Lumen 2018

The Third Marian House While the Procurator General of the Marians was still in Rome, the Marians received a new, third, foundation. John Lasocki, Cup- bearer for the Region of Lukow, founded a church and a monastery for the Congregation in his family estate of Gozlin, on the right bank of the Vistula River, in the territory of the parish of Wilga. The foun- dation document was prepared in Czersk on October 15, 1699, but the necessary formalities had already begun in 1698 when, on Sep- tember 11th, the Church authorities gave permission to build a chapel in Gozlin and to install the Marians there. The official cere- mony of installation took place eight days after the act of donation was drawn up in Czersk. The founder stated in the act of donation that, motivated “by the pure intention of promoting God’s glory and the honor of the Immaculately Conceived Blessed Virgin Mary, and of helping the souls in Purgatory, especially those forgotten by others, he decided to found ... the religious of the Immaculate Con- ception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Along with the building of the church, he designated the areas of fields, meadows, and pastures that they could use, gave them permission to cut wood in his forest, and fish in the rivers and ponds. The document stated that the purpose of the Marians in Gozlin was not pastoral ministry, because they were beyond the parish structures, but the realization of their specific goal which resulted from their charism. 87 A lot of serious difficulties and obstacles emerged when the monastery at Gozlin was being established. Father Wyszynski wrote later that all hell conspired to persecute this foundation. Among the fiercest opponents of this work was the pastor of the parish of Wilga, 88 in whose territory the future foundation was located. The pastor was an educated man, but, as he relied too heavily on his sci- entific experience, he was an opponent of the truth of the Immacu- late Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The said pastor not only opposed the truth of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he also fought the Congre- gation of Marians Fathers and remained in conflict with it all the S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 386