Lumen 2018

329 Foundation of a New Religious Order Father Papczynski did not agree with such an interpretation. He believed that a religious was binding himself permanently and irrev- ocably with his congregation, even if he only took the simple vows. This was the reason why he introduced the requirement of taking an oath of perseverance in the Congregation. Indeed, his constitu- tions of 1687 did not offer any possibility of abandoning one’s vo- cation and leaving the Congregation. 265 In spite of this, Bishop Wierzbowski wrote in 1687 that the devil himself tempted some members of the Congregation to leave it and, following the opinion of some theologians, it was possible to obtain a release from the vows and the oath of perseverance that they had taken. 266 He strongly em- phasized, though, that the decision about granting a dispensation in some just case should be made only by the Holy See, after the Su- perior General of the Congregation had given his consent. 267 There- fore, papal approbation, which would give the Marians the right to take solemn vows, was, in Fr. Papczynski’s opinion, a proper means to solve the internal crisis in his small community. In 1690, convinced that there was no other way to save the Mar- ian institute from the various dangers (internal and external) that it was facing, Fr. Stanislaus began to make efforts to obtain papal ap- probation for his Congregation. Since he wanted to obtain it as soon as possible, he began to prepare to travel to the Eternal City. In spite of his advanced age — he was 60 years old at that time — he wanted to attend to the matter personally, even though it required making a long and dangerous journey. Since he did not know how the jour- ney would end, therefore, before he left, on October 30, 1690, at the town of Czersk, he made a will in which he bequeathed the estate at the Cenacle to the members of his Congregation. 268 NOTES 1. Apologia § 19-20, Scripta 50-51. 2. Oblatio , Scripta 29-30.