131 Apostolate or Contemplation: 1677-1723 Stefan Sydry also expressed criticism; in his opinion, this dependency “was a barrier to the free growth [of the Marians]. The Marians realized this and endeavored to oppose it, but they could do nothing about it as long as they were weak and few.”239 Today, it is difficult to assess the actions of Fr. Kozłowski impartially: whether in making the Marians dependent on the Reformates, he wished to provide them with the protection and security of that powerful Order or whether, as the meager testimonies indicate, he made specific reforms with the support of their Order and agreed to their implementation by the Reformates to “to be recognized as the founder” of the already slightly altered new Marian Order. Here are some facts. In 1702, a year after the death of Fr. Papczyński, the General Chapter of the Marians, presided over by Fr. Kozłowski and the Franciscan vicar Ludwik Borzewski, made several substantial alterations in the Marians’ legislation. Some parts of Father Papczyński’s testament were annulled as incompatible with the vows of poverty and obedience.240 The decree read: “During the first conference in the afternoon, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, the following laws regarding obedience and poverty were proposed since it seemed as if certain Fathers had been assigned to houses by the testament of their [sic] Father Founder of holy memory [the word ‘their’ here suggests that the author of the decree is a Franciscan vicar, for a Marian would have written ‘our Founder’], along with the specific provisions also created by this Deceased. Both these matters are contrary to his solemn profession. The first is against the vow of 239 S. Sydry, Zgromadzenie, pp. 62-63. 240 The following content of the testament regarding obedience caused controversy: “I leave and resign the maintenance of the [Korabiew] Hermitage and the Cenacle of the Lord to those fathers and brothers who bound themselves in their consciences to never leave these houses until death. Father Joachim of St. Ann, elected as my coadjutor, by permission of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord [Bishop] Administrator, I declare to be [my] successor as well, obliging his conscience, by the severe judgment of God, to be as strict as possible in ensuring that the religious Rule imprinted by God be observed. But as he is now abroad, I therefore entrust the direction of this tiny Congregation to my Assistants: to Father Joseph of All Saints and to Father Cipriano of St. Stanislaus.” As to the poverty: “Mindful of the vow of poverty, I ought not to command anything as regards the other matters, because while many things often do not turn out as they ought, so by the Divine Will I distribute unspecified sums [of money] […]: a thousand florins […] and also the one thousand, five hundred I inscribed to the Cenacle of the Lord and to my [confrères] here, serving God (and not anyone else), particularly to Fathers Joseph and Cyrpian.” St. Papczyński, Second Testament, in: Selected Writings, Warszawa-Stockbridge, 2021, pp. 936-937.
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