The most famous miracles attributed to St. Stanislaus of Kraków involve a legend about a land dispute and another about his martyrdom. According to the first legend, Stanislaus, the bishop of Kraków, purchased a parcel of land for the diocese from a nobleman named Piotr. After Piotr’s death, the purchase was contested by King Bolesław II of Poland, who claimed the land was stolen. After three days of prayer and fasting, Stanislaus went to Piotr’s grave with witnesses, including clergy, and raised the nobleman from the dead so that he could testify that the land had been properly sold. The land was subsequently returned to the diocese.
The second miracle is related to Stanislaus’s execution under the orders of King Bolesław, whom the bishop had excommunicated in 1079. On April 11 Stanislaus was celebrating mass at the Church of St. Michael on Skałka Hill outside Kraków when he was seized by the king’s men and dismembered. Legend says that his body was protected by eagles, who guarded his remains from wild beasts until the bishop’s priests could recover them. Afterward, Stanislaus’s body miraculously grew back together.