Lumen 2018

INTRODUCTION Father Stanislaus Papczynski’s life was connected with the most important events of the 17 th century. This great Pole left permanent traces of his work in that century. His greatest achievement was the founding of the Congregation of Marian Fathers — the first clerical religious order on Polish soil. He handed down his work to the fu- ture generations. Stanislaus Papczynski lived during the times when Europe was recovering from the wounds of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) 1 and Poland was ruled by (as follows): Sigismund III Vasa (1586- 1632), Ladislaus IV (1632-1648), John Casimir (1648-1668), Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki (1669-1673), John III Sobieski (1674-1696), and August II the Saxon (1696-1733). The begin- ning of the 17 th century in Poland was marked by a war with Sweden over the territories near the border between the two countries and over the Swedish throne, the claim to which was being laid by Sigis- mund III Vasa. The victories at Kircholm (1605) and Trzciana (1629) did not bring any resolution to the conflict. In Ukraine, the Cossack uprisings continued to break out. Ladislaus IV, in secret from the nobility, armed the Cossacks, hoping to use them in a war against Turkey. The greatest Cossack uprising broke out in 1648 under the leadership of Chmielnicki. 2 Wars with Muscovy were also going on, and Poles even managed to seize it for a while after a vic- tory at Kluszyn [Klushino] in 1610. Soon after, a war with Turkey broke out which ended with the defeat of the Polish army at Cecora in 1620. 3 During the time of Fr. Papczynski’s youth, a few more battles with the Cossacks took place — at Zolte Wody in 1648, at Zborow in 1649, and at Beresteczko in 1651. Later, the Republic of Poland was engaged in a war with Muscovy for the possession of Ukraine (1654-1667) and again with Sweden (1655-1660). During that war two important events took place: the famous defense of Czesto-