Lumen 2018

maculata Virginis Mariae Conceptio, sit nobis salus et protectio [May the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary be our health and protection]. This was the reason why he founded “The Society of the Immac- ulate Conception,” which was supposed to promote “the cult of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Elect Virgin Mother of God.” For it is true that, as Pope John Paul II stated on the feast of the Im- maculate Conception in 1986, “All those who have placed their hope in Christ, gather around the Immaculate Mother of Our Savior” and that “she — the rescuer of the people — continues to come to our aid” ( Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , IX, 2, p. 1907). As he re- called her struggle with Satan, whom she fully defeated by her Im- maculate Conception, the Holy Father addressed the following words to the Immaculate Virgin: “The hope of victory was given to us through your Immaculate Conception. We fly unto your protec- tion ...” ( L’Osservatore Romano , 9-10 December, p. 5). Mary Immaculate, “in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come” (LG, 68). And, “in the Most Blessed Virgin, the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle.” Faithful Christians are called to strive for perfection and holiness and, as they do so, they “turn their eyes to Mary who shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues” (Ibid., 65). It is, therefore, no wonder that “Mary, the noble Daughter of Zion, helps all of her children, regardless of where and in what conditions they might live, so that, in Christ, they might find the way leading to the house of the Father ” (John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater , no. 47). This truth is clearly manifested in the life of the Servant of God Stanislaus of Jesus Mary Papczynski. The Servant of God Stanislaus was born in Poland in the village of Podegrodzie, formerly belonging to the Diocese of Cracow, on May 18, 1631, as the youngest of eight children. His parents were Thomas S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 476