11 April 2026 (MIA) 

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

Great and Holy Saturday

On Great Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s descent into Hades, the place of the dead. Great Saturday is the day between Jesus’ death and His resurrection. It is the day of watchful expectation, in which mourning is transformed into joy. The day embodies in the fullest possible sense the meaning of joyful-sadness, which has dominated the celebrations of Great Week.

Catholic Calendar

St. Stanislaus

Stanislaus was born of noble parents on July 26 in Szczepanow near Krakow, Poland. He was educated at Gnesen and was ordained there. Bishop Lampert Zula of Krakow, who made him his preacher, gave him a canonry and soon he became noted for his preaching.

He was successful in his reforming efforts, and in 1072 was named Bishop of Krakow. He incurred the enmity of King Boleslaus the Bold when he denounced the King’s cruelties and injustices and especially his kidnapping of the beautiful wife of a nobleman. When Stanislaus excommunicated the King and stopped services at the Cathedral when Boleslaus entered, Boleslaus himself killed Stanislaus while the Bishop was saying Mass in a chapel outside the city on April 11.

Stanislaus has long been the symbol of Polish nationhood. He was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253 and is the principle patron of Krakow. His feast day is April 11.