Kasper Drużbicki or Gaspar Druzbicius was a Polish Jesuit and ascetic writer.
Life
A nobleman. After few years of teaching in Lublin, he became master of novices in Kraków, and subsequently rector of colleges of Kalisz, Ostroh, and, for the longest time, Poznań. He also established a new college in Jarosław. He was twice provincial, once deputy provincial and twice procurator. He was in the seventh and tenth general congregations of the order. He was one of the greatest moral authorities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, regarded commonly as a saint, prophet and worker of miracles. Drużbicki is said to have received from the Holy Spirit a rare spiritual gift of the confirmation in grace. He was a master of the contemplativus in actione Jesuit ideal.
Works
He was one of the main theologians and mystics of his times, the founder of the Polish school of spirituality, and the worldwide precursor of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. He has written very many ascetic books, published in all over the Europe. Most of his works are posthumous and have been drawn from his Opera ascetica, in two volumes in folio, expanded in Opera omnia ascetica. Among them are a brief defense of the Society against a writer in the Cracow Academy ; two hagiographic books: Vita et mors gloriose suscepta reverendi patris Alberti Mencinski, in Polish: Szkarłatna róża Boskiego raju, and Verus Jesu socius, edited within Jan Bieżanowski's Vita reverendi patris Petri Skarga. His most important works are:
Meta cordium Cor Jesu, in Polish: Serce Jezusowe, meta albo cel serc stworzonych, translated for the English "Messenger" as The Sacred Heart, the Goal of Hearts, probably by Father Dignam ;
Negotiatio spiritualis, in Polish: Przemysły zysku duchownego ;
Centum modi meditandi Passionem Domini,, also known as Jesus passus;
Tribunal conscientiae, also known as Industriae examinis, translated in Latin as The Tribunal of Conscience for the "Quarterly Series" edited by the English Jesuits ;
Provisiones senectutis, in Polish: Przygotowanie do świątobliwej śmierci ;
Novellus religiosus, translated into German as Neuer Religioss, also into Spanish and found in the Library of Guadalajara, Mexico;
Vota religiosa ;
Considerationes de soliditate verae virtutis in religioso Societatis Jesu requisita, also known as Lapis Lydius boni spiritus, translated into French by the Redemptorist Father Ratti and into German by the Benedictine Gütrabber as Prob Stein Eines Wahres Geistes oder Denckwürdige Erwögungen.
He was also a proponent of a new devotion - the slavery of Mary. From his inspiration two books on that topic were released: Franciscus S. Phoenicius, Mariae mancipium, and Jan Chomentowski, Pętko Panny Maryi. A complete list of Druzbicki's works occupies twelve columns in Sommervogel. Drużbicki is buried in the famous Baroque Farachurch in Poznań, where is also his portrait with a sentence: "Amo Jesum amore Mariae; amo Mariam amore Jesu". Several years after the death his body was exhumated and although it had decomposed, the tongue was still incorrupted. Life of Drużbicki has been described in the book of his outstanding discipleDaniel PawłowskiVita patris Gasparis Druzbicki Poloni Societatis Jesu''.
