Lumen 2018

In his letter, Fr. Stanislaus set three conditions: 1) that the members of the congregation should not be able to own permanent goods; 2) that the congregation be called a congregation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; that the sodalities at the Pi- arist colleges also bear that title and that the Office of the Immaculate Conception be prayed by all Piarists; 3) that a reference to “utter poverty,” removed after the Piarists had been returned to the status of a congregation, be again included in the formula of the Piarist re- ligious profession. 256 Kraus writes that, regarding the first condition, their congregation never allowed its members to own any permanent goods and that Papczynski concerned himself with an issue that had already been provided for in the constitutions and never questioned by anyone. Papczynski, however, did challenge it because he felt that a relaxation of the original ideal of poverty had taken place at the Piarist Institute. He wrote in his Apology : “For the Piarist [ideal of] poverty is as strict as that of the Ca- puchins, except that they [the Piarists] may stock their house with provisions sufficient for one year. They may not possess any perma- nent goods, be it from inheritance, donations, or annuities ... The church furnishings should conform to the idea of uttermost poverty: nothing made of silk, gold, or silver, with the exception of the cup of the chalice.” 257 According to Kraus, the recommendation contained in Papczyn- ski’s second condition was not necessary because the Congregation of the Piarist Fathers has always functioned and continues to function under the title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But Fr. Papczynski was referring to the cult of the Immaculate Conception that [he felt] should be expressed in the title of the congregation as well — a detail which Kraus ignored. The third condition, says Kraus maliciously, albeit filled with the spirit of the religious observance according to the old tradition, was introduced by a religious who himself had money at his disposal, who S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 216