Lumen 2018

According to Kraus the fear of the invasion was the main reason behind the request to postpone the provincial chapter. 32 It seems strange, however, since the request was sent as early as April of 1667 when the invasion could have been anticipated but did not yet con- stitute a real danger. In the summer, the situation did not really change and the alleged “unrest” and “dangers” did not prevent Provincial Opatowski from visiting all the houses of the province in August of 1667. 33 It is, therefore, quite obvious that the alleged un- rest in the Kingdom of Poland was only a pretext not to hold a provincial chapter in August of that year. 34 That is why Papczynski had a reason to suspect that by requesting the aforementioned dis- pensation, his superiors in Poland only wanted to prolong their terms in office. 35 His dissatisfaction with the fact that the same people were superiors all the time was quite justified under those circumstances. Their conduct simply could not be tolerated any longer. 36 Obviously driven by their own ambitions, 37 they were standing in the way of a legitimate event, i.e., a provincial chapter. In response to such criticism, Provincial Opatowski sent a circular to all the houses of the province towards the end of July, in which he informed his subordinates that a provincial chapter was not being planned for the year 1667, but should anyone wish that a chapter be held, he should write to the Superior General and ask his author- ization to summon the chapter. 38 The letter from the Provincial Superior was also read by the Pi- arists at the Warsaw house who, after an animated discussion, made a decision to send a collective letter to the Superior General, asking his permission to hold a provincial chapter. 39 In response to the letter sent by the Piarists fromWarsaw around July 20 th , the Superior Gen- eral, Fr. Cosmas Chiara gave his permission (on August 20, 1667) to hold a provincial chapter in Poland. 40 At that time, Fr. Papczynski was substituting as Rector for Fr. Wezyrka who was gravely ill. Towards the end of July 1667, Provincial Opatowski arrived in Warsaw together with a member of his council, Michael Kraus, to 169 At the Crossroads