Saint of the week: John Cantius

The relatively obscure St Jan z Kęt (also called John Kanty or John Cantius) was a favorite saint of St John Paul II. Jan was also Polish and also lived a long life (1380-1473) in a difficult period of history. Jan spent his decades serving God through the things any of us can: service to our neighbors, our work, parish life,

He displayed exceptional intellect at a young age, so he was sent from his humble family origins to advanced studies in Krakow universities, where he excelled through his doctorate degree. After being ordained a priest, Fr Jan embarked upon an academic vocation as a priest-professor. He poured humility and charity into both roles. Krakow knew him as both a brilliant professor and a tender shepherd who lived ascetically and devoted himself to caring for the poor. His motto: "Beware disturbing: it's not sweetly pleasing; beware speaking ill: for taking back words is burdensome." (Meanwhile, just in his spare time, he also transcribed thousands and thousands of pages of Scripture and works of theology.)

But Fr Jan's naturalness in his vocation drew out envy and opposition. Fr Jan was unjustly removed from his professorship with false accusations by jealous rivals within the hierarchy. They "punished" him with an assignment as pastor of a rural parish, where the parishioners were deeply hostile to the outsider priest.

His is not a cute story: Fr Jan was insecure about and afraid of his pastoral responsibilities. He was lonely and isolated. But still, he chose fiat.

He toiled for years and years in his parish work with no glimmer of success. He remained faithful. In time—a long, long time—his faithfulness bore fruit. He was eventually reinstated to his professorship and when he departed the rural parish, many of the parishioners followed him to the city.

St Jan z Kęt knew how tedious saying yes to God can be. And he knew that saying yes to God is the only true option: "Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause."

He died on Christmas Eve in 1473. His feast day is December 23.

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