Lest You Remain

With Christ the Crucified The sincere desire to totally consecrate himself to God necessitated an en- counter, in the life of Fr. Papczy < ski, with the suffering of the cross. Father Papczy <- ski embraced it in union with the Suffering Christ. In the life Founder of the Marian’s we find three stages of his characteristic participation in the Passion of Christ. The first hardship came upon the 17-year old Johnny in Lvov, where he tried to enter the Jesuit College to complete his grammar course. Due to his insufficient aca- demic training and the lack of letters of recommendation, he was not accepted. Instead of giving himself entirely to further studies, in order to secure a way of life, he had to give private lessons to two sons of the Lvovian townsmen for a year and a half. And as if this delay in his idle plans was insignificant, he became seriously ill with a contagious disease, because of which he found himself on the street. For many months he shared the fate of the homeless and the beggars, sleeping in the street or on a litter. He became acquainted with many humiliations and was over- come by severe physical fatigue that disabled him so that he could not even go to church on Christmas Day. It looked as if God had completely abandoned him. Some biographers compare him to the biblical Job, which does not seem a bit overstated. Overwhelmed with a fever in the middle of winter, totally covered with ulcers on his body, almost starving Johnny was first cared for by unknown man, but for his recov- ery from sickness he thanked the Lvovian family of Snopek, who took him into their home, despite his highly contagious disease. From this time on, Fr. Papczy < ski showed exceptional love toward the poor, the homeless, and the afflicted. Several years later he experienced another cross and this occasioned by his own confreres in religious life. The first years of Fr. Papczy < ski’s life in the Piarist Order did not give an inkling of the dramatic conclusion of his history—his leav- ing the Order. The conflict between the young priest and some of his superiors began in 1665 in regard to the election of the superiors. Father Stanislaus was con- vinced, based on the advice of experts in Canon Law, that the superiors for the Polish Province of the Piarist Order ought to be elected by the Provincial Chapter instead of being selected by the Superior General. He proclaimed his views in pub- lic, which led to dissension. Meanwhile, the new superior was elected in Rome, not in the Province, which further aggravated the situation. With time another reason for dissension emerged: the reminder by Fr. Papczy < ski for observing the religious order’s discipline. From the time of novitiate, the Servant of God was known for his zeal in the practice of the religious life and his daily faithfulness to the rule. Any relaxation or violation in regard to these values met with his disapproval, which was labeled during one of the Polish Province Chapters as a “firebrand attitude.” For these reasons, Fr. Papczy < ski’s relations with his superiors became more and more tense, not so much because of disobedience, but because of his determination in L EST Y OU R EMAIN W ITHOUT W ORK IN THE V INEYARD OF THE L ORD 78