Lest You Remain

Uniting devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. with intercession on behalf of souls in Purgatory was undoubtedly related to Fr. Papczy<ski ’s personal experience of faith. We know the accounts, which speak of his visions of the Poor Souls in Purgatory and of his consequent insistent requests to pray for the deceased. We shall not forget either the specific elements of spirituality characterizing this peri- od of the Church’s life. It becomes even more important because those times were of Marian devotion strongly marked by the piety of “slaves of Mary,” at the core of which lay the total enslaved abandonment to God through Mary leading to simulta- neous freedom from the bondage of sin and the devil. The Most Blessed Virgin Mary in her mystery of the Immaculate Conception has become the symbol and a paragon of this abandoned servitude to God and freeing oneself from the bondage of evil. “Mary’s bond servants” cannot stop at freeing themselves only from sin and the devil, but also undertook apostolic actions such as ransoming Christians from pagan slav- ery, giving assistance to prisoners, and freeing Poor Souls in Purgatory. This idea of “Marian bondage” strongly manifested in Polish spirituality of the 17 th century was undoubtedly well known to Fr. Papczy<ski as well because of his studying at the time in the Jesuit college. Jesuits were the main promoters of the spirituality of “Marian bondage.” 21 To some extent, Fr. Papczy<ski ’s oblatio is an expression of this spiritu- ality. By this oblatio he surrenders himself to Mary for eternity and becomes her ser- vant. Our Founder’s personal contribution to this spirituality is the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. and his complete dedication to the spreading of devotion to this mystery. In time, as a result of accepting the Rule of the Ten Virtues, the concept of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception described in Norma vitae embraced also the Scapular of the Immaculate Conception. The idea has been enriched in this manner is a very important spiritual and external reality, and resulted in the fact that the Confraternities of the Immaculate Conception, will involve investiture and the wearing of the Scapular, and will enter permanently into the life of the Congregation of Marian Fathers as well as people not only associated with it, but most importantly—those who find for themselves a vital meaning in Marian spiri- tuality, especially in the mystery of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Andrzej Paku = a, M.I.C. Devotion to the Immaculate Conception according to Fr. St. Papczy < ski 193 21 Cf. W. Mako > , M.I.C., A Form of the Marian Devotion Proposed by Dru ? bicki, Fenicki, and Chom ' towski . “Theological and Canonical Annuals” 29(1982), notebook 2, 127-154.