Father Casimir Wyszynski

Our Lord rewarded the heroic dedication of the Venerable Ser- vant of God. In a letter of June 13, 1754, to the Superior General, Father Casimir related that two of his Portuguese friends— Salvador Marcel de Figueiredo y Sylva, a landowner and one of the king’s courtiers, and João de Deus da Conceição (John of God of the Immaculate Conception) who had also made attempts to found a religious order in honor of the Immaculate Conception— obtained from Cardinal Melchior Tempi, the Apostolic Nuncio, a letter of safe conduct by the power of which Father Casimir was delivered fromSalazar’s hands and settled at the Reformed Fran- ciscans’ monastery of St. Peter of Alcantara in Lisbon. In his letter of June 13, 1754, he wrote to the Marian Superior General in Poland: “Following Father Benon’s departure, I had to break with Father Salazar because I could not arrange anything with him regarding the promotion of our Order. The Lord God, however, gave me protectors who delivered me from Salazar’s hand almost by force and opened forme away to better promote our Order.” Father Casimir was finally able to put into effect the plans which he had brought with him to Portugal in the first place. Soon after he arrived at the Franciscans’ monastery, onMarch 25, 1754, John of God of the Immaculate Conception was vested with the white Marian habit. This first PortugueseMarianwas instrumental in the erection of the Marian monastery in Balsamão. He knew about the exis- tence of some Tertiaries of St. Francis at the local Shrine of Our Lady and that theywere looking for a religious order to join. Upon learning this, Father Casimir wrote to the Bishop of Miranda, John of the Cross, a Carmelite, including information about theMarians and a picture of their Founder. On July 1, 1754, the Bishop replied: “Your Reverence, I received your letter and thememorandumre- garding the project of founding the newOrder in Balsamão. I did not respond immediately because I had to consider the entire project and obtain information about your institute, also asking the opinion of the Balsamão residents and the pastor of the Chacim parish. I enclose the letter of the house superior in Bal- 95 The Servant of Mary Immaculate