Lumen 2018

S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 56 Father Papczynski’s mother often experienced a special protection of Divine Providence. The following event, described in the Infor- mation Process, testifies to this. One day, shortly before her son was due to be born, Sophia was returning home and had to cross the waters of the Dunajec in a boat operated by a ferryman. This rough river, about one kilometer away from Podegrodzie, was once quite wide and unregulated. Therefore, an attempt at crossing it during a storm was very dangerous. The waves hit the boat with such force, that Sophia fell into the water and almost drowned. It was a miracle that she did survive. Soon after she gave birth to a son. 61 This event was confirmed by the witnesses in the Information Process. 62 Dedicated to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother from the Womb When Leporini writes that Fr. Stanislaus was dedicated to Our Lord and to His Blessed Mother, even from his mother’s womb, one may suppose that this act took place during the aforemen- tioned crossing of Dunajec. 63 It was an act of not only great trust in Divine Providence, but also an act of special trust in the Mother of God, to whom an earthly mother dedicated her son. Leporini states that Stanislaus of Jesus Mary Papczynski was born on the night of Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, 1631. 64 He puts a special emphasis on the fact that Fr. Papczynski was born at the night of Saturday and Sunday in order to show that, by the very fact of his birth on the day dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he was destined to become her special venerator. 65 But, it is also possible that the labor began before midnight and was over already after midnight — on Sunday. Leporini may have learned this piece of information from an oral account or from the data that could be found in the archives of the Marian monastery in Korabiew Forest where he was staying at that time. Father Papczynski’s date of birth is confirmed by other, earlier documents, albeit indirectly and without the day or the month of