A discussion of the martyrdom and sainthood of Bishop Stanislaus of Cracow (1072-1079) was given by T. Wojciechowski in Szkice historycznych jedenastego wieku, Kraków 1904, analysing two chapters of Anonymous-Gall's Chronicle of Poland, Book I, chapters 27 and 289, the first of which describes the conflict of Bishop Stanislaus, who was accused of 'treason' (traditio) and sentenced to death by 'amputation of limbs' (truncatio membrorum) by King Boleslaw the Brave (1058-1081), while the second describes the arrival of King Boleslaw, expelled from his country and welcomed in a friendly but cold manner by the Hungarian King Ladislas (1077-1095). In essay VIII 'Factum on St Stanislaus', Wojciechowski shows, contrary to previous publications, that the term 'anointed Christ' used by the chronicler refers to both the king and the bishop, who is mentioned by name. However, according to the inscription in the contemporary calendar, it was certainly Stanislaus who was accused of treason (traditor, traditio). This interpretation contradicted the well-known views of historians, who considered Bishop Stanislaus to be a martyr who was rightly canonised in 1253. On the initiative of the monthly magazine Przegląd Powszechny, a collective discussion was held in Krakow in 1909. "The Case of Saint Stanislaus", in which the majority of participants rejected Wojciechowski's conclusions, and only two, Adam Miodoński and Stanislaw Smolka, subjected them to reasonable criticism. The dispute was settled by a handwritten analysis of the chronicle, which proved the accuracy of the term: christus. As the 900th anniversary of the death of Bishop Stanislaus was approaching (in 1979), on the initiative of the Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, "scientific meetings" were organised from 1972 to prepare for the jubilee. At the first session, Rev. Prof. B. Przybyszewski presented a paper on the history of the Archdiocese of Krakow, which was circulated among ecclesiastical circles. At the second meeting, on 25 May 1973, Gerard Labuda gave a lecture on the "Factum of St Stanislaus", based on the results of research at the time and his own interpretations of the source documents.
The third phase of the discourse on martyrdom and sainthood began with a symposium in May 1979, the conclusions of which were published in 1981. Of all the papers and dissertations, the most noteworthy was Marian Plezia's The Case of St Stanislaus (Analecta Cracoviensia, vol. IX, pp. 251-413). Its main merit was a meticulous analysis of all the sources discussed, especially Anonymus Gall (with the exception of Chapter 28, Book I) and the Chronicle of Master Wincenty, as well as a handwritten letter from Pope Paschal II addressed to several archbishops of the time, but mainly to the "Polish" archbishop. In it, the Pope admonishes his successor for failing to give obedience and obtain a pallium, mainly because of his condemnation of one of the auxiliary bishops. The question of the addressee of this letter has been debated for many years. Even without analysing the points at issue, a fundamental difference becomes apparent. According to Father Przybyszewski, Bishop Stanislaus, from the beginning of his conflict with King Boleslaus, was an advocate of the oppressed, and it was in their defence that he took up the "sword of the curse", which brought him a martyr's death, rewarded by his coronation in 1253. According to Gerard Labuda, Bishop Stanislaw was one of the main organisers of the rebellion of the magnates and knights that cost him his life. In these sources he appears as a "traitor", but also as a "sinner", to which the king added the sin of obstruction.