On Sunday, August 16, the inaugural celebrations of the Jubiliary Year were held in Rostków, Poland, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Stanislaus Kostka. The Mass was presided over by Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, with the participation of Bishop Szymon Stułkowski of Płock, Auxiliary Bishop Mirosław Milewski, and the local clergy.

The Church and the world need young saints. For this reason, Pope Leo XIV during the Holy Year 2025 decided to make a symbolic gesture: to canonize Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati. He did so on September 7, during the solemn Eucharistic celebration on the square of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Leo XIV, speaking of the new saints, recalled their “being in love with Jesus” and their unceasing willingness to “give everything for Him”; a love cultivated through “simple means, within everyone’s reach,” also within the reach of every young person today.

The canonization of the two young men in 2025 recalled another canonization, the one preceded by Benedict XIII exactly 300 years ago in Saint Peter’s Basilica during which Pope Orsini proclaimed two saints, also young: Saint Stanislaus Kostka and Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. One Polish, the other Italian; both from noble families, in both their decision to become Jesuits matured, despite certain resistance from their families.

Aloysius Gonzaga died in 1591 when an epidemic of infectious diseases was killing thousands of people in Rome. The young Aloysius, together with Saint Camillus de Lellis and some fellow Jesuits, assisted the most needy sick. One day, he carried a plague victim on his shoulders and brought him to the hospital. A few days later he died.

Stanislaus Kostka was born near Kraków, in 1550, son of Prince Kostka, military leader and Senator of the kingdom of Sigismund Augustus. At the age of 14 he was sent to study in Vienna at the college of the Society of Jesus. In Vienna he was a guest in a college of the Society. Stanislaus, who felt “born for greater things,” studied hard and lived an intense spiritual life characterized by devotion to Mary. The vocation to the priesthood matured in him.

One day Stanislaus became gravely ill, and during his illness extraordinary wonders occurred. One night, in an apartment rented from a Lutheran, he received a visit from Saint Barbara accompanied by two angels, and from her hands he finally received the Eucharist. Another night Stanislaus received a visit from the Our Lady with the Infant Jesus: as soon as he took Him in his arms, he felt completely healed despite the unfavorable prognoses of the doctors. The Virgin, upon bidding him farewell, revealed to him that his path was in the Society of Jesus.

In a room of that apartment at 2 Kurrentgasse Street, there is a small chapel that has become one of the places of worship of Saint Stanislaus. For nearly three centuries, the octave of the liturgical commemoration of the Polish saint has been celebrated in this Viennese chapel between November 13 and 20.

Kostka was sure of his choice, but he knew that his father would never approve of it; therefore, he fled and after twenty days of walking on foot he reached Dillingen, in Germany, where he was welcomed in the local house of the Jesuits and where he met Father Peter Canisius, at the time Provincial of Northern Germany. Stanislaus was sent on a pilgrimage to Rome where he could begin his novitiate. Soon, however, he fell ill and died, at just 18 years old, on the day of the Assumption in 1568. He was buried in the church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, which had just been built next to the novitiate.

In the building adjoining the church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, one can visit the so-called rooms of Saint Stanislaus Kostka. Located there is the sculpture of Saint Stanislaus Kostka dying, a work by Pierre Legros the Younger.

The cult of Saint Stanislaus Kostka is particularly alive in Poland. He is the patron saint of youth, students, and altar servers, but he is also one of the patrons of Poland. For this reason, there was a desire to celebrate a special Jubiliary Year on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of his canonization. The celebrations began on Sunday, August 16, in the Saint’s birthplace, in Rostków, in the diocese of Płock. First of all, the relics of the saint were solemnly transferred from the parish church of Przasnysz to Rostków, in memory of the centenary of the return of the relics of the patron saint of his diocese to his native land.

Subsequently, the Eucharist was celebrated, presided over by Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, with the participation of Bishop Szymon Stułkowski of Płock, Auxiliary Bishop Mirosław Milewski, and the local clergy. In his homily, Archbishop Filipazzi recalled that 300 years ago the Church recognized in the young Jesuit, then barely eighteen years old, “the perfection of Christian life.” He observed that Stanislaus is not remembered for his wealth, his prestige, or his earthly successes. “He is remembered because he took God with absolute seriousness. He believed that the vocation received from the Lord was worthy of all his heart and all his life,” he stated. “Stanislaus understood that man is not created for mediocrity, but for the fullness of life in Christ; not to live closed in on himself, but to offer himself as a gift; not to be content with what is transitory, but to seek what has eternal value,” said the preacher.

“We are here to listen to what Saint Stanislaus has to say to the Church today. He reminds us that we were born for greater and higher things. We were born for Christ. And in Christ, we were born for holiness,” affirmed the Nuncio, adding that even today we should boldly propose the path of holiness to young people.

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Stanislaus Kostka, the Apostolic Penitentiary granted the faithful the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence. This is a special opportunity to live the jubilee as a time of conversion and spiritual renewal. For the jubilee, the Bishop of Płock established 16 pilgrimage sites dedicated to Saint Stanislaus Kostka.

It is worth quoting the famous phrase of the young Stanislaus with which he expressed his ideal of life: “Ad maiora natus sum.” This phrase should be the life motto of every Christian, and young people too must be reminded that “they were born for greater things.”