Lumen 2018

309 Foundation of a New Religious Order “Stanislawie w bialym worze, Cnych Parobkow Fundatorze [“Stanislaus in the white sack, Founder of Venerable Farm Hands.”] Soon the building was completed and given over to the poorest elderly in the area. 206 God supported Fr. Papczynski’s pastoral work with extraordinary graces, which included numerous healings, even a resuscitation, and a gift of prophecy. Guided by his love for those who were suffering, Fr. Stanislaus often visited them. Leporini wrote that he possessed a special gift of healing various illnesses, fevers, and headaches. 207 He performed these healings by tracing the sign of the cross on the fore- head, the lips, and the chest of the sick person while praying this prayer: “May the Cross † and the Name of my Lord Jesus Christ † be the health of your soul and body † Amen.” Then he would bless the liquid refreshment to be given to the patient, saying: “God the Father is life † God the Son is remedy † God the Holy Spirit is health † This is the sublime and undivided Trinity, Father † Son † and Holy Spirit † Amen.” 208 During the time of Fr. Papczynski’s life, a peculiar infirmity, called “koltun” [ plica, plica polonica ] in the language of the simple folk, afflicted people in certain regions of Poland. According to the con- temporary medical knowledge, the disease manifested itself as scabs on the person’s head, made up of clotted hair, dirt, and dermal dis- charge. It was most frequently caused by pediculosis. The twisted hair could not be combed apart, and if it was cut, unbearable pains would appear in the person’s body and bones. If the hair was left uncut, the disease spread to the person’s entire head, covering it with something like a crown of hair and causing convulsions. Many peo- ple, especially in Ruthenia and Lithuania, suffered from this strange disease, and the doctors of the time knew no remedy for it. But Fr. Stanislaus would cut the sick people’s tangled hair with his own hands and the patients would return home healthy. 209