World

SAINT PROFILE: BLESSED JOLENTA OF POLAND

C. 1235 – 1298; Feast: June 12

By Catholic News Service     6/10/2016

The daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary and granddaughter of the emperor of Constantinople, this medieval princess was raised by her elder sister, St. Kunigunde, queen of Poland. Their family tree included other saints: Hedwig, Elizabeth of Hungary and Margaret of Hungary. Jolenta married a Polish duke whose charitable works earned him the popular name ‚ÄúBoleslaus the Pious.‚Äù After his death in 1279 and the marriage of two daughters, Jolenta, Kunigunde, also now widowed, and Jolenta’s youngest daughter entered a Poor Clares convent. Jolenta later became abbess of a convent she had founded with her husband. Also known as Helen of Poland and Yolanda of Poland, Jolenta was beatified in 1827.