Hyacinth of Poland

Saint Hyacinth, O.P.
Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Hyacinth, Ludovico Carracci (1592), in the Louvre Museum
Religious, priest, confessor and Apostle of the North
Born	ca. 1185 Kamień Śląski, Lesser Poland
Died	15 August 1257 Kraków, Poland
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Aglipayan Church
Canonized	17 April 1594 by Pope Clement VIII
Feast	17 August
Attributes	statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Monstrance or Ciborium
Patronage	Lithuania, University of Santo Tomas-College of Tourism and Hospitality Management, invoked by those in danger of drowning; Basilica of St. Hyacinth

Saint Hyacinth, O.P., (Polish: Święty Jacek or Jacek Odrowąż) (b. ca. 1185 in Kamień Śląski (Ger. Groß Stein) near Opole (Ger. Oppeln), Upper Silesia – d. 15 August 1257, in Kraków, Poland of natural causes) was educated in Paris and Bologna. A Doctor of Sacred Studies and a regular priest, he worked to reform women's monasteries in his native Poland.

Called the "Apostle of the North", Hyacinth was the son of Eustachius Konski of the noble family of Odrowąż. He was born in 1185 at the castle of Lanka, at Kamin, in Silesia, Poland. A near relative of Blessed Ceslaus, he made his studies at Kraków, Prague, and Bologna, and at the latter place merited the title of Doctor of Law and Divinity. On his return to Poland he was given a prebend at Sandomir. He subsequently accompanied his uncle Ivo Konski, the Bishop of Kraków, to Rome.

While in Rome, he witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic, and became a Dominican friar, along with the Blessed Ceslaus and two attendants of the Bishop of Kraków - Herman and Henry. In 1219 Pope Honorius III invited Saint Dominic and his followers to take up residence at the ancient Roman basilica of Santa Sabina, which they did by early 1220. Before that time, the friars had only a temporary residence in Rome at the convent of San Sisto Vecchio which Honorius III had given to Dominic circa 1218, intending it to be used for a reformation of Roman nuns under Dominic's guidance. Hyacinth and his companions were among the first to enter the convent. They were also the first alumni of the studium of the Dominican Order at Santa Sabina out of which would grow the 16th century College of Saint Thomas at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which became the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in the 20th century. After an abbreviated novitiate, Hyacinth and his companions received the religious habit of the Order from St. Dominic himself in 1220.