Lumen 2018

Diaconate and Ordination to the Priesthood in Brzozow The day, so long awaited by every alumnus, finally came. Stanislaus Papczynski was to receive the diaconate and be ordained to the priesthood. We do not know how he was preparing himself for that day, but we do know how much he loved his priesthood and what kind of a priest he was. He must have prepared himself very ardently for his meeting with Christ the Priest and later stood before the altar full of joy and elation. Stanislaus of Jesus Mary received the diaconate the day before his ordination, i.e., on March 11 th , and was ordained to the priesthood on March 12, 1660. It was necessary to obtain a dispensation from the usual time alloted between the diaconate and priestly ordination required by Church law. The dispensation was given by Anthony Pignatelli, the then Apostolic Nuncio in Poland (1660-1668). But the book which he kept and in which he registered gratiae et expe- ditiones faciendae does not contain any entries from 1661 to 1665. 119 Since Papczynski was staying at the monastery in Rzeszow at that time and that city belonged to the Diocese of Przemysl, he was or- dained by Bishop Stanislaus Sarnowski, the local Ordinary of the Latin rite (1658-1677), 120 who, after the example of his predecessors, resided not at the bishop’s palace in Przemysl, but at his residence in Brzozow where a beautiful collegiate church was located. 121 It was there, in Brzozow, that Stanislaus of Jesus Mary Papczynski was or- dained to the priesthood. The fact that he received the diaconate and was ordained to the priesthood must have been recorded in the ap- propriate books of the Episcopal Curia in Przemysl. Alas, this cannot be confirmed because the books containing the records of priestly ordinations from the years 1661 to 1667 have been missing since the 18 th century. 122 Nonetheless, some testimonies which confirm this fact indirectly, survived in the documents of the Piarist Fathers. The first such testimony (in chronological order) regarding Papczyn- ski’s ordination can be found in the document of the religious pro- fession made by Ignatius of St. Francis Krzyskiewicz, which took 119 At the Piarist Fathers