Father Casimir Wyszynski

116 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D ing the commandments of God and the Church, and the evangel- ical counsels and rules of religious life. He pondered the divine laws day and night. Out of love for Jesus Christ he wore a hair shirt, flagellated his body, mortified his senses severely, and ded- icated himself constantly to both spoken and silent prayer. “Venerable Casimir also scrupulously fulfilled the command to love one’s neighbor by carrying out numerous works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal. Almost every day we would observe him catechizing and preaching both the young and adult of the simple folks, admonishing the careless and gently instilling in all a respect for God. He also frequently inspired us, his religious con- freres, to diligently impart spiritual instructions to the simple folks in accordance with the goal of our religious Order. “He also performed corporal works of mercy. No needy person who came to our monastery begging for alms was ever sent away empty-handed. Father Casimir valued poverty; he gladly visited the sick and served themwithdedication. In anuncommon, heroic manner he embraced his enemies with love. He showed it in the case of a certain confrere who spoke foolishly against a task as- signed to him in our community. Father Casimir did not choose to punish thatman, but only admonished him. He also kindly forgave the sponsor of our monastery in Goźlin for damaging and ruining the guesthouse and did not call for litigation.” 79 In his testimony, Father Benon Bujalski emphasized: “The Ven- erable possessed to the highest degree the virtue of love for God and neighbor, which is evidenced by the fact that he provided charitable support to the poor despite the poverty of his own monastery [...]. He also undertook other deeds of love, for exam- ple, he organized courses of learning for the brethren of our Order at the monastery of Góra Kalwaria, although he had no in- come and relied only on alms.” 80 Father Alexis Fischer, in his account of Venerable Casimir’s life andmanifestations of holiness, underlined: “His unwavering love 79 Ibid, 471-472. 80 Ibid, 465.