Lumen 2018

by a long illness and asking God to rescue him: “Into Your hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit.” (Ps 31:5). 123 This was how the song of his life was silenced, and the confreres who gathered around the bed of their saintly father listened to this silence, more precious than a song, for a long time. He left silently into the darkness, but in this darkness he met His Heavenly Father’s open arms. Father Wyszynski added: “Throughout his entire life, Fr. Stanis- laus was a great venerator of the Blessed Virgin Mary and an ardent defender of her honor. Therefore, Our Lord Jesus Christ bestowed a double privilege upon him. First, that he died after he had made his profession on the Rule of the Imitation of the Ten Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and second, that he was laid to rest at a place similar to the one where the Blessed Mother ended her days, i.e., at the Lord’s Cenacle in Jerusalem.” 124 After Father Papczynski’s Death The news of Fr. Papczynski’s death spread rapidly through Nowa Jerozolima and the surrounding countryside. Crowds of the faithful, especially the clergy and religious, drawn by the fame of his sanctity, made their way to the Cenacle. They all hastened to pay their last respects and to commend themselves to his intercession. With tears in their eyes, they bade farewell to the one whom they always con- sidered to be a saint. They lamented the loss of “a holy man, a father of the poor and of the orphans, a comforter of the grief-stricken; the one to whom they had always turned for advice.” Convinced of his great sanctity, they commended themselves to his prayers with even greater trust, remembering that even during his lifetime they would obtain help in various afflictions and illnesses through his interces- sion. One thought brought some solace to their sad hearts, namely, that Fr. Stanislaus had chosen for himself the best part, which would never be taken away from him. 125 401 The End of Father Stanislaus’s Life