Saint Simon of Lipnica

Saint Simon of Lipnica was a Polish Observant Franciscan, that is, a Bernardine, and a priest and preacher in Krakow. He died in 1482 while serving the sick during an epidemic. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on July 18, the day of his death.

He was born at Lipnica Murowana in southern Poland between 1435 and 1440; the exact year is not known. His parents were Gregory and Anne. In 1454 he began his studies at the Krakow Academy and obtained there the degree of bachelor. In 1453 Saint John of Capistrano, whose preaching stirred Krakow in those years, had founded at Stradom the first Observant friary in Poland, dedicated to Saint Bernardine of Siena. From this dedication the people called these friars Bernardines.

Moved by Capistrano’s preaching, Simon entered the friary at Stradom in 1457 together with ten fellow students. After a year of novitiate he made his religious profession, and around 1460 he was ordained a priest. He first served as guardian, that is, superior, of the friary in Tarnów, and then returned to Stradom and devoted himself to proclaiming the word of God. In 1463 he became the first of the Friars Minor to serve as preacher in the Wawel Cathedral. Old sources called him “praedicator ferventissimus,” the most fervent preacher.

Following the example of Saint Bernardine of Siena, he spread devotion to the Name of Jesus, and his preaching led many sinners to conversion. The papal letter of canonization mentions his devotion to the Eucharist and his love for Mary, whom he often called “Amasia,” that is, the Beloved. He lived austerely, wore a hair shirt, and fasted beyond the prescribed fasts.

In 1472 he was in L’Aquila for the transfer of the body of Saint Bernardine to the new church. In 1476 he was elected a definitor of his order, and two years later he traveled to the general chapter in Pavia. On that journey he made a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles in Rome and to the Holy Land.

In July 1482 plague broke out in Krakow. Together with his confreres, Simon cared for the sick: he comforted them, administered the sacraments, and helped the dying to be reconciled with Christ. He caught the disease himself and bore it patiently. He asked to be buried beneath the floor of the church, so that everyone would walk over him. He died on July 18, 1482, on the sixth day of his illness. His relics rest in the Bernardine church in Krakow, at the foot of Wawel Hill.

Even after his death he was surrounded by a reputation for holiness and miracles. On February 24, 1685, Pope Innocent XI confirmed the veneration paid to him from time immemorial and thereby granted him the title of blessed. After the recognition of his heroic virtues in 2005 and of a miraculous healing that took place in Krakow in 1943, Benedict XVI canonized him on June 3, 2007, in Saint Peter’s Square. In his homily, speaking in Polish, the Pope called him a great son of the Polish land and entrusted to his protection those who suffer from poverty, illness, loneliness, and social injustice.