Lumen 2018

Papczynski learned the entire alphabet within one afternoon. 62 Father Stanislaus was convinced that he experienced a miracle at that mo- ment. This was further confirmed by the fact that he quickly sur- passed his classmates and by his subsequent successes in his studies. He knew that this was not the result of his own efforts, but that it was a special gift from God. One amazing phenomenon in the history of Fr. Papczynski’s life is that it is so similar to the history of the life of St. Joseph Calasantius, Founder of the Piarist Fathers. Both of them were born near the mountains: Fr. Stanislaus in Podegrodzie in Beskid Sadecki, Fr. Calas- antius — in Peralta de la Sal in the Pyrenees. Both of them had fathers who were blacksmiths and held the office of prefect of their villages and were administrators of the local church property. Both of them had a similar number of siblings: Fr. Stanislaus had six sisters and one older brother, Peter, and St. Joseph Calasantius had five sisters (not counting those who died in infancy) and also an older brother by the name Peter. The mothers of both men were good and pious women and instilled these virtues in their sons. The intellectual formation of both of these men was also similar: at first — in a large village, then in a small town nearby. Both of them often moved from one place to another during their studies. After they had completed their studies, both of them had to overcome the opposition of their relatives with regard to their vocation to the service of God; their families insisted that they start their own families. Both of them declined the offers that were being made to them at the beginning of their religious vo- cation. Both of them supported strict religious life and exemplary ob- servance. They both suffered persecution from their confreres, including incarceration. Because of these similarities, Fr. Papczynski adopted many of the spiritual attributes of the Founder of the Piarist Fathers and handed them down to the first Marians. 63 Levitations and Ecstasies Another sign of Fr. Papczynski’s spirituality is his levitations and visions. Always united with God, Fr. Stanislaus often crossed the bor- 431 Posthumous Cult