Michał Giedroyć

Blessed Michał Giedroyć O.S.A.
Religious
Born	c. 1425 Giedraičiai, Molėtų rajonas, Lithuania
Died	4 May 1485 (aged 59-60) Kraków, Małopolskie, Poland
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	7 November 2018, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City by Pope Francis
Feast	4 May
Attributes	Crucifix
Patronage	The sick Sacristans Sisters of Saint Hedwig (co-patron) Lithuania Pontifical University of John Paul II

Blessed Michał Giedroyć (c. 1425 - 4 May 1485) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic noble and professed religious from the Order of Saint Augustine. He was born to nobles in Lithuania and suffered from several birth defects that impeded his education. He later became a religious in Poland in the Canons Regular of the Penance of the Blessed Martyrs and he lived the remainder of his life in Kraków where he completed his studies. He received approval to live as a hermit adjacent to the Augustinian convent attached to the Saint Mark church where he frequented. He was said to have received a vision of Jesus Christ while in reflection before the Cross in that church.

His cause for canonization launched sometime after his death but stalled due to a lack of interest from ecclesial officials in Rome. But the cause received a new impetus in the 1980s leading to the reintroduction of the cause in 2001 at which point he became titled as a Servant of God. Pope Francis took the rare step on 7 November 2018 of conferring equipollent beatification upon him due to recognition of his longstanding local cultus (longstanding veneration). He was also named as Venerable at the same time.

Life

His household's coat of arms.

Michał Giedroyć was born circa 1425 to a long line of nobles; he was related to Lithuanian princes. He suffered from a number of birth defects including being a dwarf upon his birth while he later had the use of just one foot following an accident in his childhood. It was due to frail health and these birth defects that his formal education was limited and often interrupted.

But he soon became an exceptional metal worker and decided that he would construct sacred vessels for the Mass with a special emphasis on creating sacred vessels to house the Eucharist that could be bought to the sick in their homes. He worked with bronze and silver and constructed vessels such as chalices with these materials. It was from this period he hung about his neck a cross to serve as a constant reminder of God and His presence in his life. He soon joined the Order of Saint Augustine in 1460 as a religious brother and soon after his novitiate commenced was sent to Kraków in Poland in order to finish his theological education at the college there. His formal profession was made into the hands of the Father-General of the order Father Augustine in 1461. From 1461 to 1465 he studied the liberal arts and in 1465 obtained a degree in theological studies. He received permission from his superiors to live as a hermit in a cell adjacent to the Augustinian convent attached to the Saint Mark church which he frequented on a regular basis. It was said that he received a vision of Jesus Christ in that church as he reflected before the Cross. In that vision it was said that Christ said to him: "Be patient until death, and you will receive the crown of life".

He practiced strict mortifications on himself (such as self-flagellation) and lived an austere life devoid of luxuries. He fasted and abstained from all meat and adopted a vegetarian diet; he often ate bread alone with salt. He refused all offers of being ordained to the priesthood due to feelings of unworthiness for such a high function since he believed he was not suited for that particular life. He was also a great devotee of the Blessed Mother and the Passion and was known to meditate often on the Passion. He was also a noted preacher and sought after as a result.

In Poland he became close friends with the Servant of God Świętosław Milczący and also knew the Servant of God (and fellow Augustinian) Izajasz Boner. He also was close with several other saints and blesseds during this period:

• Saint John Cantius
• Saint Stanisław Kazimierczyk
• Saint Szymon of Lipnica
• Blessed Ladislas of Gielniów

He died in mid-1485 and his remains were interred in the Saint Mark church; he died in his cell after he had received absolution and the Extreme Unction. His remains were exhumed and reinterred in Saint Mark's church in 1624. Upon exhumation it was discovered that he had one leg much shorter than the other. His remains were exhumed first in 1521 found intact and then again on 4 June 1624 when moved to a new sarcophagus for public veneration that 11 August at a Mass that Bishop Tomasz Oborski presided over.

Beatification

Efforts to see him made a saint failed because ecclesial officials in Rome were reluctant to see the cause through to the end. This seemed confirmed after Church officials issued a decree from Pope Urban VIII with orders that the public cultus (or veneration) around the late religious be abandoned at once. This decree also proved as a factor in the dissolution of the late religious' old order. It was not until around three centuries later in the 1980s that there became a new impetus to re-launch the cause that Cardinal Franciszek Macharski spearheaded alongside fellow Cardinals Józef Glemp and Henryk Gulbinowicz.

The diocesan process for the cause soon opened in the Kraków archdiocese and was later closed on 24 April 1998. He became a Servant of God on 27 July 2001 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the "nihil obstat" (no objections) decree which meant the cause could go ahead. More than a decade later in 2017 the postulation submitted the Positio dossier to the C.C.S. for further assessment.

Pope Francis beatified him on 7 November 2018 in a decree that conferred equipollent beatification upon him in recognition of the longstanding public veneration for the late religious; in that same decree the pope named him as Venerable to confirm his heroic virtue.

See also

• Giedroyć family

External links

• Hagiography Circle
• Catholic Online