WYSZYŃSKI, CASIMIR, VEN.

Procurator-general of the Marian Fathers; b. Jeziora Wielka, near Warsaw, Poland, Aug. 19, 1700; d. Balsamão, near Bragança, Portugal, Oct. 21, 1755. Wyszyński attended the Piarist colleges in Góra Kalwaria and in Warsaw. After completing his studies, to comply with his father's wishes, he entered upon a civil service career. About 1722 he undertook a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in fulfillment of a vow. Near the Spanish border, overcome by an illness resulting from the adverse climate, he had to give up the remainder of his pilgrimage. In Rome, he obtained papal dispensation from his vow and entered the Marian Fathers (1723), receiving the religious name Casimir of St. Joseph. He returned to Poland and made his novitiate, and a year after his solemn profession he was ordained (1726). He held with distinction the offices of master of novices, local superior, superior general (1737–41; 1747–50), and procurator general in Rome (1750–53).

By wise direction and example he brought about a spiritual renewal of the order. He tirelessly promoted the beatification cause of Stanislaus papczyŃski, founder of the Marian Fathers. In 1754 he established the first foundation of the Marians in Portugal at Balsamão, where he died. His body is buried in the monastery church. His beatification cause was started in 1763, introduced upon the apostolic forum in 1780, interrupted after the "de non cultu" decree in 1782, and resumed in 1953. His life of S. Papczński, Vita S. D. Stanislai Congr. P.P. Marianorum Fundatoris, is extant only in the Portuguese translation by J. Teixeira, Vida do Ven. Servo de Deos, o Padre Estanisláo de Jesus Maria (Lisbon 1757).

Bibliography: a. j. de s. a vargas, "C. V. P. Casimiro vem a Portugal," Memoria Acerca de Balsamão (Bragança, Port. 1859) 100–120. m. alves, in Memórias Arquelógico-Historicas do distrito de Bragança (Porto, Port. 1931) v.7. j. de castro, "Convento de Balsamão, in Bragança e Miranda (Porto, Port. 1947) 2:257–273.

[c. j. krzyŻanowski]