Saint Hyacinth

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Hyacinth
birth_date=c. 1185
death_date=August 15, 1257
feast_day=August 17
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church

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caption="Saint Hyacinth"
birth_place=Kamień Śląski
death_place=Kraków, Poland
titles=Confessor; Apostle of the North
beatified_date=
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canonized_date=
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attributes=statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Monstrance or Ciborium
patronage= UST-Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management, invoked by those in danger of drowning; Basilica of St. Hyacinth
major_shrine=
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Saint Hyacinth, Święty Jacek, Jacek Odrowąż (b. c. 1185 in Kamień Śląski (Ger. Groß Stein) near Opole (Ger. Oppeln), Upper Silesia – d. August 15, 1257 in Kraków, Poland of natural causes) was educated in Paris and Bologna. A Doctor of Sacred Studies and a priest, he worked to reform convents in his native Poland. While in Rome, he witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic, and became a Dominican. He brought the Dominican Order to Poland, then evangelized throughout Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, and Greece.

During an attack on a monastery, Hyacinth managed to save a Monstrance (or possibly a Ciborium, it is unknown exactly which) containing the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, though the statue weighed far more than he could normally have lifted; the saint is usually shown holding these two items.

Saint Ceslaus was a close relative of Hyacinth, and may have been his brother. [cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07591b.htm|title=St. Hyacinth|work=Catholic Encyclopedia |accessdate=2007-02-18] He was canonized on April 17, 1594 by Pope Clement VIII, and his memorial day is celebrated on August 17. In 1686 Pope Innocent XI named him a patron of Lithuania.

In Spanish, he is known as "San Jacinto" - which is the name of numerosu towns and locations in Spanish-speaking countries, and of two battles fought in two of these locations.

He is the patron saint of St. Hyacinth's Basilica, in Chicago, Illinois and of those in danger of drowning.

He is also the patron saint of Ermita de Piedra de San Jacinto in Tuguegarao city, Philippines wherein his feastday is celebrated with a procession and folk dance contests. A town called Camalaniugan in the Philippine is also under the said saint's patronage.

The town church dedicated to San Jacinto or Saint Hyacinth is home to the oldest church bell (the Sancta Maria 1595) in the Far East.

ee also

*St. Hyacinth Basilica

References

External links

* [http://saints.sqpn.com/sainth06.htm "Saint Hyacinth]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07591b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: "St. Hyacinth"]
* [http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/eng/08-17.htm Lives of the Saints: "Saint Hyacinth"]