MARIANS IN 1670-1788 130 several instances, the requests specifically mention particular individuals. For example, in 1706, Fr. Norbert Dziewierski confessed: “My humble person was suggested and invited to fulfill the task and the office of president of the forthcoming Chapter of the said Congregation of yours by Most Reverend Father and Brother Joachim of St. Ann [Kozłowski], Superior General.”235 Responding to the request, the Vicar General, Br. Antoni of Panormo, gave his consent, stipulating: “… as long as he acts in accordance with this role and without the active voice.”236 Despite having their own general superiors and government, the powers of the Franciscan vicars increased systematically. This can also be observed in the procedure for convening and conducting Chapters. For the first Chapters in 1702, 1706, 1710, and 1712, the Marians requested the Apostolic Nunciature’s consent and appointment of a chairman. However, starting from the Chapter in 1715, the Reformed Franciscans convened, organized, and presided over them. If the general minister reminded the vicar delegated to the Marians in 1706 that he had “no right to vote,” the vicar sent in 1725 already claimed an extensive scope of authority, including a “consultative, elective, and decisive vote.”237 Decades later, in Rome, the Marian Procurator Fr. Candide Spourny, a Bohemian, spoke sharply against this dependency: “I cannot possibly understand why we would need these Friars [the Reformates] for visitations or Chapters.” And he wrote to the Marian general: “I cannot get my head around the fact that our superior general has to kiss the hand of the curate from Pakość, who — a Reformate — has been appointed for the Marians as vicar and visitator.”238 He reported that even Church dignitaries in Rome expressed great surprise at seeing the unlawful dependency of the Marians — an Order enjoying the privilege of exemplification — from the Order of the Reformed Franciscans. death of their Founder, Father Stanislaus of Jesu Maria, Praepositi Generali, these Fathers asked the Apostolic Nuncio, F. Pignatelli, to let them celebrate a Chapter for the election of a [new] Superior. At their request, he appointed them one of ours — Father Ludwik Borzewski — a president for this Chapter.” 235 Prot. Ord., 173. 236 Capitula Generalia Marianorum, Puszcza Mariańska 2001, p. 18. Facultas Reverendissimi Commissarii Generalis Ordinis Minorum, Romae 18 aprilis 1706. 237 Cap. Gen., pp. 327-330. An extensive letter of June 29, 1766 by Dionysius Sydry, a Reformates’ delegate. 238 Listy, b.d. [1779?], letter of Candide Spourny to Father General Raymond Nowicki.
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