On Sunday 3 June 2007, Pope Benedict XVI canonizes Blessed Simon of Lipnica, a new Franciscan saint, during the same celebration in which Blessed Gorg Preca will be declared as the first Maltese saint. Simon was born in Lipnica Murowana, Poland, in the period 1435-1440.  

He moved to Krakow and attended the Jagiellonian Academy in 1454, where he met St. John of Capestrano, a famous Franciscan reformer of theObservant family of the Order of Friars Minor, and who had founded the first friary of the Observance in Poland.  Another Franciscan Observant, St. Bernardine of Siena, had just been canonized in 1450, and the Franciscan Observants in Poland were called “Bernardini” by the people. In 1457 Simon was received in the Franciscan Order and was ordained priest in 1460.  He established himself in Stradom (Krakow), where he became a great preacher. Like Saints Bernardine of Siena and John of Capestrano, Simon spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.  He preached in the cathedral of Wawel in 1463.

In 1472 he went to L’Aquila in Italy, where the remains of St. Bernardine of Siena are venerated.  In 1478 he took part in the general chapter of the Order in Pavia.  Subsequently he visited the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, and even ventured upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When the plague broke out in Krakow in 1482-83, Simon dedicated himself to the care of the sick with unflinching charity.  He soon became infected with the disease and died, a martyr of charity, on 18 July 1482.

The cult of Blessed Simon of Lipnica was declared “ab immemorabili” by Innocent IX on 24 February 1685.  The cause of canonization was taken up once more on 25 June 1948, after a miracle occurred in Krakow in 1943 through his intercession. The Order of Friars Minor, on the vigil of the celebration of the 800 years of its foundation (1209-2009) salutes St. Simon of Lipnica as an authentic witness to Franciscan poverty, humility and simplicity.