A riot of colour will transform the streets of Kazimierz this Sunday with the coming of the Feast of St. Stanislas. The annual procession, which is amongst the oldest in Poland, sees many of the country's most senior church figures join monks, Highlanders, war veterans and myriad others in a progress between Wawel Cathedral and the Church on the Rock.
Saint Stanislas, Poland's patron saint, was martyred at the Church on the Rock in 1079. As chroniclers recount, the order for the bishop's demise came from the King himself, Boleslaw the Bold, who was furious that the bishop had stood up to him. The manner of Stanislas's death almost exactly mirrors that of the English saint, Thomas a' Beckett.
During the Cold War era, Archbishop of Cracow Karol Wojtyla (the future Pope John Paul II) used the procession and the legacy of St. Stanislaw as a means of inspiration against the tyrannical rule of the Communist Party.
This Sunday's procession begins with a mass at Wawel Cathedral at about 9am. Then the various groups and orders follow the ancient route down Stradomska and Krakowska streets to Kazimierz. The marchers will then turn down Skaleczna street to the Church on the Rock, where there will be another mass at which thousands of the faithful will gather. At about 11am the procession returns to Wawel with the many relics and banners relating to the martyred saint. The whole experience provides both a feast for the eyes and an inspiration for the faithful.
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