Father Casimir Wyszynski

regard to the novices, because hewas sent frequently tominister in parishes. By joining the Marians, Father Casimir wanted to mend the harmcaused by his own brother. Now, as aMarian, he noticed the great harm caused to the community by the unfaithfulness and bad example of his brethren, especially of those who had found themselves outside the community during the “Roskovian dis- persion” and were reluctant to re-adjust to the strict rules of re- ligious life. Such individuals brought great suffering upon him. At one point they even planned an attempt on his life, as his brother Michael later recalled. Nevertheless, Father Casimir persevered in his vocation and was true to his decision to restore fidelity to theMarianway of life in theOrder as foundedby St. Stanislaus Papczyński. TheFounder’s once-closest collaborator, Father JoachimKozłowski, began ascrib- ing the role of Founder tohimself, which stirredup a disagreement among the Marians. Because of these circumstances, Father Casimir went to Rome, where he planned to seek a remedy for the riftwithin theOrder and settle other importantmatters. He arrived in the Eternal City in 1731, with two companions—Father Dioni- sius Kisieliński and BrotherWyszyńskiWasilewski—and took up residence at the Franciscanmonastery of Ara Coeli. During this stay in Rome, Father Casimir was able to confirm the identity of St. Stanislaus as the Founder of the Marian Order. He left the following account: “Being finally convinced that Father Joachim plans to transform our Order and appoint himself its Founder, while obscuring the memory of its rightful Founder, I had to go to Rome to put a stop to all these novelties. Although Father Joachim tried to interfere in all possible ways, he did not attain the end he desired. I also had to impede his efforts in Rome when he tried to obtain certain documents for our Order without my knowledge whichwould have brought about great turmoil in the Order and would have repelled our benefactors because of our irresoluteness. However, God Himself exposed his machina- tions in Rome and I was able to prevent his efforts.” 24 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D