amidst a +thousand vexations; two years, moreover, in which the bodily +exercise he was used to, and which he needed as every growing boy +needs it, was cut down to a minimum; two such years would have +broken the health even of a grown, strong man. And Stanislaus was +not a grown, strong man, but a boy of sixteen. It is remarkable +that he should have held out so long. It shows what courage and +goodness and trust in God can do. But finally, towards the end of +November, 1566, his body and brain could stand it no longer. He +fell sick, with fever. + +He was not a baby. He did not complain, or even tell any one that +he felt unwell. He kept to his feet for weeks, trying to go on as +usual with his work and his prayers. The feast of Saint Barbara, who +had been the patroness of the boys' sodality in Vienna, was drawing +near. Stanislaus prepared for it with particular care and devotion. +Saint Barbara was the patroness of a happy death and her clients +always besought of her the special grace of receiving the Holy +Viaticum when dying. + +December 4th, the feast of the Saint, came and passed. Stanislaus +grew weaker, his fever increased. About the middle of the month he +had to keep his bed, and his condition quickly became serious. Then +Bilinski and Paul forgot their anger against the boy. They called in +the best physicians of the city, they spared no pains or expense. +The servants, who had always loved this gentle master, were all +kindness and attention. But despite the efforts of all, Stanislaus +became steadily worse. + +He was entirely at peace, not at all afraid. Yet he felt that death +was coming near. He prayed whole hours, smiling gladly in talk with +our Lord, with the Blessed Virgin, with his guardian angel. He was +ready, even eager, to go home. The evil spirit wondered at this boy +of sixteen, who had fought him off so bravely through his life and +who was dying now so fearlessly. + +One day, when his people and even the servants had left him for a +little while, Stanislaus saw an enormous black dog with glaring eyes +and hideous foaming jaws rush across the room toward his bed. The +door was closed. It was impossible for the beast to have entered +the room in any ordinary way. Stanislaus had no notion how it could +have come there. But if he was frightened for the moment, he did +not lose his wits. With an effort, he sat up in bed and made the +sign of the cross. "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost!" +he cried aloud. Instantly the huge, snarling dog fell to the floor +with a thud as if struck by a sword. But after a few moments he +sprang up again, and first circling the room, came crouching to the +bed, howling as no mortal dog could howl, making ready to spring at +the sick boy. Again Stanislaus made the sign of the cross. Again the +terrible dog was stricken to the floor. A third time he came, only +to be beaten back in the same way. And then, standing with bristling +hair and horrible cries in the middle of the room, he vanished from +sight. Stanislaus fell back on the bed, fearfully exhausted, and +with tears in his eyes thanked God for his deliverance. + +The shock of this dreadful incident prostrated him. He failed more +and more. The doctors, coming several times a day, shook their +heads in despair. + +"We can do no more," they said, "the end is now only a question of +time." + +For seven days and nights Bilinski sat by his bed, snatching only a +few hours' sleep now and then, for he feared that Stanislaus might +die any moment. + +Yet in all this long time they had brought no priest to the dying +boy. Every day he begged them earnestly that he might receive the +Holy Viaticum. But they lied to him. Bilinski said: + +"You will soon be well. The doctors will cure you. Don't think of +death or go frightening yourself." + +"I am not afraid," said Stanislaus. "But I know I am dying. Do not +let me die without Holy Communion." + +But Bilinski still put him off, and tried to tease him jokingly with +charges of cowardice. + +The fact was, Bilinski and Paul were afraid of their Lutheran +landlord, the Senator Kimberker. His anti-Catholic prejudice was +intense. They feared he might put them, sick boy and all, out of his +house, if they dared to bring a priest and the Blessed Sacrament +into it. + +That was a hard trial for Stanislaus. But he met it as he had met +every difficulty, bravely, hopefully, cheerfully. He remembered +Saint Barbara, of whom he had asked 'the grace of not dying without +the Holy Viaticum. He renewed his prayers for her intercession. He +laid his whole case with confidence before God, and with confidence +waited. + +Bilinski still sat by his bed, watching anxiously. The day passed, +the light failed, darkness and night came on. Stanislaus all the +time had lain quiet, his face smiling as ever, his lips moving in +prayer. Suddenly he turned to Bilinski, radiant, glowing with joy. + +"Kneel down, kneel down!" he said, in a clear but low voice. "Two +angels of God are bringing the Blessed Sacrament, and with them +comes Saint Barbara!" + +Then, worn out though he was by his long sickness, Stanislaus raised +himself, knelt on the bed, and struck his breast as he three times +repeated: + +"Lord, I am not worthy!" + +Then he raised his face, and opening his lips received his +sacramental Lord. Bilinski looked on with awe and almost terror, +unable to say a word. Stanislaus, when he had received the Blessed +Sacrament, lay down again in bed and began his thanksgiving. + +He was more than ever ready for death now. But still death held off. +All the next day he passed in quiet. The doctors said: + +"Now is the end. He may die at any moment." + +But he was not to die yet. Toward evening our Lady herself came to +him, carrying in her arms the Infant Jesus. The sick boy looked up +in wonder and delight. There was his Mother, smiling at him, and in +her arms the laughing Infant. The divine Child stretched out His +little hands to Stanislaus, and Stanislaus, sitting up in his bed, +took Him into his arms. + +What passed in his soul then, what joy filled his heart, we cannot +know until we shall come to heaven and taste for ourselves of that +joy. + +And the Blessed Virgin and the Child Jesus spoke to him and +comforted him. But Stanislaus was too overcome to say anything. +Only tears streamed down from his eyes as he pressed the Infant +Savior to his breast. + +Our Lady said to him: + +"You must end your days in the Society that bears my Son's name. +You must be a Jesuit." + +But so soon as he had taken the Infant into his arms, Stanislaus felt +that the fever left him, his strength came back, the blood coursed +through his body with a new sense of vigor and vitality. + +Then our Lady received her Child back from his hands, smiled at him +and blessed him, and so vanished from his sight. + +Stanislaus called for his clothes, dressed and got up. Bilinski and +Paul and the doctors were astounded. + +"It cannot be!" they cried. + +"But you see that it is," said Stanislaus. "I am as well as ever. +Our Lady and the little Jesus came and cured me. And now I must go +to the church and thank them." + +Nor did the fever return. He was entirely recovered. + +The house in which this occurred is now a sanctuary, and in the room +in which Stanislaus had received such favors from God an altar +stands, and above it a statue of the Saint. + + +CHAPTER IX + +VOCATION + +When our Lady came to cure Stanislaus, she told him absolutely that +he must become a Jesuit. That was not the first idea Stanislaus had +had of his vocation. Even some months before his illness he had +felt himself drawn to enter the Society of Jesus. But now, all +doubts removed, he made a vow in thanksgiving to obey our Lady's +command. + +He went to his confessor, the Jesuit Father Doni, and told him of +the vision of the Blessed Virgin and her order to become a Jesuit. + Father Doni believed him readily enough, but he said: + +"I can do nothing myself in the matter. You must go to the +Provincial, for only he can admit you. But I am afraid there will +be difficulties." + +Stanislaus was not merely afraid, he was quite certain, there would +be difficulties. However, he assured Father Doni: + +"Even if there be no end of difficulties, still I shall be a Jesuit. +Since our Lady has commanded me, she will find a way." + +The Provincial, Father Laurence Maggi, received Stanislaus kindly, +of course, yet with anything but encouragement. There had been +trouble for the Society shortly before, though in another place, +because of some novices admitted without their parents' consent. The +Provincial did not wish to risk having a like disturbance brought +about his own ears. + +"But the Blessed Virgin will take care of the whole business, +Father," said Stanislaus. "She will quiet any opposition my father +may make." + +Well, the Provincial was willing to believe that too. But he knew +that God wants us to use our own common sense and not to act rashly +and then rely upon Him, or upon our Lady's intercession with Him, to +get us out of scrapes. So he had to give the only answer which +prudence could give, to all Stanislaus' petitions. + +"You must either get your father's permission, or you must wait +until you are of age and your own master." + +Now, Stanislaus was quite certain his father would not hear for a +moment of his becoming a Jesuit. On the other hand, he did not want +to wait four or five years until he should come of age. He had that +peculiar courage, which many people cannot understand at all, the +courage to be afraid. He was very much afraid, afraid to trifle with +God's grace, afraid lest if he did not take the favor now when it +was offered him, it might not be offered another time. + +He thought of another means of persuading the Provincial. The +Apostolic Legate of Pope Saint Pius V to the court of the Emperor at +Vienna was Cardinal Commendoni. This Cardinal had been Nuncio, and +afterwards Legate, to Poland, and had come from Poland only a year +or so before. He was well acquainted with the Lord John Kostka and +with Stanislaus. When he came to Vienna, Paul and Stanislaus had +visited him, and Stanislaus had made the Cardinal, as he did most +people, his friend. + +So he went to Cardinal Commendoni. He figured hopefully that, as +the Cardinal was the Pope's representative, he could easily impose +his will on the Jesuit Provincial; and of course he would do so as +his friend. + +Commendoni welcomed the boy, listened to him attentively, marvelled +at his unaffected goodness and at the heavenly favors shown him. +Stanislaus told him of the distressing obstinacy of the Provincial. + +"But how about your father?" the Cardinal asked. + +"Oh, my father is more hopeless than the Provincial," Stanislaus +answered. "If I so much as mentioned the matter to him, he would +bring me back to Poland, and I should have no chance at all." + +As Commendoni knew the Lord John pretty well, he said nothing to +that. But he thought to himself that Stanislaus was fairly accurate +in his forecast. + +After a moment's thought, he said: + +"You certainly have a right to follow your vocation. God's will +comes before even your father's. But it is not going to be easy. +However, I shall speak to the Father Provincial, and do what I can." + +Stanislaus went away with good hopes. He was to return in a few days +to hear the result of Commendoni's plea. But when he came back to +the Cardinal, he found only another disappointment. The Provincial +not merely was as stubborn as ever, he had even won the Cardinal to +his way of thinking. It was too risky to admit him, it was +altogether unwise. + +Most boys might have given up after that. Stanislaus did not give +up. He was quite sure of what God wanted, and difficulties simply +did not count. lie was called to be a Jesuit, and a Jesuit he would +be. If he could not gain admission into the Society in Vienna, well, +he would try elsewhere. + +But even with his mind fairly made up, he sought more guidance. A +young Portuguese Jesuit, Father Antoni, had lately come to Vienna as +preacher to the Empress Maria. Every one was talking about his +ability, his prudence, his zeal. Stanislaus went to him, and laid +his troubles before him. + +Father Antoni took some little time to think it all over, then +decided very definitely. He called Stanislaus to him. + +"Do you understand," he asked, "what it will mean to go away, to +leave your people, to live in a strange country?" + +Stanislaus said, yes, he understood perfectly. + +"And that you are closing the door on your return, that in no case +will you ever be received again at Kostkov?" + +Yes, Stanislaus knew that too. + +"And that you will have to go an immense journey on foot, with +plenty of hardships; to find at the end of it a life that is not +easy, to live at the beck and call of another, to do menial work, to +endure humiliations, to sacrifice everything that the world holds. +dear?" + +Stanislaus smiled at him. He had reckoned it all out, he had "counted +the cost" long before, he was ready. + +Then, in God's name, go! " said Father Antonie "And may God be with +you in all. I'll give you letters to Father Canisius, the Provincial +in Augsburg, and to Father Francis Borgia, the General, who is in +Rome." + +Then Stanislaus was happy. At last he was in a fair way to obey the +command of God, which our Lady herself had brought him. Father +Antoni spoke with him longer, pointed out in detail many of the +difficulties that awaited him, gave him counsel for the road. Then +he went to write the letters of introduction, and Stanislaus went +back to Paul and Bilinski and their blows and sneers, to get ready +for his tramp. + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RUNAWAY + +He was going to run away. But he was not going to sneak away. He +was just as kind and forgiving to Paul as he had always been. He +bore him no ill-will for his three years of abuse, now that he had +determined upon a course of action, which would free him from a +continuance of it. He had often felt angry over Paul's treatment of +him, but he had kept down his anger under his vigorous will. + +But now he made up his mind that Paul would receive something of a +shock the next time he had resort to his now almost habitual +amusement of beating his younger brother. Meantime, he bought a +peasant's tunic and a pair of rough shoes that would be serviceable +for his long march. + +It was not long before something or other Stanislaus did or said +woke Paul's easily aroused rage. He began with oaths, of which he +seemed to possess a pretty stock. He worked himself up into greater +and greater heat of temper - a substitute for courage with many +people. Finally he sprang at Stanislaus. Formerly, on such +occasions Stanislaus was so busy holding his own temper in check +that he could do little else, he stood almost like a statue. But +this time Paul felt there was something wrong. Stanislaus was +looking straight at him. When he leaped to strike him, Stanislaus +quietly and skillfully thrust him aside. Paul stumbled, staggered, +recovered himself. But when he looked again, fear took hold of him. +He was afraid of what he saw in Stanislaus' eyes. The younger boy +spoke quietly, coolly. + +"That will be about enough," he said; "I've put up with your +cowardice and brutality for three years. I'll stand it no longer. +Since I cannot have peace here, well,. I'll look for it somewhere +else. You can answer to our father, and tell him how it happened." + +Paul was still frightened. The situation was extremely novel to him. +The turning of the worm! What would happen next! He was afraid at +first that Stanislaus was going to give him his long-due payment, +and he had no stomach to face the reckoning. He had not noticed +before how wiry and strong Stanislaus looked. But when he saw that +the boy made no movement, only spoke in that quiet voice, he plucked +up a little courage. He began to bluster and swear. + +"You'll go away, will you?" he cried. "What the devil do I care? Go, +and be hanged to you!" - that was the gist of it, only a trifle more +ornamental. + +"Don't forget! " said Stanislaus. " Send word to father. I'm +certainly going away." + +Paul was waxing eloquent again, but Stanislaus turned on his heel +and walked away. Nor did the bullying big brother venture to follow +him. He contented himself with calling him hard names which he could +not hear, and muttering savagely to himself for some time. But, +naturally, he did not believe at all that Stanislaus was really +going to run away9 He looked upon the words as an empty threat. + +And so it was all over. Stanislaus sighed a sigh of relief. There +was nothing ahead of him now save the road to Augsburg. He said his +prayers tranquilly and went to bed. + +Morning came, or the dawn that precedes the morning. Stanislaus got +up, selected his finest suit of clothes, and dressed. His first care +was to write the letter for Paul and his father. This he put between +the leaves of a book. + +The servants, of course, even in the primitive housekeeping of the +Kostkas, slept in another room than the big common apartment of +their masters. Stanislaus went to the bed of one of them, named +Pacifici, who was rather particularly devoted to him, and who +afterwards became a Franciscan. He shook Pacifici and woke him. The +servant rubbed his eyes sleepily, then gazed in astonishment at the +brilliant figure standing in the half-light beside his bed. What was +the Lord Stanislaus doing, dressed in this unusual finery, at such +an unearthly hour! + +"Listen," said Stanislaus, "I am going out for the day. I have +received an invitation which I must accept. I am going now. If +Bilinski or the Lord Paul ask for me, tell them that." + +"I will, your grace, I will," said Pacifici. But he was almost too +astonished to speak. + +Stanislaus left the room and the house. He walked quickly to the +Jesuit church, where he heard Mass and received Holy Communion. At +Mass he met a young Hungarian, with whom he had been very intimate. +He beckoned him aside and whispered: + +"Wait for me a minute. I just want to say a word to Father Antoni." + +Then he hurried away, but was back shortly at his friend's side, +eyes dancing, lips smiling, hand outstretched. + +"I have just bid Father Antoni good-by," he said, with a little +excitement. "I am running away. I am going to Augsburg' to ask +admission into the Society of Jesus. I told Paul yesterday that I +should not stay with him, and I have written a letter and put it in +a book. Do not tell any one what I tell you now. But after a few +days, please go and point out the letter to Paul." + +His friend listened with wonder. Going away!' Going to Augsburg! + +"But how?" he asked. "Not on foot?" + +"On foot, to be sure," answered Stanislaus gayly. "Do you think I +have a horse secreted about me? Or could I take one of ours and wake +the house?" + +"And you will be a Jesuit, and teach, and never ride a good horse +again, and give up your people and your place in the world!" + +"I shall be a Jesuit, if I can," said Stanislaus. "As for what I +shall give up, well, I'd have to give it up when death came, +wouldn't I? And since God wants it, I'd sooner give it up now." + +But he had not much time for talk. Day was growing; he must be off. +He got his friend's promise about the letter, bade him good-by +heartily and cheerily, and turned his face towards the Augsburg +road. What happened else that day we have already seen, and how Paul +and Bilinski followed him, and how he got away, and how he did walk, +bravely, gayly, in less than two weeks the four hundred miles to +Augsburg. + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT DILLIGEN + +It was well on in the afternoon of August 30th or 31st when +Stanislaus arrived at Augsburg. The town was strange to him. He had +to ask his way to the Jesuit house. + +"I want to see Father Canisius," he told the porter at the door. +"I have a letter of introduction to him." + +The porter was very sorry, but Father Canisius was not in Augsburg. + Stanislaus' heart fell. Not in Augsburg! His four hundred miles on +foot for nothing! It was a terrible disappointment. + +"Wait a moment," said the porter, "until I call one of the Fathers." + +As Stanislaus waited, he kept asking himself, "What shall I do? What +shall I do now?" And for a little while he could not think clearly. +He felt almost sick. But he was not the kind to be discouraged long, +and before the porter returned with the Father he had made up his mind. + +"Since Canisius is not in Augsburg, well, I'll go to whatever place +he is in. + +The Father who came was all regrets. Canisius had gone to +Dillingen. But would not Stanislaus come in, and at least rest a +few days before seeking him further? No, Stanislaus was going on - +at once. + +"How far is it?" he asked. "And can you point me out the road?" + +"It is about thirty-five miles," the Father answered. "But you +can't go on this evening. You must be dreadfully tired." + +Yes, he was tired, but not so tired that he could not go to Dillingen. + +It is only a little way, after all," he said, smiling as he always +smiled. But he stopped to eat something with the Jesuits, both +because he was hungry, and because it would be discourteous to +refuse all their kind offers. + +One of the lay-brothers had to go on business to Dillingen, so he +hastened to accompany Stanislaus. It is from his testimony that we +know what happened on the way. + +Before the sun had quite set, he was on the road once more. He +slept in a field that night. He was up early the next morning, and +stepped out bravely, fasting, and hoping for a chance to go to Holy +Communion. + +The evening before, he had left Augsburg a good many miles behind. +A few miles more in the early morning brought him to a little +village. From some distance he saw the spire of its church. He +hastened his steps, lest Mass should be over before he reached the +place. + +When he came to the church, he saw through its open door a scattered +little congregation at their prayers. He entered quickly, sank to +his knees, and dropping his face between his hands began to pray. +But somehow the place felt strange. After a bit he looked about him, +and saw with astonishment that he was in a Lutheran church. The +Lutheran heresy was still young and kept up many Catholic practices. +It was easy to be deceived. + +He felt a little shocked. He had been preparing to receive Holy +Communion, and now he should have to go without. But as he looked +about, the church to his eyes glowed with light. Out of the light +came a troop of blessed angels and drew near to him. He was +frightened, delighted, all at once. Then he saw that one of the +angels bore with deep reverence the Blessed Sacrament, and that God +had granted his desire for Holy Communion. He received It with +quiet joy, but simply, humbly, for he knew that this miracle of Its +coming to him was as nothing to the miracle that there should be any +Blessed Sacrament at all. Since God had stooped to leave us His +Flesh and Blood, the manner in which He gave It was of quite +secondary importance. + +It would have astounded us to be in his place in the little Lutheran +church that morning. We try to fancy how we should feel, if we too +saw a host of angels approach us. Yet every day we may avail +ourselves of that more wonderful miracle, before which even visions +of angels pale - the miracle of having God Himself for our Meat and +Drink. + +That day brought him to Dillingen and Peter Canisius, the "Watch-dog +of Germany," as he was called, for his vigilance against heresy. +Canisius read the letter of Father Antoni, and listened to +Stanislaus' story. It was all quite wonderful. As the boy talked, +Canisius looked at him and studied him: not quite seventeen, lively, +handsome, full of spirit and daring, quick in speech, eager, +affectionate, pious. + +You might call Canisius a man of war, an old veteran. His hair had +grown gray in battles of the soul, in fighting back heresy, in +strengthening weak hearts through that age of trial. He knew the +value of enthusiasm, but he knew its weakness, too. + +"A very taking lad," he thought to himself. "He flashes like a +rapier. But will his metal stand hard use?" + +It was the thought of common sense. He did not mistrust Stanislaus. +But, on the other hand, what did he know about him? He had not much +to go by as yet; only Antoni's letter, and the boy's engaging +presence. He would take no definite step about admitting Stanislaus +into the Society until he did know more. + +"Yon want to be a Jesuit?" he said, with thoughtful brows. "When?" + +It was on Stanislaus' tongue to say, "Now, at once." But he +hesitated a moment, and said instead, "As soon as you think fit." + +You are a stranger to us, you know," Canisius went on, smiling a +little, but pleasantly. "And before we admit men amongst us, we +need to know that they have something more than a mere desire to +join us.. That takes time to find out. Are you willing to stop in +the college here for a while?" + +Stanislaus answered promptly, "Of course I am." + +"Not as a student," said Canisius. "But as a servant?" + +"As anything you want," Stanislaus agreed. + +"Well, come with me," Canisius said, and he led the way to the +kitchen. + +"Here's a new cook," he said to the brother in charge. "At least, +he may have in him the makings of a cook. Can you give him +something to do?" + +It was not a very encouraging reception, although it was not so bad +as it may sound, condensed as it is in these pages. Neither was it +meant to be encouraging. It was meant to test. + +Stanislaus was as cheerful as a lark. He rolled up his sleeves, +smiled at the brother, and waited orders. The brother smiled back, +and said: + +"First, I think you will have something to eat. Then we shall see +about work." + +The Jesuit college at Dillingen, Saint Jerome's, was a big place and +numbered many students. Many students mean many cooks and servers at +table and servants about the house. Stanislaus took his place +amongst a score of such. He washed dishes, helped prepare food, +swept, scrubbed -whatever he was told to do. He ate with the +servants, took his recreations with them. And he went about it all +as simply and naturally as if he had been doing nothing else all his +life. + +His jolliness and kindness won him friends on all sides, as they had +always done. He kept up his prayers, you may be sure; ran in to +visit our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament whenever he was free to do +so; made all he did into a prayer. And of course that irritated some +of the other servants, just as it had irritated his brother Paul. +And so he had no lack of teasing and petty insults. But he just +smiled his way through them and kept on. + +He was perfectly happy, entirely confident that he was doing God's +will. As for the work, he chuckled to himself at the idea that +Canisius thought this a test! He would willingly do a thousand +times harder things than that for Almighty God. And after all, he +said, it really was not so hard. Many a better man than he had to +work much harder, at much more unpleasant tasks. And what would it +matter in eternity, if he scrubbed pots and pans and floors and +windows all his life? The only thing that mattered was to please +God, and just now this sort of work was what pleased God. + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE ROAD TO ROME + +Canisius kept Stanislaus at his work in the kitchen and about the +house for a couple of weeks. He noted his cheerfulness, his love of +prayer, his readiness to do any sort of work, and best of all, his +simplicity, his entire lack of pose. He saw that this Senator's son +made no virtue of taking on himself such lowly tasks, and he knew, +therefore, that he was really humble. + +Then he called the boy to him. He said: + +"If I admit you into the Society here, your father may still annoy +you. It is better you should go to Rome and become a novice there. +I shall give you a letter to the Father General, Francis Borgia. In +a few days two of ours are to go to Rome. You can go with them." + +Stanislaus was delighted. He was come into quiet waters at last. +But Canisius spoke further: + +"First, however, you must get some decent clothes. Your old tunic," +he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "might do well enough for a +noble, but not for a future Jesuit." + +So the college tailor made Stanislaus a simple, neat suit of +clothes. And about September 20th he set out for Rome. He went on +foot, of course; in the company of Jacopo Levanzio, a Genoese, and +Fabricius Reiner, of Liége. + +They struck south through Bavaria to the Tyrolese Alps. By what pass +they crossed the Alps we do not know. But Stanislaus saw first from +afar the white peaks, with their everlasting snows, shining in the +sun. Then he went up and up, into cooler and rarer air, where one's +lungs expand and one's step is light and buoyant, but where one gets +tired more easily than in the plains. High up in the passes he felt +the cold of Winter, although it was as yet early Autumn. + +Then he came down the southern slopes of the great mountain-wall +that locks in Italy, and with him came the headwaters of great +rivers. He came down through bare rocks, then through twisted +mountain-pines, then through green and lovely valleys, and so into +the plains of northern Italy. He saw the mountain torrents leap and +flash, and grow always bigger and stronger. He saw them slack their +speed and widen their beds in the upland valleys. He saw them grow +sluggish, tawny with mud, in the plain. + +He saw the many spires of Milan's wonderful cathedral as they drew +near the city. And when they tarried there a little while for rest, +he saw the famous armor made there, hung up for show in little shop- +windows. He passed great cavalcades of nobles and soldiers, and +marvelled at their straight, slim rapiers, so different from the +heavy Polish saber. He heard Italian speech for the first time, and +tried to get at its meaning through his Latin. + +But he and his companions had not over-much time for observing. They +were traveling pretty swiftly. From Dillingen to Rome is a matter of +about eight hundred miles. They left Dillingen September 20th; they +reached Rome October 25th. That figures out to an average of about +twenty-two miles each day. Then, if you remember that they had to +climb mountains the first part of the way, that there were delays +entering towns, delays of devotion when they came to great churches, +you can see that many a day they must have equaled or surpassed +Stanislaus' thirty miles a day from Vienna. + +But it was pleasanter. for Stanislaus than his first great tramp. +Now he had two good companions, with whom he could speak easily and +familiarly of the things nearest his heart. He had none of the +uncertainty about the result of this journey which he had had about +his former journey. He found shelter and friendship in many Jesuit +houses on the way. + +As the three went on they lightened the road with pious songs, they +heard Mass and received Holy Communion whenever occasion offered, +they knelt by many a wayside shrine, a crucifix, or statue of our +Lady, scattered everywhere through Catholic Italy. + +It did not take the two Jesuits long to appreciate Stanislaus and +delight in his company. He was so light-hearted, so merry in all +the discomforts and hardships of the long road, so thoroughly and +simply good. They wondered at his physical endurance, at the ease +and buoyancy with which the lad of seventeen kept up that hard +march, day after day. + +The grasses of the Campagna were brown and brittle, the trees sere +and yellow in the Autumn, when they came to the Eternal City, the +center of the world then as now. The saintly General Francis +Borgia, busy as he was with the cares of the widespread Society, +found time to welcome the three travelers, and to hear Stanislaus' +wonderful story in full. + +And this time there was no hesitation or delay. Stanislaus entered +his name in the book containing the register of the novices, on +October 25, 1567. Three days later he received his cassock and +entered at once upon his noviceship. + +There were so many novices in Rome then that no single house of the +Jesuits there could hold them all. So they were scattered through +three houses, each one spending a part of his two years' noviceship +successively in each house. Stanislaus went first to the Professed +House, then called Santa Maria della Strada, and afterward the site +of the famous Gesu, one of the notable churches of Rome. From there +he passed in time to the Roman College, then to the Noviciate proper +at Sant' Andrea. + +The Society of Jesus was then in its early youth, in the midst of +that first brilliant charge against the ranks of heresy without, and +against the huge sluggish inertia so striking within the Church itself. + +He was fellow-novice with Claude Acquaviva, son of the Duke of Atri, +and afterwards one of the greatest Generals of the Society, which he +ruled for thirty years. With him were also Claude's nephew, Rudolph +Acquaviva, who died a martyr; Torres, a great theologian; Prando, +the first philosopher at the University of Bologna; Fabio de' Fabii, +who traced his descent from the great Roman family of that name; the +Pole, Warscewiski, formerly ambassador to the Sultan and Secretary +of State in Poland, who first wrote a life of Stanislaus; and many +more, distinguished for birth, learning, holiness. + +Most of these were a great deal older, too, than Stanislaus. Many +of them had already made their names familiar to men. Yet the boy +of seventeen, who came quietly and modestly amongst them, was +somehow soon looked up to by all. They felt the force of something +in him which made him their superior. Heaven was wonderfully near +him. He was not old-fashioned; he was always a boy, unconscious of +anything unusual in himself; not solemn nor impressive nor austere +in manner. All that he did, he did with perfect naturalness; for to +him the supernatural had become almost natural. + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE NOVICESHIP + +Most of us, perhaps, think of the saints as men and women who +accomplished visibly great things. Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, +Saint Patrick, Saint Theresa, Saint Philip Neri, Saint Francis +Xavier: such names as these come first to our minds when we think of +"a saint." Yet the fact is that the greater number of saints are men +and women who never did anything that the world would consider great +or striking. Saint Joseph was of that sort. Even the Blessed Virgin +lived and died in obscurity, made no stir in the world. + +Sanctity is measured not so much by what one does as by how one does +all things. Externally a saint may not differ at all from other +people. It is his soul that is different. + +And so, a visitor to the Professed House in Rome in 1567, meeting +Stanislaus Kostka, would see a handsome, pleasant-looking Polish boy +of seventeen, with his sleeves rolled up above his elbows, with an +apron over his cassock, carrying wood for the kitchen fires, washing +dishes, serving at table, sweeping corridors and rooms. + +He got up at half past four, or five o'clock, every morning. He +spent half an hour in meditation, in thinking over some incident in +our Lord's life or some great truth, as that death is near to each +of us, that this life is only the vestibule of eternity, that our +whole business in life is to do what God wants us to do, or the like. + +After that came Mass and, once or twice a week, Holy Communion and +his thanksgiving. Then breakfast, taken in silence. He read in a +spiritual book for half an hour or so after breakfast, then went to +the kitchen or the dining hall or the scullery, where he set to work +under the orders of the cook. + +In the course of the morning there might be a talk or instruction +from the priest in charge of the novices. There surely would be one +or more visits to the chapel. When the hour for dinner came, +Stanislaus probably served at table, taking his own meal later. +After dinner there was an hour for recreation, when the novices +walked and chatted in the garden or about the house. + +The afternoon, like the morning, was taken up with lowly work, with +prayer, and a little reading or instruction. Toward evening, he +again spent half an hour in meditation. Then came the evening meal, +another hour of recreation, a little reading in preparation for next +morning's meditation, and examination of conscience as to how the +day had been spent, and then bed. + +Two or three days a week, this routine was broken. Sometimes the +novices walked out into the country to a villa, where they had games +and ate their dinner. At other times they left their work to go +with one of the Fathers to some church or other, upon business. + +It was a quiet, humble life, full of peace, near to God, hidden away +from men. In this life the novices had to continue for two years, +before they took upon themselves the obligation of vows, and before +they began the long studies that prepare a Jesuit for his work. +During those two years they tested their vocation, making sure that +God really called them to that life; and they tested their own wills +to see if they were ready to endure what such a life demanded of them. + +Stanislaus did just what the other novices did, did nothing out of +the ordinary. Yet, of course, he was different from the others; he +was a saint. What was the difference? Just this: they did things +more or less well; he did things perfectly. If he prayed, he put his +whole mind and soul into his prayer. If he worked, he obeyed orders +absolutely, because in doing so he was obeying God. + +There is in the Jesuit noviciate at Angers a series of paintings +portraying incidents in the life of Stanislaus. In one he is shown +carrying on his arm two or three bits of wood towards the kitchen. +Underneath is written, "He will err if he carry more." + +The painting commemorates an occasion when Stanislaus and Claude +Acquaviva were put by the cook to carry wood and told to carry only +two or three pieces at a time. Acquaviva, when the two came to the +wood-pile, said laughingly: + +"Does the cook think we are babies? Why, we can each carry twenty or +thirty of such little pieces of wood." + +"To be sure we can," Stanislaus answered. "But do you think God +wants us to carry twenty or thirty pieces now? The cook said two or +three, and the cook just at present takes the place of God to +command us." + +And so it was in everything. He studied singly to see what would +please God most, and no matter how trifling seemed the command he +did just that, with all his heart. + +No one ever heard a sharp word from him, or saw him take offense at +anything, or act in the least way out of vanity or selfishness. + +And, of course, he was entirely unconscious that he was different +from the rest. He knew he was trying to do his best in everything, +but he supposed every one else was doing the same. And with all his +earnestness and exactness, he was as simple and boyish as he had +ever been. + +One day Cardinal Commendoni, the Legate to Vienna, and a great +friend of Stanislaus, came to Rome and hurried over to the Roman +College to call upon Stanislaus. Stanislaus, as soon as he heard of +his arrival, ran off to meet him just as he was, sleeves rolled up, +apron on, straight from the scullery - just as any boy would do. + +He was in everything perfectly at ease; content in his little round +of little tasks; going ahead toward heaven without any show or +heroics. He was doing just exactly the little things that God wants +us to do, and he was entirely happy in so doing. + +It is true he had never been really unhappy in his whole life. +People who keep close to God never are. They have hard things to +put up with; they may be poor, or fall sick, or lose their relatives +or friends by death; they may have to fight very strong temptations. +They feel all these things as keenly as others feel them. But they +do not become unhappy. We may say they have a world of their own to +live in, that their inmost lives are spent in that world, very +little touched by the changes and accidents of the outer world. They +see that there is an outer world, but they choose deliberately to +ignore it; they will not go into it. + +You know that if you go down deep into the sea, as men go in +submarines, you find calm there always, even though a storm be +raging up above and the waves toss with angry violence. So if you +once get inside your life, under the surface, in the heart of life +where God is, you will find calm there also and a certain peace +which is as near as we can come to entire happiness in this world. + +But though Stanislaus had learned this secret, and had therefore +always kept his soul merry, he was happiest of all during the time +of his noviceship. The very air around him breathed of God and +heaven. His life there was really an unbroken prayer. He was like +a swimmer who has been fighting his way through nasty, choppy, +little waves, going ahead surely, but with great difficulty, and who +comes at last into long, quiet, rolling swells, where his progress +is delightful, where he can make long, easy strokes and feel +pleasure in the very effort. + +And as he was young and ardent, he was in danger of overdoing +things. Prayer, even when it is a joy, is always hard work for us +poor mortals. Stanislaus gave himself so heartily now to praying +that he ran risk of losing his strength and health. So his +superiors, being sensible men, stepped in and moderated his energy. +He was made to work more and pray less, told to be prudent, to +husband his strength for future work. And, of course, he did as he +was told. + +But God had special designs on Stanislaus. He was never to use his +health and energy in work as a priest or teacher. Indeed, his work +was nearly over, though it had been so brief. He had no long career +before him on this earth; he was going home, and going soon. + + +CHAPTER XIV + +GOING HOME + +When Stanislaus had been a novice nine months, Peter Canisius came +one day to Rome on business. At this time Stanislaus was living in +the noviciate proper, Sant' Andrea on the Quirinal. Of course the +novices were all keen to see and hear the great Canisius, the man +who had done such superb work in Germany. And whatever curiosity +they had was satisfied, for Canisius came to the community at Sant' +Andrea and gave a little sermon or talk. + +It was the first of August, the month always most dangerous to +health in Rome. Just for that reason, perhaps, the old Romans had +made the beginning of that month a time of feasting and boisterous +holiday. And an old proverb had come down, "Ferrare Agosto - Give +August a jolly welcome" + +Canisius took this proverb for his text, but turned it to say, "Give +every month a jolly welcome, for it may be your last." + +After the talk, the novices, according to custom, discussed amongst +themselves what had been said. It came Stanislaus' turn to speak. +He said: + +"What Father Canisius has just told us is a holy warning for all, of +course. But for me it is something more, because this month of +August is to be really my last month 'upon earth." + +To be sure, no one paid special attention to this strange remark. +Novices often say things that will not bear too much analysis. +Particularly no one would look seriously upon what Stanislaus had +said, since he was at the time in perfect health. + +Four days later, the feast of our Lady of the Snows, Stanislaus had +occasion to go with the great theologian, Father Emmanuel de Sa, to +the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. For there the beautiful feast +is kept with singular ceremony, as that church is the one connected +with the origin of the feast. Each year, during Vespers on August +5th, a shower of jasmin leaves sifts down from the high dome of a +chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore, to commemorate the miraculous snow +in August which marked out the spot where the church was to be built. + +As they went along, de Sa turned the talk to the coming feast of the +Assumption of our Blessed Lady. Stanislaus spoke with delight, as +he always spoke of our Lady. + +"When our Lady entered paradise," he said, "I think God made a new +glory for His Mother, and all the saints made a court about her and +did reverence to her as we do to a king. And I hope," he added; +"that I shall be up there myself to enjoy this coming feast." + +Again his words were not taken at their face value. Father de Sa +thought he spoke of being in heaven in spirit for the feast. + +The practice, now common, was new then, of alloting to each in the +community as special patron some particular saint whose feast +occurred during the month. Stanislaus had drawn Saint Lawrence for +his patron. The feast of the Saint is celebrated on August 10th. +Stanislaus, who had clear intimations of his quickly approaching +death, and was eager to go to heaven, asked Saint Lawrence to +intercede for him that his home-going might be on the Feast of the +Assumption. He got permission to practice some penances in honor of +the Saint. He prepared for the feast with unusual devotion. On the +morning of the 10th when he went to Holy Communion, he carried on +his breast a letter he had written to our Lady. It was such a +letter as a boy, away from home, and homesick, might write to his +mother, asking her to bring him home. + +After breakfast, Stanislaus, still in entire health, was sent to +work in the kitchen, where he spent the rest of the morning, washing +dishes, carrying wood for the fire, helping the cook generally. + +But by evening he was decidedly unwell. To the fellow-novice who +helped him to bed he said quietly, "I am going to die, you know, in +a few days." + +Claude Acquaviva hurried to him as soon as he learned he was ailing. +Father Fazio, the novice-master, also came. Stanislaus told each of +the favor he had begged from our Lady, and that he hoped strongly +his request would be granted. + +That was on the evening of Wednesday, the 10th. He appeared to be no +better or worse on Thursday and Friday. But Friday evening he was +moved from his ordinary room to a quieter place in a higher story of +the house. Those who went with him noted that before he lay down, +he knelt on the floor and prayed a while and made the sign of the +cross over the bed, saying, "This is my deathbed." + +Now they began to believe him and were frightened a little. So +Stanislaus added, with a smile, "I mean, of course, if it so please +God." +He continued in about the same condition until Sunday, August 14th. +That day he said to the laybrother who was taking care of him: + +"Brother, I'm going to die to-night." + +The brother laughed at him, and said: + +"Nonsense, man! Why, it would take a greater miracle to die of so +trifling a matter than to be cured of it." + +But by noon of that day Stanislaus became unconscious. Father Fazio +was with him at once and administered restoratives. Very soon +Stanislaus was himself again, bright and smiling as ever. Father +Fazio began to joke with him. + +"O man of little heart!" he said. "To give up courage in so slight +a sickness!" + +Stanislaus answered, "A man of little heart I admit I am. But the +sickness, Father, is not so very slight, since I'm going to die of it." + +And, indeed, he began to fail rapidly. By evening the death-sweat +stood out upon him, the vital warmth little by little withdrew from +hands and feet to the citadel of his heart. When the last light of +day was gone from the sky, he made his confession and received the +Holy Viaticum. A great many of his fellow-novices were present, and +some wept. He was a good comrade, they did not want to see him +depart from them. + +Then he received Extreme Unction. He made the answers to the +prayers himself. Afterward he confessed again, in order to receive +the plenary indulgence granted for the hour of death. And after that +he talked for a little time, kindly and cheerfully, to those about +him, and bidding them good-by, turned his mind and his heart to heaven. + +Three Fathers stayed with him through the silence of the night, when +the rest had gone to bed. Most of the time he prayed, either aloud +with his watchers, or silently by himself. He left messages to his +more intimate friends, and asked the Fathers to beg pardon for any +offense he had given. + +During the evening he had begged to be laid on the bare ground, that +he might die as a penitent. Toward midnight, as he still asked it, +they lifted him on the little mattress of his bed and placed him on +it upon the floor. There he lay, very quiet, whilst midnight tolled +from the great churches of the city. The Fathers knelt beside him, +praying silently with him, or giving him from time to time the +crucifix to kiss. + +At length, about three o'clock in the morning, he stopped praying, +and a great joy shone in his face. He looked about him from side to +side, and seemed with his eyes to ask his companions to join him in +reverencing some one who was present. + +Father Ruiz bent over and asked him: + +What is it, Stanislaus? + +"Our Lady!" he whispered. "Our Lady has come, just as in Vienna." + +Then he seemed to listen to voices they could not hear. His lips +moved silently, forming inaudible words. His eyes were bright and +joyful. He stretched out his arms, fell back, and died with a smile +upon his lips. Our Lady had come for him, and with her he went +home. Dawn was breaking on the Feast of the Assumption, 1568. + + +CHAPTER XV + +AFTERMATH + +Stanislaus lacked six or eight weeks of being eighteen years old +when he died. He had not been a preacher or writer or engaged in any +public work. Only a handful of people in Rome so much as knew of +his existence. Yet no sooner was he dead than crowds flocked about +him as about a dead saint. + +The General, Francis Borgia, ordered the body to be put into a +coffin, which was an unusual thing at that time, and to be buried at +the right hand of the high altar in the church. + +Meantime the Lord John Kostka still raged in Poland. He had written +a most severe letter to Stanislaus shortly after Stanislaus arrived +in Rome: a letter full of threats and anger, to which Stanislaus had +replied kindly and affectionately, explaining to his father that he +had to follow God's call at any cost + +But the Lord John was not to be so easily put off. He ordered his +eldest son, Paul, on to Rome, with power to bring back Stanislaus to +his home at Kostkov. + +Paul traveled in some state and with no great haste. He reached +Rome in the middle of September, 1568, to find that God had been +beforehand with him, and that Stanislaus had indeed already gone +home, to heaven. + +He had been greatly impressed at the time of Stanislaus' flight from +Vienna, by the incidents which seemed to show God's direct guidance +and protection in regard to his brother. Now, when the Fathers led +him to the still new tomb of Stanislaus, he broke down utterly and +cried like a child. He stayed a time beside the tomb, and when he +came forth he was a different Paul. + +Every one was talking with admiration of Stanislaus and of the +marvels that had surrounded his life and death. Paul hurried back +to Poland with his story, at once sad and joyful. The heart of the +old Castellan was moved. He had lost a son, but he had gained a saint. + +A year later appeared two short Lives of Stanislaus, one in Polish +by Father Warscewiski, his fellow-novice, another in Latin. All +through Poland the devotion to the young novice spread rapidly. +Soon authoritative "processes" toward his beatification were drawn +up under the care of the bishops of various places in which +Stanislaus had spent his short years. + +Thirty-six years after his death, Pope Clement VIII issued a brief +(February 18, 1604) in which he declared Stanislaus "Blessed" and +granted indulgences on the anniversary of his death. + +But long before this the Lord John had died, and his youngest son, +Albert, struck by sudden congestion of the lungs before his father's +body was laid to rest, died also, and was buried in the same grave +with him. + +Of the four sons only Paul was left. From the day he stood by the +tomb of Stanislaus, he had changed entirely. Bitter remembrance of +his harshness and brutality to the dead saint was with him always +and urged him to a life of penance and prayer. He never married, +but passed his days largely at the castle of Kostkov in retirement +with his widowed mother. + +He busied himself in constant works of charity, spending his great +fortune in helping the poor and in establishing hospitals and +building churches. He wore himself out in prayer and labor and +fasting. Men marveled at him, and many sneered at him, as he had +once sneered at Stanislaus. + +But those long, hard years were not unhappy for him. He and his +mother, Margaret Kostka, had learned Stanislaus' secret of +happiness, and lived in spirit in that bright home to which +Stanislaus had gone. + +Then Margaret died, and Paul was alone. He had wished to withdraw +from the world altogether. But he felt unworthy to ask admission +into a religious order. However, realizing at length that his death +could not be far distant, and that he could at worst be a burden for +only a very short time, he wrote to Claude Acquaviva, who was then +General of the Society of Jesus, and begged that he might at least +die in the Society to which Stanislaus had belonged. Acquaviva +readily dispensed with the impediment of age and ordered the +Provincial of Poland, Father Strinieno, to receive him. + +Paul hastened to the royal court, then at Pietscop, to settle his +worldly affairs before taking up his residence in the noviceship. +But scarcely had he completed his arrangements, when fever seized +him, and he died after a few days' illness. He died November 13, +1607: the very day of the month afterwards fixed as the feast of +Saint Stanislaus. + +Bilinski, too, the tutor of Stanislaus, showed in after life the +fruit of Stanislaus' prayers. He became Canon of Pultowa and Plock +and lived holily. It was his privilege to bear testimony to many +events in the life of Stanislaus, and he was a very valuable witness +in the "processes" for his pupil's beatification. When death came, +Stanislaus appeared to him in vision, consoling and encouraging him, +and he died in great peace. + +All this time the people of Poland had been eager in their +devotion to the Blessed Stanislaus. Many cures and miracles had +been wrought through his intercession. In 1621, under the Polish +king, Sigismund III, and again in 1676, under Yan Sobieski, the +Poles won pronounced victories over Turkish armies which far +outnumbered their own, and attributed these preternatural successes +to the prayers of Stanislaus. + +The whole nation, through its kings, repeatedly petitioned that +Stanislaus might be declared their Patron. This was at first +refused, as only canonized saints were given the title of Patron +of a nation. But Clement x granted the request in 1671, setting +aside the decree which forbade it. + +The Church is slow in declaring any one a saint. It was not until +December 13, 1726, one hundred and fifty-eight years after the +death of Stanislaus, that Benedict XIII solemnly celebrated his +canonization in the Basilica of St. Peter. It was a double +ceremony, for it was also the occasion of the canonization of +Saint Aloysius, who had been born in March of the same year in +which Stanislaus died. + +* * * * * * * * * + +This little account has not done justice to the life of Stanislaus +Kostka; and, indeed, it is very hard to do justice to it. He was +a most human and lovable boy, but he was besides a wonderful, +bright being that eludes the grip of our common minds. He was a +citizen of heaven, who lived here amongst us, kindly and +companionable indeed, during eighteen years of exile. To try to +describe him is like trying to describe a star in the far sky of +night. + +That love for God, of which we speak so brokenly, which at its +best in us is so small and cold, was the soul of his soul, the +inner core and substance of his life. Here, in the misty country +of faith, he had something of that radiant and rapturous union +with God which all of us, as we hope, shall one day have in +heaven. + +All the sweet and strong twining of our hearts about father and +mother and relatives and dear friends, all that binds us in +affection to those we love in life, was multiplied and made many +times stronger in his rare nature and lifted up by God's grace to +fix itself upon God, the infinite Goodness, the supreme Beauty. + +God was not a mere Name or a Power to him, not even the mere Lord +and Master of all: God was his friend, his dearest intimate, his +sure, strong, patient, loving counselor; whose presence was with +him, waking and sleeping; whose interests were nearest his heart; +whose commands it was a delight to obey; whose slightest wish and +beckoning was eagerly watched for and joyously followed. + +To catch the secret and true meaning of his life, one must feel how +that love for God thrilled through him, was his. courage in action, +his endurance in suffering, his sweetness and kindness in all +dealings with other men. It was his life. And when we have said +and realized that, we have come nearest to knowing who and what +really was Stanislaus Kostka. + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of For Greater Things: The story of Saint +Stanislaus Kostka by William T. Kane, S.J. diff --git a/2494.zip b/2494.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..916caba --- /dev/null +++ b/2494.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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