Father Casimir Wyszynski

20 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D to epidemics. Just a few Marians, mostly the elderly ones, re- mained at themonasteries. This difficult period inMarian history lasted six years, from 1716 to 1722, and became known as the “Rostkovian dispersion.” The new bishop of Poznan, Peter Tarło, by a decree on August 1, 1722, ordered all Marians to return to theirmonasteries to elect a new Superior General and to prepare new statutes to regulate their way of life. The General Chapter convened on August 31, 1722, inGóra Kalwaria, and elected Father AndrewDeszpot as the Superior General. The new statutes were drawn up and Father JoachimKozłowski was dispatched toRome to seekpapal approval of the Order. It was during this visit to Rome that he met Francis Wyszyński and told him about his brother Joseph’s harmful acts against the Order. Upon hearing his account, Francis made a deci- sion almost immediately and said to Father Joachim: “I wish to re- pair what my brother has destroyed. I ask for the [Marian] habit.” For some time Father Joachim closely observed this new can- didate, trying to decide if his desire to join the Order might be merely a whim. It was not until November 18, 1723, that he ad- mitted Francis into the Marian Order and gave him the religious name of Casimir of St. Joseph. The ceremony took place at the Church of St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr, in Rome. Father Kozłowski also ordered Francis to undergo a yearlong novitiate in Poland. There is a document preserved at the archives of the Archdiocese of Poznan, which states among other things: “… he was vested in awhite religious habit by the Very Reverend Father Joachimof St. Anne, who at the timewas Assistant and Procurator General of the Order in Rome, and who directed Casimir to com- plete a year of novitiate at the Korabiew Hermitage in the Polish Kingdom at a place appointed by the Most Reverend Father Andrew of St. Matthew, the Superior General, and beginning on the feast of St. Joseph the Confessor.” Francis’ period of indecision and search for a way of life was now ended with the act of investiture and admission into the Marian Order and his acceptance of the new name Casimir of St. Joseph.