Lumen 2018

After he had settled matters with the Turks, John Sobieski was making plans to completely subordinate the Kingdom of Prussia to Poland. The King of France, Louis XIV (the Treaty of Jaworow in June 1675) and the King of Sweden, Charles XI (the Treaty of Gdansk in 1677) were to be his allies in the war with Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. It turned out, however, that the Elector of Brandenburg had too many supporters in Poland, the no- bility were tired of the various wars, and Sweden kept delaying its help. Therefore, it became necessary to abandon this plan. Moreover, forces attempting to topple Sobieski and to replace him with Charles of Lorraine appeared on the political scene. Meanwhile, the Emperor of Austria and the rulers of Muscovy entered into an agreement aimed at preventing a change of the political system in Poland and strengthening the position of the Sobieski family. 229 This demon- strates how far back into the past the roots of the subsequent parti- tions of Poland reached and how early efforts were being made that led to the partitions. John III Sobieski often visited Bishop Wierzbowski in Nowa Jero- zolima. On some of those occasions, he would also meet with Fr. Papczynski. Tradition maintains that these contacts were very mem- orable. At one of such meeting, on June 2, 1679, the king, wishing to aid the souls suffering in Purgatory, whom the Marians supported in so many ways, issued a document, by the power of which he con- firmed all the privileges previously granted to the Marians. He also added new privileges, expanded their estate at the Korabiew Forest, took the Congregation under his protection, guaranteed its peace and integrity, and expressed a wish that it would spread into other regions of his kingdom. 230 It may be surmised that during Fr. Stanislaus’s stay in Warsaw (1663-1669), Sobieski, who was a Senator at that time, consulted him in various matters and availed himself of his spiritual direction in the confessional. Later, in Nowa Jerozolima, he did the same as a king. One of the witnesses in the Information Process testified that he had read letters written by King Sobieski to Fr. Papczynski. 231 S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 316