Father Casimir Wyszynski

Father Casimir called upon his confreres in Poland to take the cause of the Founder’s beatification into their hearts: “We offend this great Servant of God and venerator of the BlessedMother by not fostering devotion to him. After all, he earned this honor from us as our Father and our Leader” (March 14, 1752). And again, “It grieves me deeply that our Venerable Father’s process has not yet been opened. I fear very much that the re- maining eye-witnesses will soon leave this world. This would do damage [to the process] as has already happened because of the negligence of our predecessors, who did not open the process even though there were available a great many eye-witnesses to the sanctity of the Servant of God. In spite of all this, thanks to Di- vine Providence, which ismysterious and unfathomable, the suc- cess of our Order has not been impeded” (July 19, 1752). Father Wyszyński also took care to commission an appropri- ate portrait of Father Founder. He had a lot of trouble with this project because the artist did not render Father Stanislaus’ like- ness verywell. Moreover, the artist fell ill and it became necessary to find another artist who made some alterations. Ultimately, it was not until 250 years later that Father Casimir’s wishes came to pass. On September 16, 2007, Father Stanislaus Papczynski was declared a Blessed and on June 5, 2016, was declared a Saint. One of the goals of the Marian Order was to bring spiritual help to the souls suffering in purgatory. Father Casimir obtained special indulgences for the benefit of the deceased which could be earned at Marian churches. He sent to Poland all the docu- ments pertaining to these privileges along with his own instruc- tions about devotion on behalf of the deceased. Witnesses to Father Casimir’s sojourn in Rome emphasized his great devotion to the Eucharist, which found its expression in lengthy periods of adoration and meticulous celebration of Holy Mass. It was the same in every place he stayed: he celebrated each Mass as if it were the very last one of his life. He also composed a two-week series of meditations for before and after Mass. 46 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D