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Casimir
Jagiellon (3 October 1458 – 4 March 1484) was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland
and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The second son of King Casimir IV
Jagiellon, he was tutored by Johannes Longinus, a Polish chronicler and
diplomat. After his elder brother Vladislaus was elected as King of Bohemia in
1471, Casimir became the heir apparent. At the age of 13, Casimir participated
in the failed military campaign to install him as King of Hungary. He became
known for his piety, devotion to God, and generosity towards the sick and poor.
He became ill (most likely with tuberculosis) and died at the age of 25. He was
buried in Vilnius Cathedral. His canonization was initiated by his brother King
Sigismund I the Old in 1514 and the tradition holds that he was canonized in
1521.
Veneration
of Casimir saw a resurgence in the 17th century when his feast day was
confirmed by the pope in 1602 and the dedicated Chapel of Saint Casimir was
completed in 1636. Casimir became a patron saint of Lithuania and Lithuanian
youth. In Vilnius, his feast day is marked annually with Kaziuko mugė held on
the Sunday nearest to 4 March, the anniversary of his death. There are more
than 50 churches named after Casimir in Lithuania and Poland, including Church
of St. Casimir, Vilnius and St. Kazimierz Church, Warsaw, and more than 50
churches in Lithuanian and Polish diaspora communities in America. Women's
congregation Sisters of Saint Casimir was established in 1908 and remains
active in the United States.
A member
of the Jagiellon dynasty, Casimir was born in Wawel Castle in Kraków. Casimir
was the third child and the second son of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of
Lithuania Casimir IV and Queen Elisabeth Habsburg of Austria. Elisabeth was a
loving mother and took active interest in her children's upbringing. The Queen
and the children often accompanied the King in his annual trips to the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania.
Casimir
was a polyglot and knew Lithuanian, Polish, German and Latin languages. From
the age of nine, Casimir and his brother Vladislaus were educated by the Polish
priest Fr. Jan Długosz. The boys were taught Latin and German, law, history,
rhetoric, and classical literature. Długosz was a strict and conservative teacher
who emphasized ethics, morality, and religious devotion. According to Stanisław
Orzechowski (1513–1566), the princes were subject to corporal punishment which
was approved by their father. Długosz noted Casimir's skills in oratory when he
delivered speeches to greet his father returning to Poland in 1469 and Jakub
Sienienski, the Bishop of Kujawy, in 1470.
Prince
Casimir's uncle Ladislaus the Posthumous, King of Hungary and Bohemia, died in
1457 at the age of 17, without leaving an heir. Casimir's father, King Casimir
IV, subsequently advanced his claims to Hungary and Bohemia, but could not
enforce them due to the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66). Instead, Hungarian
nobles elected Matthias Corvinus and Bohemian nobles selected George of
Poděbrady as their kings. George of Poděbrady died in March 1471. In May 1471,
Vladislaus, eldest son of Casimir IV, was elected to the throne of Bohemia.
However, a group of Catholic Bohemian nobles supported Matthias Corvinus
instead of Vladislaus II. In turn, a group of Hungarian nobles conspired
against Matthias Corvinus and invited the Polish king to overthrow him. King
Casimir IV decided to install his son, Casimir, in Hungary.
Poland
amassed an army of 12,000 men, commanded by Piotr Dunin and Dziersław of
Rytwiany. Both King Casimir and Prince Casimir participated in the campaign. In
October 1471, the Polish army crossed the Hungarian border and slowly marched
towards Buda. Matthias Corvinus managed to win over the majority of the
Hungarian nobles, including the main conspirator Archbishop János Vitéz, and
the Polish army did not receive the expected reinforcements. Only Deák, Perény
and Rozgonyi families sent troops. Upon hearing that Corvinus' army of 16,000
men camped outside of Pest, the Polish army decided to retreat from Hatvan to
Nitra. There the soldiers battled food shortages, spreading infectious
diseases, and the upcoming winter. The Polish King also lacked funds to pay the
mercenaries. As a result, the Polish army decreased by about a third.[6] In
December 1471, Prince Casimir, fearing for his safety, was sent to Jihlava
closer to the Polish border and that further eroded their soldiers' morale.
Corvinus took Nitra and a one-year truce was completed in March 1472 in
Buda.[6] Prince Casimir returned to Kraków to resume his studies with Długosz.
Długosz
remarked that Prince Casimir felt "great sorrow and shame" regarding
the failure in Hungary. Polish propaganda, however, portrayed him as a savior,
sent by divine providence, to protect the people from a godless tyrant (i.e.
Matthias Corvinus) and marauding pagans (i.e. Muslim Ottoman Turks). Prince
Casimir was also exposed to the cult of his uncle King Władysław III of Poland
who died in the 1444 Battle of Varna against the Ottomans. This led some
researchers, including Jacob Caro, to conclude that the Hungarian campaign
pushed Prince Casimir into religious life.
As his
elder brother, Vladislaus II, ruled Bohemia, Prince Casimir became the heir
apparent to the throne of Poland and Lithuania. Italian humanist writer Filippo
Buonaccorsi (also known as Filip Callimachus) was hired to become Casimir's
tutor in political matters, but his Renaissance views had less influence on
Casimir than Długosz. In 1474, the Italian merchant and traveler Ambrogio
Contarini met with Prince Casimir and was impressed by his wisdom. Prince
Casimir completed his formal education at age 16 and spent most of his time
with his father. In 1476, Prince Casimir accompanied his father to Royal
Prussia where he tried to resolve the conflict with the Prince-Bishopric of
Warmia (see War of the Priests). In 1478 Seimas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
demanded that King Casimir IV leave either Prince Casimir or Prince John I
Albert in Lithuania as a regent. King Casimir IV feared separatist moods and
refused, but after settling the conflict in Prussia, moved to Vilnius.
Between
1479 and 1484 his father spent most of his time in Vilnius attending to the
affairs of Lithuania. In 1481, Mikhailo Olelkovich and his relatives planned to
murder King Casimir and Prince Casimir during a hunt at a wedding of Feodor
Ivanovich Belsky. The plan was discovered and Prince Casimir, perhaps fearing
for his safety, was sent to Poland to act as vice-regent. Around the same time
his father tried to arrange his marriage to Kunigunde of Austria, daughter of
Emperor Frederick III. It is often said that Prince Casimir refused the match,
preferring to remain celibate and sensing his approaching death.[9] According
to Maciej Miechowita, Prince Casimir developed tuberculosis. In May 1483,
Prince Casimir joined his father in Vilnius. There, after the death of Andrzej
Oporowski, Bishop and Vice-Chancellor of the Crown, Prince Casimir took over
some of his duties in the chancellery. However, his health deteriorated while
rumors about his piety and good deeds spread further. In February 1484, the
Polish sejm in Lublin was aborted as King Casimir IV rushed back to Lithuania
to be with his ill son. Prince Casimir died on 4 March 1484, in Grodno. His
remains were interred in Vilnius Cathedral, where the dedicated Saint Casimir's
Chapel was built in 1636.
Surviving
contemporary accounts described Prince Casimir as a young man of exceptional
intellect and education, humility and politeness, who strove for justice and
fairness. Early sources do not attest to his piety or devotion to God, but his
inclination to religious life increased towards the end of his life. Later
sources provide some stories of Casimir's religious life. Marcin Kromer
(1512–1589) said Casimir refused his physician's advice to have sexual
relations with women in hopes to cure his illness. Other accounts say Casimir
contracted his lung disease after a particularly hard fast or that he could be
found pre-dawn, kneeling by the church gates, waiting for a priest to open
them. Zacharias Ferreri (1479–1524) wrote that Casimir composed a prayer in
hexameter on Christ's incarnation but this text has not survived. Later, a copy
of Omni die dic Mariae ("Daily, Daily Sing to Mary") was found in
Casimir's coffin. The hymn became so strongly associated with Casimir that
sometimes it is known as "Hymn of St. Casimir" and he is credited as
its author. The lengthy hymn has an intricate meter and rhyme scheme (alternate
acatalectic and catalectic trochaic dimeter with internal rhyme in the first
and third verses and was most likely written by Bernard of Cluny.
One of
the first miracles attributed to Casimir was his appearance before the
Lithuanian army during the Siege of Polotsk in 1518. Casimir showed where
Lithuanian troops could safely cross the Daugava River and relieve the city,
besieged by the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Ferreri's hagiography of
1521 mentions many miracles of Casimir are known but describes only one – a
Lithuanian victory against the Russians. The description lacks specifics, such
as date or location, but most likely refers to the Lithuanian victory in 1519
against Russian troops that raided the environs of Vilnius, and not the more
popular story of the Siege of Polotsk.
Casimir's
official cult started spreading soon after his death. Already in 1501, Pope
Alexander VI, citing chapel's splendor and Casimir's miracles, granted a
special indulgence to those who would pray in the chapel where Casimir was
buried from one vespers to another during certain Catholic festivals, and would
contribute to the upkeep of the chapel. In 1513, Andrzej Krzycki wrote a poem
mentioning numerous wax votive offerings on Casimir's grave. In 1514, during
the Fifth Council of the Lateran, Casimir's brother Sigismund I the Old
petitioned the pope to canonize Casimir. After repeated requests, in November
1517, Pope Leo X appointed a three-bishop commission and later sent his legate
Zacharias Ferreri to investigate. He arrived at Vilnius in September 1520 and
completed his work in about two months. His findings, the first short
hagiography of Casimir, was published in 1521 in Kraków as Vita Beati Casimiri
Confessoris.[22] The canonization was all but certain but Pope Leo X died in
December 1521. Research of Zenonas Ivinskis and Paulius Rabikauskas showed that
there is no documentary proof that he issued a papal bull canonizing Casimir
but many important documents were lost during the Sack of Rome (1527). The
Protestant Reformation attacked the cult of saints and there were no new
canonizations between 1523 and 1588. However, Casimir was included in the first
Roman Martyrology, published in 1583.
The cause
of Casimir's cult was taken up by the new Bishop of Vilnius Benedykt Woyna
(appointed in 1600). He sent canon Gregorius Swiecicki to Rome with a letter
from King Sigismund III Vasa requesting to add the feast of Casimir to the Roman
Breviary and Roman Missal. The Sacred Congregation of Rites refused the request
but on 7 November 1602 Pope Clement VIII issued a papal brief Quae ad sanctorum
which authorized his feast sub duplici ritu on 4 March but only in Poland and
Lithuania. The brief also mentioned that Casimir was added to the ranks of
saints by Pope Leo X. In the absence of any earlier known papal document
explicitly mentioning Casimir as saint, the brief is often cited as Casimir's
canonization. Swiecicki returned to Vilnius with the papal brief and red velvet
labarum with the image of Saint Casimir. The city organized a large three-day
festival on 10–12 May 1604 to properly accept the papal flag. On the third day,
the cornerstone was laid for the new Church of St. Casimir.[30] The coffin of
Casimir was taken out of the crypt and elevated to the altar. Swiecicki
testified that when the coffin was opened in August 1604 a wonderful smell filled
the cathedral for three days.
In 1607
and 1613, Bishop Woyna declared Casimir patron saint of Lithuania (Patronus
principalis Lithuaniae). The issue of a universal Casimir's feast was not
forgotten and in 1620 Bishop Eustachy Wołłowicz petitioned Pope Paul V to add
Casimir to the Roman Breviary and Roman Missal. This time the Sacred
Congregation of Rites granted the request in March 1621 and added his feast sub
ritu semiduplici. In March 1636, Pope Urban VIII allowed the celebration of the
feast of Casimir with an octave (duplex cum octava) in the Diocese of Vilnius
and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. That is equivalent of proclaiming Casimir as
the patron saint of Lithuania. On 28 September 1652, Pope Innocent X allowed a
fest of transfer of relics of Casimir on a Sunday following the Assumption of
Mary. On 11 June 1948, when many Lithuanians were displaced war refugees, Pope
Pius XII named Casimir the special patron of Lithuanian youth.
Casimir
was buried in the crypt under the Royal Chapel of Vilnius Cathedral
(present-day Wołłowicz Chapel to the left from the main entrance), constructed
by his father in the Gothic style in 1474. In 1604, the coffin was elevated
from the crypt to the altar and in 1636 moved to the dedicated Chapel of Saint
Casimir. The present-day sarcophagus was made in 1747 under the last will of
Bishop of Warmia Christopher Johan Szembek (1680–1740). It is made of linden
wood and covered with silver plates; its corners are decorated with gilded
eagles.[38] The sarcophagus was removed from the cathedral on three occasions.
In 1655, before the Battle of Vilnius during the Deluge, the relics were
removed most likely by Jerzy Białłozor and hid by Cyprian Paweł Brzostowski and
later by the Sapiehas in the Ruzhany Palace. They were returned to the
devastated chapel in 1663. The relics were removed for a short time in 1702
during the Battle of Vilnius of the Great Northern War. In October 1952, the
relics were quietly moved to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul by the order
of Soviet authorities. The cathedral was turned into an art gallery. The relics
returned to their place in 1989 when the cathedral was reconsecrated.
After the
rediscovery of the Catacombs of Rome in 1578, the cult of relics spread
throughout Europe (see also catacomb saints) and the trend did not skip
Casimir. The coffin of Casimir was opened in early 1602 and in August 1604. At
the time, canon Gregorius Swiecicki testified that despite humidity the body
was intact. But in 1667 there were only bones left; they were inventoried and
placed into six cloth bags. Surviving written records indicate that the coffin
was opened in 1664, 1667, 1677, 1690, 1736, 1838, 1878, and 1922. There are
several recorded instances when Casimir's relics were gifted to prominent
figures and societies: to musicians' confraternity at San Giorgio Maggiore,
Naples in early 1650s, to King John III Sobieski and Cosimo III de' Medici,
Grand Duke of Tuscany in October 1677, to the Sodality of Our Lady of the
Jesuit academy in Mechelen[ and the Order of Malta in October 1690, to Queen
Maria Josepha of Austria in February 1736, to Cistercian abbot Sztárek Lajos of
Cikádor Abbey [hu] in 1860. Many more relics of Casimir can be found in local
churches. In particular, in 1838, two teeth and ten unspecified bones were
removed from the coffin; the bones were cut into small pieces and distributed
among various churches. In 1922, the bones were wrapped in a new cloth and the
old cloth was distributed as a relic. It was the last time that a relic of
Casimir (one tooth for the Church of St. Casimir) was taken.