Father Casimir Wyszynski

Touch is the most dangerous of all the senses. For this reason, Father Casimir was particularly mindful of it. One of the wit- nesses states: “He kept his touch very pure and innocent, and as far as I know, he never touched a woman.” 98 Moreover, he “avoided the company of women” with great eagerness and cau- tioned others against getting near women, including nuns, unless contacting them was absolutely necessary. 99 “All in all, he was strictly set against conversations with women.” 100 Further, the Venerable Father Casimir mortified his sense of touch by avoiding everything soft. 101 Once when he had to stay overnight at Magnuszewski’s house, he slept on “…the strawonly, having folded and placed on the table the bedding that had been provided.” 102 While staying in his own monastery, “He slept only briefly, using for his headrest a stone which he kept in his cell.” 103 The Venerable Father Casimir practiced mortification of the body by using a whip and hair shirt. One of the eyewitnesses tes- tifies that the Venerable Father frequently practiced self-flagella- tion. Sometimes he alsowore iron chains. Magnuszewski testifies: “He (Father Casimir) wore a hair shirt andwhile still a lay person, he used to wrap metal chains around his body, thus making it bleed. For many years he did not remove these chains, probably keeping them on until his dying breath.” 104 Father Casimir ex- plained that without applying such means he would never have learned to curb his senses in a true religious manner. The effort needed to preserve bodily virtue was facilitated by the fact that “He was never idle because he either prayed, or read, or wrote, or worked in the vegetable garden.” 105 98 Ibid. 99 A. Fischer, Życie, cnoty i śmierć święta …, 58. 100 PositioWysz , 496. 101 Ibid, 361, 366. 102 W. Magnuszewski, Żywot… , 36. 103 Ibid. 42. 104 Ibid. 43. 105 A. Fischer, Życie, cnoty i śmierć święta …, 71. 131 Faithful to the Road of Religious Profession of Vows