Father Casimir Wyszynski

Father Casimir fully realized the significance of a good reli- gious formation and fervently watched over the formation of the novices. He ruled that the Superior General alone was allowed to supervise the Novice Master. He issued appropriate regulations for the novices and separated their quarters from those of the professedmembers. He demanded that no one leave themonast- erywithout the expressed permission of the Superior or his vicar. Those among the brethren who were to make a lengthy trip had to be supplied with letters of recommendation. In order to gain new candidates for the Order, he dispatched Father Casimir Polak, a native of Bohemian lands, to Prague sev- eral times. As a result, six Bohemian candidates joined the Order in 1738, five in 1739, and asmany as 11 in 1740. Thesemenmade a valuable intellectual and spiritual contribution to the Congre- gation and became a credit to theMarians and to their homeland. The new community members worked with great dedication in Poland, Rome, and Portugal. Three of them in particular rendered great service to the Order. Father Candid Spourny, one of themost courageous Procurator Generals of the Marians, was very enter- prising and endowed with an exceptional ease of winning over friends and benefactors. He managed to procure for the Marians the Church of St. Vitus in Rome together with the adjacent former Cistercian monastery. It was there that the permanent office of the Procurator General was established. It existed at that location until 1798, when all foreign religious orders were expelled from Italy by the Napoleonic troops. Another Bohemian, Father Joseph Mraas, a splendid organizer, was always warmly received by var- ious people and particularlywelcomed in homes of magnates. He served as the Superior General of theMarianOrder for four years. The thirdman, Father Clement Reddig, served as the NoviceMas- ter formany years, educating young generations of Marians in the spirit of Father Wyszyński. Father Casimir hoped to attract candidates of other national- ities as well. In his plans to develop the congregation, he reached out to Lithuania and Ruthenia, fromwhere newcandidateswould arrive as time passed. The Congregation of Marians owes itsmore 28 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D