Lumen 2018

S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 176 moned to Rome, he was told that he had been denounced before the Superior General as a “firebrand in the province.” At that time, he explained the reasons behind his struggle for religious observance in Poland. The Superior General accepted his explanations with un- derstanding and, after a consultation with his council, gave Fr. Stanis- laus permission to return to his province. 69 Caputi mentions that the Superior General decided to send Pa- pczynski back to Poland because Fr. Stanislaus wanted to turn to the Holy See with a request that various issues in the Piarist constitutions be regulated and settled. The Superior General and his council feared that such an appeal might stir up unrest in the congregation. 70 How- ever, just as Fr. Stanislaus began to prepare to return to Poland in the middle of January 1668, the records of the provincial chapter in Poland held in 1667 reached Rome, along with a letter in which a demand was made that Fr. Stanislaus be severely punished by the Su- perior General and his council as a destroyer of the peace in the Pol- ish Province. 71 In view of this, the Superior General felt morally obligated to change his decision; sending Papczynski back to Poland did not seem appropriate at that point. According to Kraus, the only reason why Papczynski was able to avoid monastery prison, galleys, or banishment, was that he managed to gain the support of Poles who were staying in Rome at that time and who had a lot of influ- ence. 72 Due to their intercession, the Superior General decided to send Papczynski to one of the houses of the German Province of the Piarist Fathers, namely to Nicolsburg in Moravia, for a while. 73 One of Fr. Papczynski’s defenders before the Superior General was Canon Jerome Ruszocki of Cracow. 74 Father Stanislaus wrote that the Su- perior General, in the presence of Canon Ruszocki, promised to send a visitator to Poland and told Papczynski that in Nicolsburg he would receive the Superior General’s permission to return to his province. 75 Father Papczynski bitterly remarks that the Superior General did not keep any of these two promises. Father Stanislaus left Rome for Nicolsburg towards the end of January 1668 and after several weeks arrived at the appointed place. 76