us IX declared him a Doctor of the universal Church.

The story of the entrance of St. Stanislaus Kostka into religion reads
like a romance. His father, a Polish nobleman, had placed him and his
older brother, Paul, at the Jesuit College in Vienna. When Stanislaus
was fifteen years of age he applied for admission into the Jesuit
Order, but as he had not the consent of his father, the superior
feared to take him. An illness supervened, and the Blessed Virgin came
to cure him, and giving the child Jesus into his arms, said to him,
"You must end your days in the Society that bears my Son's name; you
must become a Jesuit."

Notwithstanding the vision, poor Stanislaus was again refused by the
Jesuit superior. Not knowing what other step to take, he thought that
by traveling four hundred miles to Augsburg, in Germany, the Jesuit
Provincial of that province, who at the time was Blessed Peter
Canisius, might receive him, for his jurisdiction seemed beyond the
influence of Senator Kostka. If again rejected in Augsburg, he was
determined to walk eight hundred miles farther to Rome, where he felt
sure of securing his heart's desire. Accordingly, one August morning
he rose early and telling his servant that he was going out, bade him
at the same time inform his brother Paul not to expect him for dinner.
With light and joyous heart he started on his journey, and at the
first opportunity exchanged his fine clothes for the disguise of a
pilgrim's staff and tunic.

When Paul awoke and learned that Stanislaus was gone for the day, he
was surprised, but attributed it to some new pious freak. But as the
day wore on, and the shades of evening gathered, with no tidings of
his brother, consternation seized Paul, for he realized that his
irascible and powerful father would hold him responsible for the
safety of the younger boy, whom he loved with a passionate and
unbounded affection. Accordingly servants were dispatched in every
direction to seek for the truant, but no tidings could be obtained.
The conclusion gradually forced itself upon all that Stanislaus had
fled, and Paul determined to pursue him and bring him back. For some
reason, suspicion was aroused that the runaway had taken the road to
Augsburg, and a carriage with two stout horses was ordered for early
dawn on the morrow.

Along the highway to Augsburg flew the equipage containing Paul and
three companions. Meanwhile, little Stanislaus was trudging bravely
along, putting all