iled by Zachary Ferrier, legate of Leo X., in Poland,
thirty-six years after his death; and an authentic relation of his
miracles, with many circumstances of his life, by Gregory Swiecicki,
canon of Vilna; also the commentary of Henschenius, p. 337.

A D. 1483

ST. CASIMIR was the third among the thirteen children of Casimir III.,
king of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria, daughter to the emperor
Albert II., a most virtuous woman, who died in 1505. He was born in
1458, on the 5th of October. From his childhood he was remarkably pious
and devout. His preceptor was John Dugloss, called Longinus, canon of
Cracow, a man of extraordinary learning and piety, who constantly
refused all bishoprics, and other dignities of the church and state,
which were pressed upon him. Uladislas, the eldest son, was elected king
of Bohemia, in 1471, and became king of Hungary in 1490. Our saint was
the second son: John Albert, the third son, succeeded the father in the
kingdom of Poland in 1492; and Alexander, the fourth son, was called to
the same in 1501. Casimir and the other princes were so affectionately
attached to the holy man who was their preceptor, that they could not
bear to be separated from him. But Casimir profited most by his pious
maxims and example. He consecrated the flower of his age to the
exercises of devotion and penance, and had a horror of that softness and
magnificence which reign in courts. His clothes were very plain, and
under them be wore a hair shirt. His bed was frequently the ground, and
he spent a considerable part of the night in prayer and meditation,
chiefly on the passion of our Saviour. He often went out in the night to
pray before the church-doors; and in the morning waited before them till
they were opened to assist at matins. By living always under a sense of
the divine presence he remained perpetually united to, and absorbed in,
his Creator, maintained an uninterrupted cheerfulness of temper, and was
mild and affable to all. He respected the least ceremonies of the
church: every thing that tended to promote piety was dear to him. He was
particularly devout to the passion of our blessed Saviour, the very
thought of which excited him to tears, and threw him into transports of
love. He was no less piously affected towards the sacrifice of the
altar, at which he always assisted with such reverence and attention
that he seemed in raptures. And as a mark of his singular devotion to
the Blessed Virgin, he