Father Casimir Wyszynski

One day, without informing anyone, except telling his mother in secret, he ran away in search of a better climate than the one he experienced at home, wishing to reach the Rome of his dreams as a pilgrim. The willful pilgrim, who managed to put nine miles between himself andWarsaw, was overtaken and returned home upon given the promise that his father would be mollified. 279 Somehow, in spite of troubles such as these, Francis managed to graduate from the Góra school. When he was sent to continue his education at the Piarist school in Warsaw, Francis already had a sufficient knowledge of good and evil such that he conceived the idea that itwouldbe good to know the enemy, that is, the evil spirit. Perhaps he wished to learn about it in order to better avoid it, or perhaps to fight itmore effectively. With a profound trust inGod, whichwas infused in him fromchildhood, he asked the Lord to allowhim to see the infernal devil. Our Heavenly Father, who is goodness itself, heeded the youngster’s artless request, but only to a degree. He allowed Francis to hear the evil spirit speak, but not be seen. One evening, as Francis and his friends were in the school dormitory at the inn, such an infernal noise started to arise, first from the chimney and then from the hall, that all the boys, full of fright, fled the room. The terrified “perpetrator,”who fled the roomaswell, immediately began to pray and encourage the others to ask God to terminate that terrible noise. And the noise stopped. But from that time and to the end of his life, Francis never again wished to see Satan. 280 Since Francis was forced into a homeless wanderer’s life from early childhood, he did not develop ties with his hometown. But now he began to feel the need to find support and refuge. He wished for silence, solitude and closeness with the Heavenly Fa- ther. Hewas looking for an environment conducive to prayer and contemplation. Father Alexis Fischer has written that once as Francis was completing his law internship at the Grodzka Chan- cellery, in his free time he went to the nearby forest. Unfortu- testimony). 279 Ibid. Cf. PositioWysz , 494 (Rev. Rychter’s testimony). 280 M. Wyszyński, Chcę naprawić … , 21-22. 186 W ACŁAW M AKOŚ , MIC