Lumen 2018

As a consequence of the aforementioned accusation, the General Council of the Piarist Fathers issued a decree on August 23, 1668, or- dering that Fr. Stanislaus be put in a monastery prison. 95 It is amazing that such a decision was made without any proof of his guilt, without waiting for the results of the investigation that had been launched in this matter by the very same decree. Ultimately, it turned out that Fr. Stanislaus was innocent, for there are no sources confirming that the investigation was indeed conducted and that the punishment imposed upon him for the alleged offences was carried out. Evidently, the ac- cusations proved to be false. Yet another event disturbed the peace of the Warsaw house at that time. This time it was a conflict between Stanislaus Papczynski and Francis Haligowski. Father Haligowski was Fr. Papczynski’s most unfriendly adversary and the author of his entire tragedy, i.e., leaving the Piarist Congre- gation. 96 He was probably one of those who “trampled the laws of nature” 97 When Fr. Stanislaus did not accept certain proposals that Fr. Haligowski once made, he began to harass him. 98 The conflict intensified during the academic year of 1668-1669 when Fr. Pa- pczynski brought a charge against the Rector claiming that he had allowed a certain young man to take up residence at the Piarist house, which was in conflict with the Piarist statutes. 99 Papczynski decided to speak up in this matter, even though he knew that his strained re- lations with Rector Haligowski would be threatened even further. 100 The Piarist constitutions forbade the students to remain at school after classes. 101 Since this regulation was often ignored, the General Chapter of 1637 forbade any lay person to reside at Piarist houses. 102 The General Chapter of 1659 allowed certain lay benefactors to stay at Piarist monasteries with the permission of the superiors in Rome. 103 It does not seem that such permission included young peo- ple. In 1661, when a question of whether to allow a young lay man to board at the Piarist house in Warsaw arose, the General Chapter strongly objected to it. 104 Father Francis must have been well in- S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 180