Grace of a meeting
The Feast of Blessed Ceslaus (Polish: Czesław), the Patron Saint of the City, and the Archdiocese of Wrocław
PATRON OF DAY: Blessed Czeslaw Odrowąż
Ceslaus (Polish: Czesław) Odrowąż was born around 1180 in Kamień Śląski – to the same family from which came St. Hyacinth (Polish: Jacek). Both of them received the dominican habit from the hands of the Holy Father Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, in Rome. On the way to Poland Ceslaus founded a convent in Prague, and in the year 1226 – another one at St. Adalbert’s Church in Wrocław.
Tradition ascribes to him saving Wrocław from destruction during the Tartar siege in 1241. Bl. Ceslaus prayed for the salvation of the city, climbing the shafts and encouraging defenders to resist. One of the contemporary Polish historians described the miracle of a luminous sphere that appeared in the sky and which driven the Tartar army out, that was achieved through the prayers of Bl. Ceslaus.
He died on 15th July 1242, and its liturgical feast falls on 20th July. In 1713, Pope Clement XI approved his cult for the Dominican Order and the Archdiocese of Wrocław. In 1753, Clement XIII extended it to all the Polish dioceses.
Re-development of worship took place in the mid-twentieth century, when after the 140-year break, the Dominicans returned to the capital of Lower Silesia. In 1963, Pope Paul VI recognized Bl. Ceslaus – next to St. John the Baptist – as the main patron saint of city of Wrocław. For several years now, the Dominican Province of Poland have made efforts to commence the process of his canonisation.