Lumen 2018

Towards the end of June, Fr. Pessau, accompanied by the Provin- cial Superior, officially began the visitation of the Piarist houses in Warsaw, Lowicz, Chelm, Rzeszow, and Podoliniec. 191 Father Stanis- laus doubted whether such extensive interviews conducted by the Visitator were of any use. He remained in Warsaw during the entire six years of the conflict and had not visited certain other houses for quite some time, e.g., he had not been in Podoliniec for ten years, in Rzeszow for six years, and had never set his foot in Chelm. How should then the members of these houses know what he was doing in Warsaw? He would have gladly accompanied the Visitator as he went to see the particular houses, in order to point out to him what should be changed or improved there. 192 In the end, it turned out that Fr. Pessau was collecting evidence against Fr. Papczynski instead of conducting a canonical visitation. While the general visitation was still in progress, the Piarists of the Polish Province gathered at a provincial chapter in Podoliniec on Au- gust 1, 1670. During this chapter, the Visitator launched an investi- gation in the matter of Fr. Stanislaus and two seminarians from Kazimierz, after which, on August 2 nd , he set a date for them, on which they were to appear before his court in Podoliniec in order to discuss the charges against them. 193 When Fr. Papczynski received the summons to appear in court, he treated it as Provincial Opatowski’s new trick and was certain that he could only expect reprisals from the Visitator in Podoliniec. 194 Both Fr. Opatowski and Fr. Pessau were friends, and Fr. Papczynski knew that Fr. Pessau would never do anything against Fr. Opatowski even though it was Opatowski and other superiors who should have been admonished. The Visitator should have been occupied with investi- gating the reasons behind Papczynski’s incarceration and not with supporting the Provincial’s dislike for an innocent man. 195 In spite of this, Fr. Papczynski did want to go to Podoliniec, but Bishop Trze- bicki encouraged him to stay in Cracow and wait for the decision of the Sacred Congregation. 196 S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 200