Lumen 2018

as Hetman of Poland and senator. This tradition was confirmed by Prince Stanislaus John Jablonowski (1634-1702), from whom Fr. Stanislaus received a letter on May 8, 1666, with a request for the beatification of the Servant of God Joseph Calasantius. 193 If John Sobieski indeed listened to Fr. Papczynski’s sermons also as a king, it might be surmised that Papczynski was invited to come to War- saw from the nearby Nowa Jerozolima [New Jerusalem], where he had lived since 1677, to preach the word of God. Mention about this was made in the Information Process by Cajetan Jablonowski (1669-1731), son of Stanislaus Jablonowski. 194 In 1670, Bishop Oborski of Cracow described Stanislaus Pa- pczynski as a Piarist who distinguished himself by “being worthy to proclaim the word of God in many places.” 195 God blessed Fr. Stanislaus’s pastoral activity, which bore numerous salutary fruits in the spiritual lives of the faithful. 196 Bishop Stanislaus Wierzbowski mentioned this in 1687 when he wrote that, while Fr. Papczynski was a member of the Piarist congregation, he proclaimed the word of God to the people and kindled in them the fire of the love of God. 197 Even during the last year of his stay in Warsaw (1668/69), Fr. Stanislaus fulfilled the duties of a preacher. 198 It was probably at that time that he wrote and delivered the Lenten sermons, which he published in 1670 in the form of pious meditations and dia- logues in a book entitled Orator Crucifixus . 199 In spite of the various ups and downs that Fr. Papczynski experi- enced in the last years of his stay at the Piarist Fathers, we must em- phasize the fact that he fulfilled the duties of a preacher till the very end. This speaks extremely well of him because the constitutions of this congregation required that this function be entrusted only to those religious who distinguished themselves with great talent and virtue. 200 Papczynski’s preaching was extraordinary and so were many of his listeners. His audience included the most celebrated personages. Fa- S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 128