According to hagiographic tradition, Stanislaus, or Stanisław in Polish, was born at Szczepanów, a village in Lesser Poland, the only son of the noble and pious Wielisław and Bogna.

After the bishop's death (1072), Stanislaus was elected his successor[3] but accepted the office only at the explicit command of Pope Alexander II.

Stanislaus' major accomplishments included bringing papal legates to Poland, and reestablishment of a metropolitan see in Gniezno.

Stanislaus spent them in ceaseless prayer and, dressed in full bishop's regalia, went with a procession to the cemetery where Piotr had been buried three years earlier.

A more substantial conflict with King Bolesław arose after a prolonged war in Ruthenia, when weary warriors deserted and went home, alarmed at tidings that their overseers were taking over their estates and wives.

The murder stirred outrage throughout the land and led to the dethronement of King Bolesław II the Generous, who had to seek refuge in Hungary[2] and was succeeded by his brother, Władysław I Herman.

In the early 13th century, Bishop Iwo Odrowąż initiated preparations for Stanislaus' canonization and ordered Wincenty of Kielce to write the martyr's vita.

[6] Pope Pius V did not include the saint's feast day in the Tridentine calendar for use throughout the Roman Catholic Church.

Subsequently, Pope Clement VIII inserted it, setting it for 7 May, but Kraków observes it on 8 May, a supposed date of the saint's death, having done so since 8 May 1254, when it was attended by many Polish bishops and princes.

In the 17th century, King Władysław IV Vasa commissioned an ornate silver coffin to hold the saint's relics.

The procession, once a local event, was popularized in the 20th century by Polish Primate Stefan Wyszyński and Archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła.

Wojtyla, as Pope John Paul II, called Saint Stanislaus the patron saint of moral order and wanted his first papal return to Poland to occur in April 1979 in observance of the 900th anniversary to the day of his martyrdom, but the Communist rulers of that time blocked this, causing the visit to be delayed until June of that year.

In iconography, Saint Stanislaus is usually depicted as a bishop holding a sword, the instrument of his martyrdom, and sometimes with Piotr rising from the dead at his feet.