The Triumph of the saint: st Casimir Jagiellon and militant motifs in Baroque hagiographical poetry

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ENThis chapter argues that the Roman custom of a military triumph was adapted to Baroque hagiography praising the saints and martyrs who were Christian heroes engaged in the conflict against the opponents of the Church and Christian moral. The triumph depicts their life and sacrifice as a victory in this metaphorical combat and, above all, illustrates the canonization as triumphal ascension and reception of a new, or prospective, saint or martyr in heaven; it applies to the festivities in their honour as well. In particular, the triumph motif was employed to update the old-fashioned Renaissance profile of Casimir Jagiellon (1458–1484) on the occasion of the Vilnius festivities held in 1604 to celebrate his canonization confirmed in 1602: the Triumphalia by Michał Szymkiewicz report the triumphal procession in the city, while the Epos by Jan Kraykowski includes this triumph as a subsidiary component into many-sided narrative about Casimir’s sainthood [...] Keywords: Poland-Lithuania, Jagiellonians, Casimir Jagiellon, Vilnius, triumph, hagiography, canonization, cult of saints, saint-making.