Ladislaus of Gielniów, Bl.

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LADISLAUS OF GIELNIÓW, BL.

Franciscan popular missionary; b. c. 1440, Gielnów, Diocese of Gniezno, Poland; d. May 4, 1505 (feast, May 4, September 25). After being educated in Cracow, he entered the franciscan Order. Pious and filled with apostolic zeal, Ladislaus in his pastoral activities followed the example of john capistran. In 1487 he became provincial of the Polish Bernardine province; he founded a new observant convent that became a center of missionary activity for Lithuania. He excelled as a poet, whose works were devoted to the Passion of Christ and to Our Lady, in whose honor he introduced a special form of rosary. He was beatified on Feb. 11, 1750, by benedict xiv, and in 1753 he was proclaimed a patron of Poland, the city of Warsaw, and Lithuania.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum May 1 (1863) 565620. Masarykův slovník naučný, 7 v. (Prague 192533) 4:291. c. bogdalski, Bernardyni w Polsce, v.2 (Krakow 1933) 93142, the Bernadines of Poland. b. stasiewski, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 195765) 6:728.

[j. papin]