Father Casimir Wyszynski

young man make a retreat at the nearby Vincentians. Shortly however, the ecclesiastical authorities pronounced Francis’s pledge irrevocable, so his father had to give consent for the pil- grimage to Compostela. Francis put on pilgrims’ clothes and, travelling probably with a group of Polish pilgrims, started on his journey to Spain byway of Rome. The group arrived there in October of 1721. Francis was 21. There are documents indicating that 28 people from Poland, among them Francis and his older brother, Joseph, were at the Eternal City around that time. OnNovember 1 st , theywent to con- fession to Father SebastianMulinowicz at St. Peter’s Basilica. Per- haps at least some members of that group intended to make the pilgrimage to Compostela. From the Eternal City, Francis took the road to Spain. Heman- aged to reach its borders, but fell gravely ill. Doctors resolutely opposed all further travel plans. The unfortunate pilgrim re- turned to Rome where he obtained permission to exchange his vow of going to Compostela for visiting Roman shrines and per- formingworks of mercy. He remained there for awhile, indulging in pious practices while earning his living by copying documents at a lawyer’s office and working for a time at the desalination plants administered by the Vatican. Francis never revealed his reasons for attempting the pilgrim- age. In the words of his biographer, Fr. Alexis Fischer, “He (Fran- cis) felt greatly repulsed by the ways of the world and was searching for a more certain path to salvation.” He was not at- tracted to any secular career since it often entailed injustice and humiliation of the lowly. Instead, he wanted to get more fully in- volved in God’s work, to which two of his older brothers were al- ready committed: one as a Piarist, the other as a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul. He may also have been shocked by the suicide of his colleague’s servant. By going on pilgrimage he sought divine enlightenment as to his road in life; he discovered it in Rome. 18 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D