17 August - Born in 1200 and originally from Silesia, Hyacinth studied in Paris and Bologna. Doctor of theology and priest, he reformed many convents in Poland, Russia and Lithuania.
He was a priest and canon of Krakow when he received the habit of the friars preachers from the hands of St Dominic whom he had met in Rome, where he witnessed a miracle of St Dominic, and thus became a Dominican in his turn. Hyacinth established Dominican convents in Poland. He also evangelized Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Asia Minor and Greece.
Among the miracles attributed to him, tradition tells that during the attack by the Tartars on a monastery in Kiev, where he was staying, Hyacinth managed to save a container of the Blessed Sacrament, as well as a statue of the Virgin Mary, even though this statue weighed much more than he could carry.
Hyacinth was canonized on April 17, 1594 by Pope Clement VIII. His feast day is the 15th of August, the day of his death, but it is celebrated on the 17th of August, since the 15th of August is dedicated to the Assumption. In 1686 Pope Innocent XI named him the patron saint of Lithuania.
