John Prandota of Cracow, Bl.
JOHN PRANDOTA OF CRACOW, BL.
Bishop; b. Bialaczów, Poland, early 13th century; d. Cracow, Poland, Sept. 21, 1266. A descendant of the noble Odrowa[symbol omitted] family, he became bishop of cracow in 1242, and he did much to secure, in 1253, the canonization of St. stanislaus, his martyred predecessor in that see. He drove the heretical Flagellants out of his diocese (see flagellation). When Duke conrad of masovia seized church property, Prandota excommunicated him. A respected leader of the Polish magnates, the bishop worked together with Boleslav V the Chaste (d. 1279) and his saintly wife, kinga, for the welfare of Little Poland. Prandota was an ideal bishop of his time, combining sanctity with political sagacity and moral leadership. His cult ended in the 17th century because of a misunderstanding of Pope urban viii's bull on the veneration of saints (see saints, devotion to the).
Feast: Sept. 21.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Sept. 6:279–288. Monumenta Poloniae historica, 6 v. (LVOV 1864–93) 4:439–500. Bibliothecas hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis 4421. a. zahorska, Ilustrowane Zywoty Swietych Polskich (Potulice, Pol. 1937) 170–180. z. szostkiewicz, "Katalog biskupów obrz. lac. przedrozbiorowej Polski," Sacrum Poloniae millenium 1 (1954) 540. b. stasiewski, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2 5:1072.
[l. siekaniec]