Father Casimir Wyszynski

tio,” bywhich he imploredMary’s help in times of danger and dif- ficulties. 202 As a Marian, he was proud to wear the white habit of the Order and the scapular of the Immaculate Conception as sym- bols of his honoring the mystery of Mary Immaculate. Venerable Casimir treated images of the BlessedMother with great respect. To him theywere signs of Mary’s presence, her pro- tection and beauty. He always kept an image of theMother of God in his cell and on his trip to Rome and Portugal he took along an image of Our Lady of Częstochowa. 203 During his visits to various churches, especially in Rome, he admired the images, statues and mosaics depicting Our Lady. 204 His interest was particularly drawn to images of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Con- ceived; he even personally commissioned the painting of one. Fa- ther Casimir even had—as reported by Father Isidore Taudt—on his left arm a tattoo showing Our Lady and on his right arm that of the Crucified Christ. 205 Venerable Casimir’sMarian piety also included pilgrimages to theMarian shrines. Hementioned it in his description of theMar- ian devotion in Poland: “Many are the faithful who bear the hard- ships of pilgrimages to her holy and miraculous picture.” 206 He experienced the hardship of pilgrimages personally. Hismain ob- ject was Częstochowa. 207 During one of such pilgrimages he pur- chased an image of Our Lady of Częstochowa, with which he never parted until the end of his life. Although we do not have exact dates of his pilgrimages, we know that he undertook them especially in 1747-1750, during his second term in the office of Superior General. Father HyacinthWasilewski testified about one of the pilgrimages in 1748, when he, as a cleric, accompanied Fa- 202 Ibid, 391. 203 B. Jakimowicz, MIC, Kult Matki Boskiej Częstochowskiej w życiu Sługi Bożego o. Kazimierza Wyszyńskiego, marianina , “Studia Claromontana” No. 3, Jasna Góra 1982, 128-129. 204 K. Wyszyński, Diariusz czynności w Rzymie i w Portugalii… , 212. 205 PositioWysz , 434. 206 C. Wyszyński, Foreword to Morning Star, 17 . 207 B. Jakimowicz, MIC, Kult Matki Boskiej Częstochowskiej …, 125-129. 155 Apostle of the Immaculate Mary