Lumen 2018

ination was not a surprise, for he was a talented orator and well pre- pared to fulfill his new duties. This was not the only reason why he was released from teaching rhetoric. His superiors wanted to give him time to prepare the textbook of rhetoric entitled Prodromus Reginae Artium for publication. 170 It was customary in various religious congregations, including the Piarists, that a newly ordained priest had to practice delivering a ser- mon in the refectory, in the presence of his religious community, be- fore he was allowed to do it in public. 171 Father Stanislaus, too, had to go through this exercise soon after he was ordained. His superiors quickly realized that he had a talent for oratory and an appropriate notation was made on the register of the members of the Piarist house around October of 1661. Even though Fr. Stanislaus was not yet officially nominated a preacher in the academic year 1661/62, he had many opportunities to deliver sermons. 172 And he fulfilled this duty with great success. Now he had an opportunity to express everything that he had learned during his studies and through prayer. A renowned historian of that period of time is wrong when he claims that the preaching art of the second half of the 17 th century had only one outstanding representative in the person of Thomas Mlodzianowski (†1686). 173 For it has been confirmed by many facts that Stanislaus Papczynski was also an illustrious representative of the art of preaching at that time. One of his first sermons under the title Laus Deiparae Mariae Virginis (Praise of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary), delivered in Rzeszow to the members of the Marian Sodality, has survived. The sermon is not merely an example of this particular kind of literary work in the 17 th century. It is also an ex- ample of the depth of Papczynski’s approach from the theological point of view. 174 Stanislaus Papczynski fulfilled the duties of a preacher in Rzeszow from the beginning of the academic year 1662/63 until his departure for Warsaw. 175 125 At the Piarist Fathers