Lumen 2018

spoiled a lot. She was expecting at that time, and Fr. Stanislaus ad- monished her many times to refrain from caressing the animal. Since his admonishments were not respected, he put Mrs. Karski’s four- legged pet to death one day. 32 Father Wyszynski, mentions this event, too. He writes that when Mrs. Karski would not listen to Fr. Stanislaus, he ordered the dog to get off her lap and, to the amazement of all present, put it to death with the words, “Die, doggie.” 33 Wyszynski quotes the account given by Mrs. Karska herself, who recalled Fr. Stanislaus’s motives for ad- monishing her. She had kept her “sweet” animal friend from the time of her youth, and she loved it so much that she allowed it to eat from the same bowl. She kissed it often and the dog licked her face. Father Stanislaus admonished her for this and tried to convince her that it was not appropriate for a human being, created in God’s image after all, and an animal to eat from the same bowl. It also was not appro- priate that a person who often received the Holy Eucharist should kiss a dog. He warned her that as an expectant mother, she carried a child in her womb who had been blessed by God, and all this ca- ressing of the dog may cause her to give birth to some monstrum , God forbid, which sometimes happened to women. 34 Father Wyszynski heard about the incident with the dog when he visited the home of the Karski family around 1730. Anne Karska, almost a hundred years old at the time, told him the entire story. 35 This was not the end of this story. Upon seeing what had hap- pened, Anne Karska, afraid that she would be punished for her dis- obedience, fell at Fr. Stanislaus’s feet and begged him not to do anything bad to her. 36 From that time on, her entire family held Fr. Stanislaus in an even greater regard and considered him to be a saint sent by God. 37 The Work of a Writer Father Stanislaus dedicated a lot of time to meditation, the fruit of which were two books written in Lubocza: Templum Dei Mys- S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 254