Lumen 2018

Introduction 35 In order to provide a more complete image of the times in which Father Papczynski lived, mention should be made of the religious movements in the 17 th century. The tumultuous political and social life in Europe of those times was not in harmony with the religious norms and Christian morality. Under the influence of Protestantism, Catholic theology began to be more actively engaged in biblical stud- ies and in the defense of the truths of the faith that were being ques- tioned. Apart from these new tendencies, the scholastics continued to develop and had their distinguished representatives at that time, such as Louis Molina (†1600), Gabriel Vasquez (†1604), Francis Suarez (†1617), Cardinal de Lugo (†1660), and others. The theol- ogy of asceticism and mysticism, too, continued to develop and was represented by Ignatius Loyola (†1556), St. Teresa of Jesus (†1582), St. John of the Cross (†1591), Alphonse Rodriguez (†1613), and St. Francis de Sales (†1622). As a continuation of the former summae confessariorum , numerous textbooks in moral theology were pub- lished to be used by confessors. The interest in the theoretical and practical moral questions demonstrated by the theologians led to the development of the field of casuistic moral theology. 16 The intellectual trends alive in the West reached Stanislaus Pa- pczynski’s homeland, too. Permanent contacts were maintained with universities in Padua, Rome, Florence, Wittenberg, Strasbourg, In- golstadt, Vienna, and Louvain. The Polish scholars were interested in the modern thought of Western Europe; they were familiar with Descartes, Leibniz, Galileo, and Kepler. Theological rationalism reached Poland and was represented by the “Polish Brothers” and by the trends associated with Jansenism. The mathematical sciences enjoyed a period of growth, but the philosophical culture was on the decline and the scholastics became an anachronistic doctrine. 17 Also, certain works of casuistic character, like Aphorismi confessar- iorum (Coloniae, 1600) by Emmanuel Sa SJ, Institutiones morales (Romae, 1600) by John Azor SJ (†1603), and Enchiridion confes- sariorum et paenitentium by Martin Azpilcueta (†1586) reached Poland at the beginning of the 17 th century. The works discuss the