Lumen 2018

367 The End of Father Stanislaus’s Life the matter in person. Due to his failing health, he had to leave Rome before a new pope was elected. Father Papczynski believed that it was possible for the Marians to adopt the rule of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception because he saw in it similarities with his own Rule of Life . The nuns had the same title, wore white habits, and prayed the Office of the Immac- ulate Conception. 13 Meanwhile, however, it was necessary to wait for the election of a new pope. The Longest Conclave The conclave which began on February 12, 1691, was becoming interminable. It was the longest conclave of the 17 th century. The waiting was getting increasingly difficult for Fr. Stanislaus. Since he had a lot of free time, he made many pious pilgrimages to the various churches of Rome and its vicinity. He prayed at the tombs of the Holy Apostles and Martyrs. One day, as he was praying at the tomb of Pope Innocent XI, who in 1681 had granted various indulgences to the Marians and permitted them to establish in their churches the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception (such, at least, was Bishop’s Wierzbowski’s interpretation), Fr. Papczynski received an interior revelation that Cardinal Anthony Pignatelli would be elected Pope at the conclave then in session. And this, indeed, came to pass: Fr. Stanislaus’s former penitent from Warsaw was elected to the See of Peter on July 12, 1691, and chose the name of Innocent XII. 14 While waiting for this election, Fr. Stanislaus was staying at the monastery of the Franciscan Friars at Aracoeli. But, with the ap- proach of the summer heat, his health worsened to such a degree that the doctors advised him to pursue a change of climate and return to Poland. Moreover, it would not have been prudent to continue to wait for the election of the pope, then try to obtain an audience maybe in the late fall, and risk returning to Poland in winter. Both- ered by various ailments, and following the orders of his doctors, Fr. Stanislaus decided to return to Poland. 15