Lumen 2018

S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 186 D EPARTURE FROM THE P IARISTS Efforts to Obtain a Release from the Vows The memorandum issued by the Provincial Superior of the Piarist Fathers in Poland did not remove all the animosity towards Fr. Pa- pczynski. It did not even restore peace in the province because, quite contrary to Papczynski’s intentions, conflicts between two opposite camps of the Piarists continued to erupt. Even though Fr. Stanislaus did nothing to provoke such conflicts, nonetheless, as a proponent of strict religious observance, he, quite unintentionally, initiated clashes between those who attacked him and those who came to his defense. Seeing the harm that all of this was doing to his community, Papczynski finally decided to leave the congregation in order to pre- serve peace in the province. Therefore, around August 15, 1669, he sent a request to the Superior General, Fr. Cosmas Chiara, to be re- leased from his vows and from the oath of perseverance in the Con- gregation of the Piarist Fathers. At the same time, he asked Nuncio Marescotti to support his cause before the Superior General. We do not know what the nuncio’s response to this request was. 130 When the Piarists of Polish descent, especially those from Rzes- zow, learned about Papczynski’s intention to leave the congregation, they began to write letters to him with ardent pleas to stay in the congregation and promised to defend his good name. 131 Father Chiara received Fr. Papczynski’s request in the middle of September 1669. He did not have the authority to give his subordi- nates dispensation from their simple vows, therefore, on October 4, 1669, he forwarded Papczynski’s request, along with eight or ten similar ones, to the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Religious and waited for the appropriate authorization. 132 At Kazimierz In the middle of September 1669, Fr. Stanislaus made a trip from Warsaw to Kazimierz near Cracow. He wanted to participate in the