Lumen 2018

laus Papczynski put on the white Marian habit in September of 1671 and under whose patronage the first Marian monastery remained for so many years. The historical church in the Marian Forest had been thoroughly restored in the years 1985–1988 at the initiative of its worthy pastor, Rev. Lucian Lada. Immediately after the fire, he set about restoring that part of the church which had been built by Fr. Papczynski, along with building a new church. The restoration of the oldest (partially burnt) part of the church was finished in 1995. A special room ded- icated to the memory of Fr. Papczynski was set up in the sacristy. The initiative came from Rev. John Rokosz, the Provincial Superior, and a team he had set up. The initiative was put into effect by the Superior of the house at the Marian Forest, Rev. Wenceslaus Makos. The new stone church was built at the place behind the monastery near the presbytery of the old church. The ceremony of laying the cornerstone and cementing the foundation into the wall of the church took place on Saturday, October 21, 1995. Bishop Aloysius Orszulik, Ordinary of the Diocese of Lowicz presided over the cer- emony. A three-part cornerstone was laid: one part came from the vaults of the Vatican Basilica, from the area where the tomb of St. Peter is and that was blessed by the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II; the second part came from the Grotto of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nazareth; and the third part — from the na- tive land. Holy Mass was celebrated in the oldest part of the historical church, restored for that occasion. The next year, the Association of Marian Helpers of the Marian Province of St. Stanislaus Kostka in the United States of America commissioned an icon for the new church. The icon was painted in 1996 by an Italian “writer of icons” Lia Galdiolo of Santa Maria di Camisamo near Padua. The icon refers to the Rule of the Imitation of the Ten Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary which were written around the icon of the Madonna, and thus it has a totally Marian character. The Greek letters above the figure of the Blessed Mother 275 Foundation of a New Religious Order