The Holy Prince of Poland
The young Prince Casimir Jagiellon, born October 3, 1458, in Wawel castle (Kraków, Poland) to King Casimir IV (King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania) and Queen Elizabeth of Austria (daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Albert II) was welcomed into a world in which he could choose to serve whichever master he wanted. He could choose to follow his father—as the king hoped—in the pursuit of power and royalty; he could choose to be vain and comfortable and enjoy all the wealth afforded him by his noble status. Casimir chose to serve God. Born the third of thirteen children and second son of the king, Casimir and his siblings received an excellent and thorough education. The fact that they were Catholics notwithstanding, Casimir’s parents nonetheless had ambitions for their children that were more politically inclined. Elizabeth, for example, saw in each of her children a future monarch of one of the kingdoms in Europe. In her mind, the pursuit of perfection was not for her princely ...
