In 1220 he visited Rome, and while there met St. Dominic. He became one of the first members of the newly-founded Dominican Order. Because of his spirit of prayer and his zeal for the salvation of souls, he was sent to preach and establish the Dominican Order in his native land, Poland. He journeyed also to Austria, Bohemia, and the shores of the Black Sea, and eventually on to China, Sweden, and Norway. Because of his evangelizing, multitudes were converted, and churches and convents were built. He worked numerous miracles, and at Kracow raised a dead youth to life.
He inherited from St. Dominic a child-like and tender devotion to the Mother of God. To her he attributed his success, and to her aid he looked for his salvation. When Hyacinth was at Kiev, the fierce Tartars sacked the town, but it was only as he finished Mass that he heard of the danger. Without waiting to unvest, he took the ciborium in his hands, and was fleeing the church. It is recorded that as he passed by an image of Mary he heard a voice say, “Hyacinth, my son, why dost thou leave me behind? Take me with thee and leave me not to mine enemies.” Although the statue was heavy alabaster, when Hyacinth took it in his arms, it was light as a reed. With the Blessed Sacrament and the image of Mary he came to the river Dnieper, and walked over the surface of the waters.
Worn out by his constant labors and vast journeys, Hyacinth spent the last few months of his life in a convent he had founded at Cracow. There on the Feast of St. Dominic, 1257, he fell sick with a fever that was to terminate his earthly life. On the eve of the feast of the Assumption, he was warned of his coming death. In spite of his condition, he celebrated Mass on the feast day, as a dying man. He was anointed at the altar, and died the same day in 1257.
He was canonized in 1594 by Pope Clement VIII. The feast day of St. Hyacinth is celebrated on Aug. 17.
