St. Casimir

Who they were

Casimir Jagiellon was the second son of the King of Poland, raised for thrones, and is remembered for the throne he declined to take. Sent at thirteen as figurehead of a military expedition to seize the Hungarian crown, the boy saw the campaign for the unjust and unwanted venture it was, and when it collapsed he refused from then on to be the instrument of dynastic wars, a stand he held against his father's plans for the rest of his short life.

What he chose instead the sources agree on: serious governance when he served as regent, and his administration of Poland was praised for its justice; austerity underneath the royal wardrobe; nights spent praying at locked church doors; and a Marian devotion so central that the long hymn Omni die dic Mariae, Daily, daily sing to Mary, was buried with him. It is popularly called the hymn of St. Casimir although it predates him, which is worth knowing before you repeat it. He died of tuberculosis at twenty five in 1484. His shrine in Vilnius Cathedral made him Lithuania's patron, and 4 March, Kaziuko mugė, is still the country's great fair.

Why people turn to St. Casimir

Lithuanian and Polish families. Young men looking for integrity before a vocation has clarified, which is an old and formal patronage of his and deserves to be treated warmly rather than as a consolation prize. And everyone handed a role in something unjust, since the thirteen year old's refusal is the whole patronage.

How to ask their intercession

Before taking part in the thing your gut has already judged. He is the patron of the exit, and of doing it without a speech.