Lest You Remain

the Holy Spirit, and in like manner to the Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, con- ceived without sin, my heart, my soul, intellect, memory, will, feelings, whole mind, whole soul, interior and exterior senses, and my body, leaving absolutely nothing for myself, so that henceforth I may be the servant of the Almighty and the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Therefore, I promise Them, that I will serve to the end of my life in chasti- ty and in zeal, this Company of Marian Clerics of the Immaculate Conception (which, by the grace of God I intend to found). Further, I will to accommodate my manner of life to its laws, decrees, and rites […]. It’s worth mentioning here that the Oblatio on one hand reveals Fr. Papczy<ski ’s charism as the Founder; and on the other hand, it pre- sents in some way a synthesis of his spirituality. He made this act in the name of the most beloved Crucified Christ. Its essence was an Oblation or the total offering of him- self to God and Mary Immaculate, uniting to the offering of gifts made during Holy Mass. Our Founder made this entirely, freely, solely inspired—as he later confessed in his Fundatio domus recollectionis —by a particular inspiration from God. Without a doubt he had been preparing for this public act for a long time. The Oblatio was in writing, what proves this is that Fr. Papczy<ski did not make such an important decla- ration at a moment’s notice. Aware of beginning a new phase of his life—along with the receiving of the decree releasing him from simple vows in the Piarists—he con- firmed before the Church his will to persevere on the way of the Evangelical Counsels. His temporal future he consecrated to the task of founding of the Order of Marians of the Immaculate Conception. This act of total entrustment of himself to the Triune God and the Mother of God constitutes the foundation of the Marian religious community. It is fitting to mention here that Fr. Papczy<ski did not wish to become a reformer of religious life. If that were the case—following the general practice of the times—he would have tried to establish a reformed branch of the Piarist, for which he most probably might have obtained the agreement of the Holy See. Leaving the Order of the Pious Schools, guided by true love and for the sake of restoring peace in the Province torn apart by the new controversy ( Decree of Heroic Virtues ), he resigned from the exclusive Piarist way of religious life. He nevertheless wished to live according to the Gospels as a consecrated religious, because he believed this way of life was closest to that of the Gospel. Thus, he was not an ideologue of the “Piarist way”, or later, of the “Marian way”, but fully aware imitator of the Crucified Christ and Mary Immaculate, to whom he offered himself totally. In order to understand well this most important work of our Father Founder, it is worth realizing that his plan might have appeared as complete lunacy. Up until that time, no male order of Polish-origin existed. Fr. Papczy<ski envisioned his future institute as a community open to apostolic work, at one and the same time living an ascetic way of life. Already the situation in the Piarists had indicated that few of the Polish society of those times were inclined to agree to such a life. Maybe the major obstacle was Fr. Papczy<ski ’s lowly, not noble birth. Additionally, he was L EST Y OU R EMAIN W ITHOUT W ORK IN THE V INEYARD OF THE L ORD 88