Lumen 2018

73 Stanislaus Papczynski’s Childhood and Youth good school of humility for Johnny, as he later mentioned it himself in the notes he kept in his youth called Secreta conscientiae. 133 Let us now see what was happening in the Republic of Poland at that time and what influenced Fr. Papczynski’s further course of life. Turmoil at Dzikie Pola After King Ladislaus IV’s death, attempts were made at organizing a defense of the country against the Cossacks as soon as possible. A new army was gathered and was to be led by three deputy hetmans: Alexander Koniecpolski, Dominic Zaslawski, and Nicholas Ostrorog. The Cossacks labeled all three of them by one malicious nickname, that of “Dziecina, Pierzyna, and Lacina” [Baby, Quilt, and Latin] for Alexander Koniecpolski was very young, Dominic Zaslawski was quite advanced in age, and Nicholas Ostrorog was a man of learning. Their army suffered a bad defeat in a battle of Pilawce on September 23, 1648 134 , against much larger forces led by Chmielnicki. After this victory, Chmielnicki set out for Lvov and Zamosc, thereby threatening the territories of central Poland. Meanwhile, on November 20, 1648, at a field near Warsaw, the election of a new king of Poland, John Casimir, was announced. It was a very solemn moment when “the crowds of elegantly clad noblemen knelt down in the fresh snow and the solemn sounds of the hymn Te Deum lau- damus sounded again in the air across the fields at Wola.” 135 The first task that awaited the new king was to organize the mil- itary forces and send them to Ukraine. In 1649, the Polish army ar- rived in Zbaraz and for a few weeks valiantly resisted the attacks of the overwhelming Cossack and Tartar forces. John Casimir, who was on his way to relieve the besieged troops, was captured by the enemy in a surprise attack at Zborow, and it was only an agreement with the Tartar khan, Islam Girej, that saved the Polish king from this dangerous situation. Pressured by the bribed khan, Chmielnicki had to enter into an agreement with Poland, called the Zborow Agree- ment, in August of 1649. 136