Lumen 2018

S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 306 perior of the Congregation for life. 200 The document also confirmed approbation for the houses at the Korabiew Forest and at Nowa Jerozolima a s constituting one Congregation. Due to the legal status of the Congregation as a hermitage, the document clearly empha- sized one of its particular goals, that of aiding the souls in Purgatory, but said nothing about the apostolic activity of the Marians. Bishop Wierzbowski obliged the Marians to perform one more duty should they happen to live in larger cities. He commended people sentenced to death to their special pastoral care. He ordered them to console the condemned, support them with prayers, and accompany them to the place of execution. 201 Visionary and Miracle Worker During his stay in Nowa Jerozolima, Fr. Papczynski had many op- portunities to be involved in pastoral work, for which he was always so eager. He led the people in the devotions of the Stations of the Cross, heard confessions, delivered sermons and at the Cenacle, at the Dominicans, at the Bernardines, and in many other churches. Very often the walls of the church could not contain the the large number of the faithful and, on such occasions, he would proclaim the word of God outside. Details of one such sermon survived, and it was a sermon that people talked about for a long time. On the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a solemn procession was to go from the Dominican church to the church of the Piarist Fathers. The route of the procession was led by the Church of the Cenacle where the faithful were to listen to an ap- propriate sermon. The sermon was usually delivered by Fr. Papczyn- ski. One year, just as he was ascending the pulpit, a black cloud appeared in the sky, and it looked like rain would begin to pour any moment. The anxious crowd was just about to disperse when they were stopped by the firm voice of the preacher, “Don’t be afraid! Not a drop of rain will fall upon you from that cloud. Stay and listen to the sermon!” He made the sign of the cross in the direction of the cloud, which dispersed immediately to the stunned amazement