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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/264.jpg' >  
<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/265.jpg' > 
Saint Casimir 
500th Anniversary of Birth Scott 264-265 (1959) 
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The Church celebrates the feast of Saint Casimir on March 4. He is recognized at the patron saint of Lithuania, Poland and Russia.
 
Casimir was born in 1458 in Krakow in present-day Poland. Casimir was the third child and the second son of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Casimir IV. In his early life, Casimir and his brother Vladislaus were educated by the Polish priest Father Jan Dlugosz, a strict and conservative teacher who focused on ethics, morality, and religious devotion.
 
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<img height='375' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Cynk_D%C5%82ugosz_and_Saint_Casimir.jpg'> 
Długosz and Saint Casimir by Florian Cynk (circa 1869) 
National Museum in Warsaw 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
At the age of 13, Casimir participated in a failed military campaign to install him as King of Hungary. His father, upset by the failure, confined his son for three months, during which time young Casimir decided to never again be involved in the wars and politics of his day. He committed to a life of prayer and study, and became known for his piety, devotion to God, and generosity towards the sick and poor.
 
Casimir became ill in 1483 and died on March 4, 1484 at Grodno, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, at the young age of 25. A cult of Casimir quickly grew following his death. In 1514, his canonization was initiated by his brother, King Sigismund I, although he was not formally canonized until 1604 by Pope Leo X. His remains lie at the Vilnius Cathedral in Lithuania, and his silver sarcophagus is housed in the Chapel of Saint Casimir (pictured here):
 
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<img height='375' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Wilno_-_kaplica_Kazimierza.JPG'> 
Sarcophagus of Saint Casimer 
Vilnius Cathedral, Vilnius, Lithuania 
Photo by Diliff 
From Wikimedia Commons, used under terms of the Creative 
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license</center>
 
Saint Casimir has been celebrated on the stamps of Vatican City on two occasions. At the top of the page, two stamps are displayed which were issued in 1959 for the 500th anniversary of his birth (Scott 264-265). In addition, the 500th anniversary of Saint Casimir’s death was commemorated on the two stamps issued in 1984 and shown below:
 
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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/731.jpg' >  
<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/732.jpg' > 
Saint Casimir 
500th Anniversary of Death
 Scott 731-732 (1984) </center>
 
An interesting side note to the two Saint Casimir stamp issues is that both sets were designed by American artists. The 1959 issue shown at the top of the article was designed by V.K. Jonynas, and were the first Vatican stamps designed by a non-Italian artist. An interesting article from Vatican Notes, written in 1960 by famed philatelic author and VPS member Ernest Kehr, profiles Jonynas and reviews the Saint Casimir issue. The 1984 issue was also designed by an American, Romas Viesulas, a professor of art at Temple University. An article related to that issue is also referenced below, from Vatican Notes in 1984. These articles can be accessed by clicking the links below. 
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>Kehr, Ernest, Vatican Notes, Volume 8, Number 4, pages 9-12, 1960, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay2.php?p=051-09&r=0'> A New Name in Designers of Vatican Stamps</a> 
<li>Anonymous, Vatican Notes, Volume 32, Number 6, page 4, 1984, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay2.php?p=194-04&r=0'>Saint Casimir of Lithuania</a> 
<li>Wikipedia.com, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Casimir'>Saint Casimir</a> 
<li>Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day, <a href='https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-casimir/'>Saint Casimir</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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