Lumen 2018

to the guidelines of the Council of Trent, the superiors of religious institutes should be elected in secret ballots. 19 Pope Alexander VII’s breve 20 sent to the Piarists on January 24, 1656, allowed religious to elect provincial superiors in the provinces themselves. 21 In order to gain broader support for the proposal issued by the Warsaw house, Fr. Papczynski sent letters about this matter to the other houses of the Polish Province. This did not meet with the ap- proval of Fr. Opatowski, Rector of the Warsaw house, who later ac- cused Papczynski at the provincial chapter of organizing secret meetings and sending “inflammatory” letters. This was the cause of much unpleasantness that Fr. Papczynski experienced at that chapter held in Podoliniec between August 24 and August 31, 1664. Father Opatowski’s influence was quite evident there, and he did have the ability to convince people to support causes that were not necessarily valid. However, due to Fr. Stanislaus’s efforts, the chapter unani- mously accepted the motion made by the Piarists of the Warsaw house and sent a petition about this matter to the general chapter. 22 Father Papczynski’s presence at this chapter is confirmed by the records, in which Stanislaus of Jesus Mary is mentioned as one of the participants. 23 His signature, along with the signatures of other members of the chapter, can be found at the end of the minutes of the chapter. 24 The proposal regarding the election of all superiors in the territory of the Polish Province was sent to Rome and discussed at one of the first sessions of the new General Council chaired by Fr. Cosmas Chiara, Superior General (1665-1671), and approved by the Supe- rior General with the objection of his council. Due to the lack of consent of the General Council, the aforementioned proposal had no further effect. 25 Nonetheless, the Superior General gave an oral response to the Polish delegates to the General Chapter, stating that the Piarists would be allowed to elect all the superiors of their province during the next provincial chapter in Poland, but that right to approve them would be reserved by the General Council. With 167 At the Crossroads