Lumen 2018

conflict regarding the religious observance, some misunderstandings concerning the realm of the administration also emerged. The Election of Superiors The Superior General of the Piarists, Fr. Camillus of St. Jerome Scassellati (1659-1665), 11 authorized Fr. James Wezyrka, the Supe- rior of the Polish Province (1664-1665), 12 to call a provincial chapter in order to elect, according to the constitutions, two delegates to the general chapter which was to be held in Rome. In his letter of May 10, 1664, he also sent instructions as to how the provincial chapter and the local chapters (during which delegates to the provincial chap- ter 13 should be elected) should be held. According to the laws of the Congregation of the Piarist Fathers, “A provincial chapter should be held every three years in order to elect delegates to the next general chapter and to discuss and formulate the decrees and proposals re- garding matters of future development within the province.” 14 At that time, the Polish Province (erected in 1662) included three houses: in Warsaw, Podoliniec, and Rzeszow. 15 Each house had the right to elect one delegate who, together with the Rector, would represent that house at the provincial chapter. 16 In his official letter, sent out in the middle of June 1664 to the Piarist houses in Poland, Fr. Wezyrka summoned the provincial chap- ter for August 1664 to Podoliniec. The local chapters were held at the beginning of July. At the local chapter held in Warsaw, Stanislaus Papczynski was elected a delegate to the provincial chapter. 17 Since the law obliged the delegate to present motions and peti- tions of the members of his house at the provincial chapter, Fr. Stanislaus called a meeting during which the Piarists from the Warsaw house signed one such motion. It was a proposal regarding the elec- tion of the Provincial Superiors in the territory of the province and not in Rome. The proposal was in agreement with the canons of the Council of Trent and with Pope Alexander VII’s breve. 18 According S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 166