Father Casimir Wyszynski

19 The Servant of Mary Immaculate In Atonement for His Brother I n the fall of 1723, Francis met Father Joachim Kozłowski, a Marian who had come to Rome on his Order’s business, con- nected indirectly with the Wyszyński family. According to the intentions of the Founder of the Marian Order, St. Stanislaus Papczyński (1631-1701), the Marians were to spread devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, bring help to the souls of the departed suffering in purgatory, and assist parish priests in theirministry. He obtained from the Holy See the approval of his institute as a community dedicated to active apostolic work. However, after the Founder’s death theMarians experienced difficultieswhich nearly led to the dissolution of their Order. In 1715, Father Matthew Krajewski was elected Superior General of the Order. The members of the electoral chapter expected this young, energetic and well-edu- cated man to contribute greatly to the dynamic growth of the Marians. To their dismay, it happened otherwise. The new Supe- rior General, “enraptured by a desire of procuring lay prelatures,” began to lay blame on the Order before ecclesial and lay author- ities, even insisting on its termination and suggesting that the Marian priests abandon all work in parishes. One of Father Krajewski’s allies was Francis’ older brother Joseph, who entered the Marian novitiate around 1716, and re- ceived the religious name of Alexander. Having spent time in the military service of King Augustus II, and still used to the customs of soldierly life, he couldn’t adjust to the demands of religious dis- cipline, particularly the Marians’ regulation prohibiting the con- sumption of hard liquor. Therefore, he supported Father Krajewski’s reformist aspirations. Finally, following instructions from the Apostolic Nuncio, Bishop Adam Rostkowski conducted a visitation of the Marian monasteries. Unfortunately, hewas a reformist sympathizer and, using the lack of official papal approval of the Order’s Constitu- tions as a pretext, he forbade admitting new candidates to the novitiate and dispatched younger priests to serve in parishes of the Diocese of Poznan that had been without pastoral care due