Once upon a time there was a son born to noble parents in Poland and they named him Hyacinth. He had everything one could imagine - his own gold cup, his own horse, his own teacher - everything . Hyacinth was so grateful for the abundant life he had been born into, he decided to become a priest so he could thank God and give him his heart completely.

His parents were delighted and his uncle, the bishop of Cracow, took him to Rome to study there. Among many holy men, he met Dominic, who had just founded the Order of Preachers and who asked Hyacinth if he would like to join them. Hyacinth could think of no other way he would like to spend his life as much as this, so Dominic clothed him in the black and white friar's habit and sent him home to Poland to preach.

Hyacinth traveled not only to Poland but also to almost every corner of the world. He visited Austria and China and Norway and Scotland, preaching and teaching the way of the Christian. He especially loved to talk of Mary our Lord's mother. Every good deed, he said, came out of his love for her.

Once when Hyacinth was in a Russian town called Kiev, a rowdy band of men called Tartars, who were as fierce as they looked, thundered out of the hills on their horses and tried to destroy the town by smashing and burning whatever was in their sight.