The Musician and the Holy Cross
In the Zwierzyniec district there is a little church dedicated to the Holiest Salvator that is one of the oldest around Kraków.
Many centuries ago in the church there was a Cross considered miraculous - according to the tradition it was founded by the Polish prince Mieszko I more than one thousand years ago. That prince was baptized in 966 AD becoming the first Christian ruler of Poland and very often he wanted to show his devotion and faith giving money for churches and for monasteries and founding sacred objects like crosses, monstrances etc. One of the objects founded by him was exactly the cross that was put in the Holiest Salvator Church. The crucifix had a very precious coat, shoes with pearls and even gold crown.
Some centuries ago a poor musician entered the church and since nobody was inside he started to play his violin in front of the cross. The more he was playing the more he had an impression Christ was smoothly smiling at him. That was why he decided to return there a day after, and the day after again. He spent a lot of hours in front of the cross not only playing but also counting all the problems he had - hungry children and a wife who was ill but he didn’t have enough money to ask the doctor to come…
One day while the poor man was playing and speaking he noticed Christ moved on the cross, took off one of his precious shoes and threw it to him. The musician looked around completely astonished, said; ‘thank you, my Lord’, took the shoe and run to the Krakow Market Square to sell it to a goldsmith. Coming back home he called the doctor and bought plenty of food for his family. Unfortunately when he arrived to his miserable house he didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy the happiness with his family - soon the guards arrived and accused him of the robbery in the sacred place. The musician tried to explain what had happened but nobody wanted to believe him. He was put in front of the tribunal and was judged and condemned to death by being beheaded. Fortunately he was permitted to visit for the very last time in his life the church with the cross. He was accompanied there by the guards. Once there the man took his violin as if nothing had happened and started to play to the Lord as he used to do - and again Christ moved on the cross and threw the second precious shoe to the musician. Then everybody believed in the words of the poor man and he was immediately set free. He even gained a huge amount of money for having been accused without reason.
The musician and his family lived happy for many years and nothing was missing to them - the man gained a lot of money playing music on different occasions invited by people who had heard about what had happened. Anyway the musician had never forgotten the cross with Christ in the old church and till the end of his life he used to come each and every day to the church to pray and play to the Lord.
Unfortunately the cross was lost but inside the church you can admire the oil painting counting its history.