Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

Saint Casimir was born on October 3, 1458, in Wawel Castle in Kraków, a prince of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the son of King Casimir IV and Queen Elisabeth of Austria. Gifted in languages and learning, he was formed from childhood by the priest Jan Długosz, who impressed on him a love of virtue, prayer, and moral integrity. As a boy he was drawn into a failed campaign meant to place him on the throne of Hungary, an experience that deepened his seriousness and devotion. As heir to the Polish-Lithuanian realms, Casimir served alongside his father and took on public responsibilities, yet he became best known not for power but for holiness: humility, justice, and generous care for the sick and poor. He is remembered for choosing a chaste, God-centered life even amid plans for a royal marriage. Stricken with illness, likely tuberculosis, he died at just twenty-five on March 4, 1484, and was buried in Vilnius Cathedral. Venerated as patron of Lithuania and Lithuanian youth, Saint Casimir’s feast day is March 4.

Saint Adrian of Nicomedia was born in 278 in Constantinople and served as a military officer in the Roman world. Remembered above all for his steadfast witness to Christ, he was martyred in 306, a sacrifice that sealed his faith and made his name enduring in the Church’s memory. Honored as a saint, Adrian is invoked in places that bear his patronage—among them Grulleros, Matelica, and Sant Adrià de Besòs—and he is also regarded as a patron of those connected to the arms trade and the weapons industry. The Church celebrates his feast each year on March 4, inviting the faithful to contemplate courage, fidelity, and the hope that shines through martyrdom.