MARIANS IN 1670-1788 136 history, Fr. Bolesław Jakimowicz: “As the Marians reached stabilization, the control over their independent actions exercised by the Reformates’ vicars and visitators became a hindrance in the development of their independent thinking and blocked their initiative.”260 Forty years after the Founder’s death, they possessed only four modest little monasteries, four simple wooden churches often called chapels, and about forty religious. The Marians were aware of the burden of this dependence, but some were convinced that it had to be this way and there was no other way. Others were intimidated. Fr. Spourny brilliantly depicted this helplessness: “I remember the many instances when I heard these worthy and honest words from our brethren. Some Fathers [said] how good it would be to get rid of the Franciscans’ protection over us. Some other one would claim that it was possible, so did the third and the tenth, and I doubt there was even one man among us (unless an enemy of our Order) who would not want to free the Order from under this yoke. Indeed, some other members did not consider this adjunction to the Reformates a great harm. I, too, was educated in my Order, which was still in similar obscurity and errors.”261 Today, the doubts quoted by Fr. Candide Spourny, which some Marians allegedly expressed at the time — “Am I still a Marian or already a Reformate?”262 or, “Who am I, what Order do I belong to?” — cannot be confirmed. The documents tell us that some refused to make vows, others wanted to leave the Order, and a few did, explaining their decision by saying that this was not the same Order they had joined. Some Marians wanted to return to Fr. Papczyński’s spiritual heritage and rejected the decision of Joachim Kozłowski and The Rule of Ten Virtues, stating that this rule contra formam et mentem primi Stanislai est.263 “In the twenty-three preserved letters of John Niezabitowski and Candide Spourny, there is a warm reverence and filial respect for Fr. Papczyński, as well as recognition and praise for the vision of the Order he outlined. At the same time, there is a lot of bitterness and accusations against the Reformates, who were said to have destroyed this vision 260 Bolesław Jakimowicz, Stabilizacja i rozwój zakonu w XVIII wieku, in: Jan Bukowicz, Tadeusz Górski [Ed.], Marianie 1673-1973, Rzym 1975, p. 45. 261 Listy, letter to the General, Father Raymond Nowicki. 262 Ibid. 263 BUViL, Doc. Viln., F4-A 166.
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