Stanislaus was born of a noble Polish family and attended the Jesuit College in Vienna. After a serious illness and a vision that seemed to call him to the Society of Jesus, he walked from Vienna to Augsburg and then to Rome seeking admittance. St. Peter Canisius had recommended him to St. Francis Borgia, the head of the order at the time. After a brief stay at the Church of the Gesu and the Roman College, Stanislaus entered the novitiate of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, where he died after only about 10 months. Though he was in the Society only for a brief while, his sanctity was widely recognized, and he was canonized in 1726.

POLAND, 2000, a postal card for the 450th anniversary of his birth in 2000. The card features Pierre Le Gros the Younger's multicolored marble work, The Death of St. Stanislaus Kostka (1705), in Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, Rome, and also a portrait of the saint from 1568, the year of his death.

POLAND, 1995, Postal card featuring the popular priest Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko
and the Warsaw Church named in honor of St. Stanislaus Kostka (though it is not a Jesuit church)

 
GREAT BRITAIN, 1988, special anniversary cancel
AUSTRIA, 1990, show cancel for the 450th anniversary of the Jesuits and the 500th of Ignatius' birth

CANADA, 1988, Circular Date Stamp and Roller Bar cancel for Saint-Stanlislaus-de-Kosta, Province of Quebec, Canada,
named in honor of the Jesuit saint.

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