Lumen 2018

terruption. On the basis of the gathered documents, the Historical Section could begin to work on Positio super introductione Causae . The Historical Section appointed Fr. Casimir Krzyzanowski to do this work under the direction of general relators. Other Marians, es- pecially Rev. John Bukowicz, Vice-Postulator in Poland, assisted him in searching for the documents. The work was published in 1977. Positio was first evaluated on November 23, 1977, by historical consultants and, based on their positive opinion, the General Con- gregation also gave its approval on November 28, 1980. But new difficulties emerged almost immediately because the process was now reopened as a historical process, while in the 18 th century it was a regular process with the participation of only one promoter of the faith. Now the number of experts was increased (twelve historians and nine theologians) and a lot more questions and even charges were put forward. One of the charges was that Fr. Papczynski’s first biographers, M. Leporini and C. Wyszynski, were panegyrists and that their biographies were simply legends, containing facts which could not be confirmed in any other sources. The consultants sug- gested that the events which the biographers described took place during the Baroque Period when biographers particularly liked to create legends. The experts supported their claims with a hypothesis that the Marians were not immediately convinced of their Founder’s sanctity but, concerned about the development of the Congregation, began to create the opinion of sanctity around his person. 131 The experts of the Congregation, C. Krzyzanowski andW. Makos, responded to the charges made by the consultants. 132 They pointed out that the essential value of such documents as records of the testi- monies given by witnesses in the Information Process in Poznan, the verdicts of various courts, or the statements made by some bishops, was not sufficiently appreciated. The consultants did not treat seriously all of the interviews that Fr. Wyszynski conducted with the eyewit- nesses to Fr. Papczynski’s life, who were still alive at that time, the records of which could be found in his notes. 133 447 Posthumous Cult