Lumen 2018

tutions. Papczynski also drew from a source shared by all religious orders, i.e., from the healthy tradition of the Church. His work is very original in its form and content and was written in a clear and convincing manner. Everything Great Is Born in Pain Time was passing by and Fr. Papczynski still did not have appro- priate candidates for the Congregation. Although some candidates, both lay and clergymen, did apply, they were not accepted because they did not seem suitable. Moreover, Fr. Stanislaus did not have a place where they could stay together. 39 To make things worse, a sit- uation which he had experienced in Cracow, was repeated here, too. Just as Bishop Oborski, initially very favorably disposed towards the project, later refused his support, similarly, Bishop Wierzbowski, too, expressed his doubts as to the legal status of the religious Congre- gation to be founded in his diocese. But he did not dash Fr. Stanis- laus’s hopes completely and made his decision contingent upon the approval of the Holy See. Therefore, Fr. Stanislaus began efforts in Rome to obtain the appropriate permission and entrusted his appli- cation to some plenipotentiary. But that man did not make sufficient efforts, and within two years the matter did not advance at all. Father Stanislaus’s troubles and the expenses he had to bear were wasted. 40 It was a difficult period for Fr. Stanislaus, for at the same time he experienced harassment by people who were ill-disposed towards him; they wrote libelous articles in order to humiliate the future founder of a religious congregation and to spoil his plans. There were people who encouraged impertinent juveniles to shout various sneers at him, such as: “A raven suddenly turned into a swan!” “O, how quickly the raven became a swan!” 41 This was an obvious reference to the fact that he changed his black habit to a white one. Father Pa- pczynski suffered all of this in submission to the will of God, for he knew that the beginnings of a great work require patience. S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 256