Servant of Mary new file

love of God, which found expression in the particularly care- ful manner in which he prepared to celebrate the Holy Mass. People who lived far away from Balsamao hastened there to see the “Santo Polacco,” the Saintly Pole, at the altar. He lived a life full of mortification. Throughout his 30 years of religious life, he slept only five hours a day and he wore a hair shirt all the time. His attitude towards oth- ers expressed a special love of neighbor. He was kind, and he forgave every wrong and unpleasantness done to him with all his heart. He readily fulfilled his pastoral duties. He wanted to influence wide circles of Polish society by the spiritual rebirth of his own order, to which he himself greatly contributed. The Primate of the Millennium * emphasized Father Casimir’s role in awakening the hope for the nation’s sur- vival due to the particular protection of Mary : To a nation of people who were losing their freedom, Father Casimir revealed their very Mother. He tied this nation personally to her through the veneration of her Immaculate Conception and Sorrowful Heart. He began to preach to the nation that all abandon themselves to Mary’s maternal bondage...He trusted that everything entrusted to her care would never perish. Although Father Wyszy<ski did appreciate the impor- tance of the outward manifestations of devotion to Mary, * Translator’s note : The Primate of the Millennium was Cardinal Stefan Wyszy<ski. 75 THE SERVANT OF MARY IMMACULATE