King Stanisław I Leszczyński, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania.
King Stanislaus of Poland was a faithful observer of the ancient discipline of the Church; he made but one meal in Lent, not even allowing himself the collation; moreover, on Fridays he denied himself the use of fish and eggs. From his dinner on Holy Thursday, till the following Saturday, at noon, he denied himself every species of nourishment, even bread and water. That interval, specially consecrated to the memory of Our Lord’s Passion, the pious monarch employed, as far as his affairs permitted, in prayer, and in visiting churches and houses of charity, where he poured forth abundant alms.
It was only through submission to the holy authority which he respected in his pastor that he consented, when over eighty years of age, not, indeed, to infringe on the commandment of the Church, but to moderate a little the severities he added thereto. Notwithstanding these austerities, that would be admired even in an anchoret, King Stanislaus, justly named the Beneficent, lived to the age of eighty-eight years.
Stories From The Catechist by Very Rev. Canon G.E. Howe, Pg. 292 # 683
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 465
