Hyacinth of Poland

Who they were

Hyacinth, of the noble Odrowąż family, was born in 1185 at Kamień in Silesia and studied at Kraków, Prague and Bologna, where he became a doctor of law and divinity. Going to Rome with his uncle, the bishop of Kraków, he met St Dominic and in 1220 was among the first to receive the Dominican habit from him at Santa Sabina.

He led the first Dominican missionaries to Poland, founding convents at Friesach, Sandomierz, Kraków and Płock, and carried his preaching through Prussia, Pomerania, Lithuania and far beyond, so that he was called the Apostle of the North. He died at Kraków on 15 August 1257.

The miracles

Countless miracles are recorded of him in the Acta Sanctorum; the details examined for his canonisation are not given in the sources we have used.

Why that counted as sanctity

Hyacinth spent his life carrying the Gospel across the lands of the North as one of St Dominic's first sons.

Connected on this site

• Ceslaus Odrowąż Blessed
  “Ceslaus was born in Kamień Śląski, Poland, of the noble family of Odrowąż, and was a relative, possibly the brother, of Hyacinth of Poland.” — Wikipedia