aftermath
stanislaus lacked six or eight weeks of being eighteen years old when he died. he had not been a preacher or writer or engaged in any public work. only a handful of people in rome so much as knew of his existence. yet no sooner was he dead than crowds flocked about him as about a dead saint.
the general, francis borgia, ordered the body to be put into a coffin, which was an unusual thing at that time, and to be buried at the right hand of the high altar in the church.
meantime the lord john kostka still raged in poland. he had written a most severe letter to stanislaus shortly after stanislaus arrived in rome: a letter full of threats and anger, to which stanislaus had replied kindly and affectionately, explaining to his father that he had to follow god's call at any cost but the lord john was not to be so easily put off. he ordered his eldest son, paul, on to rome, with power to bring back stanislaus to his home at kostkov.
paul traveled in some state and with no great haste. he reached rome in the middle of september, 1568, to find that god had been beforehand with him, and that stanislaus had indeed already gone home, to heaven.
he had been greatly impressed at the time of stanislaus' flight from vienna, by the incidents which seemed to god's direct guidance and protection in regard to his brother. now, when the fathers led him to the still new tomb of stanislaus, he broke down utterly and cried like a child. he stayed a time beside the tomb, and when he came forth he was a different paul.
every one was talking with admiration of stanislaus and of the marvels that had surrounded his life and death. paul hurried back to poland with his story, at once sad and joyful. the heart of the old castellan was moved. he had lost a son, but he had gained a saint.
a year later appeared two short lives of stanislaus, one in polish by father warscewiski, his fellow-novice, another in latin. all through poland the devotion to the young novice spread rapidly. soon authoritative "processes" toward his beatification were drawn up under the care of the bishops of various places in which stanislaus had spent his short years.
thirty-six years after his death, pope clement viii issued a brief (february 18, 1604) in which he declared stanislaus "blessed" and granted indulgences on the anniversary of his death.
but long before this the lord john had died, and his youngest son, albert, struck by sudden congestion of the lungs before his father's body was laid to rest, died also, and was buried in the same grave with him.