KINGA («Cunegonda»), Blessed. — Patroness of Poland and Lithuania, b. in 1224, d. at Stary Sącz on 24 July 1292. Sister of the Blessed Jolanda and the Blessed Margherita, daughter of Bela IV of Hungary and Theodora Laskarysa. Still very young, she married in 1239 Duke Bolesław V of Cracow. In 1279 she founded the convent and church of the Poor Clares at Stary Sącz in Poland.
To her is attributed the miraculous discovery of the salt mines of Bochnia in Poland. In 1628 the process of beatification was begun. Pope Alexander VIII confirmed her cult on 10 June 1690, and in 1715 Clement XI declared her patroness of Poland and Lithuania.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Iulii, V, Antwerp 1727, p. 669; J. Leszek, Żyrot s. Kunegundy, Cracow 1868; W. Schmidt, Die Kunegundusque, Budapest 1891.