The putting on of spectacular ceremonies finalizing the acts of beatification and canonization of Stanisław Kostka, taking place in the principal Jesuit centers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was an important artistic activity of modern times. The content programs of the decorations which accompanied the celebrations between 1606 and 1726, known to us from written sources, reflect the propaganda of the Kostka ceremonies. The oldest occasional decorations and outdoor shows taking place in the city of Jarosław had been organized on the initiative of his relative Anna née Kostka Ostrogska. They were organized in connection with the proclamation of Stanisław Kostka as Blessed by Pope Paul V in 1606. The theme of the decorations accentuated the importance of the moral values of this ascetic follower of the Counter-Reformation Church, while the widely used language of allegory defined his individual spiritual values and illustrated scenes from his life and miracles.
However, Stanisław Kostka soon became seen as an advocate of the Polish Lithuanian-Commonwealth in its military struggles in the East, especially in the conflict with the Ottoman Porte. After the victory of Chocim (Khotyn) in 1621 he was revered as the patron saint of the Polish knighthood, and after the victory at the Battle of Chocim in 1673 he was rapidly proclaimed (in 1674) one of the main patrons of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was this aspect of Kostka’s promotion that was used in the decorative themes of his thanksgiving ceremonies after the closing of the beatification process and the decree of canonization by Pope Clement XI in 1714. The decorations of the Jesuit Church in Lublin, described in detail in the records of the Society of Jesus (1715), explained and glorified the new role of the young saint. His role as a guarantor of peace and stability of the Commonwealth, revealed in God’s eternal plans, was presented through astral configurations and complicated semantic systems. Kostka’s canonization, which had raised the importance of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as being linked to the papacy and the Catholic faith, was seen as the culmination of a great historical message and the revelation of the secret given to Poland, also recognizable through astral configuration.
The military and diplomatic triumph over the Ottoman Porte was considered a breakthrough moment, opening a period of happiness achieved thanks to Kostka’s intervention and the support of Heaven. The result of a united front in the battle with a common enemy was to achieve a state of happiness that strengthened the ecclesiastical and monarchical order, an idea taken up by the decorations seen in Jarosław and Vilnius, amongst others. The ad hoc political content was moved to the sphere of the monastic political philosophy and historical theology.
An allusion to the happy future that mathematicians had supposedly predicted was also included in the decorations. After the partition of Poland and the dissolution of the Jesuit order, the revival of the fading cult of Stanislaw Kostka took place in the Second Polish Republic, particularly during the jubilee celebrations of the 200th anniversary of his canonization in 1927. This was seen in the ceremony of bringing his relics from Rome to the new church in Rostków, which was attended by the President of the Republic of Poland Ignacy Mościcki. However, there was a significant change in semantics as Stanisław Kostka was now described as the patron saint of children and youth, frequent Holy Communion and felicitous vocational choices.

In the early modern period, there were around 40 religious confraternities in the agglomeration of Cracow, one of the oldest and most important being the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary at the Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity. It is not known when it was founded, but it was probably already operating in the late Middle Ages. In 1600, this confraternity, existing “ab immemorabilis tempore”, was reformed by Fr. Abraham Bzowski, who on this occasion prepared and published an extensive dissertation, having the character of its “statutes”. From 4 February 1601 the seat of the renewed confraternity was in the Chapel of the Three Kings, at the far end of the northern nave of the church. It contained the Brotherhood’s altar which was transferred, probably after 1688, to the church of St. Giles and placed on the altar’s stone in the apse of the presbytery. The altar contained the holy picture of the Virgin Mary of the Salus Populi Romani type, connected by tradition established in the first half of the 17th century with Pope Clement VIII, who was to grant it indulgences. Bernard Maciejowski, then Bishop of Łuck, later Bishop of Cracow and finally Primate, is considered as the donor of the painting. Every first Sunday in October, the Cracow copy of the Roman image was carried out by the brothers out of the chapel and in a solemn procession around the Main Square. This custom was linked to the victory of the Christian fleet over the Turkish one near Lepanto in 1571, after which Pope Pius V established its liturgical memory (7 October). In Poland, this tradition gained a new dimension after to the successful defence of the Chocim fortress against the Turks in 1621. The devotion to the Rosary was cultivated not only in the Brotherhood’s chapel, but also in the Conventual Church, where the altar of the Holy Rosary stood to the left of the choir entrance. Symmetrically to it, on the right side of the rainbow arcade stood the altar of the Confraternity of the Holy Name of Jesus, founded in 1585 by Fr. Bartłomiej of Przemyśl. Its aim was to eradicate the sinful custom of swearing oaths, and because of the connections with the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary it was called the Archconfraternity of the Rosary of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. The spreading of the rosary prayer by the Order went beyond the Conventual Church. A special role in this work was played by the Gothic Church of St. Giles, which the Dominicans took under their protection in 1588. An important caesura in the history of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Rosary was the move to a new spacious oratory, which was erected on the site of the medieval Chapel of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the far end of the southern nave of the church. One of the reasons for undertaking this new work is considered to be the desire to commemorate the victory of John III Sobieski over the Turks at Vienna on 12 September 1683. The opulent decor and interesting ideological programme have only partially survived, but they can be reconstructed on the basis of preserved written sources, as can be the character of the Brotherhood’s celebrations. Particularly interesting monuments include those connected with the so-called Century of the Rosary, established with the consent of Pope Innocent XII (1694). It was a congregation of 100 brothers and 100 sisters, whose task was to pray continuously for the souls suffering in Purgatory. Among other things, a book of this association has been preserved, which contains illuminations showing the salutary effects of the prayer of the Rosary.