MARIANS IN 1670-1788 14 the establishment of institutions in the Korabiew Forest, New Jerusalem, Goźlin, and Skórzec. Here, we find an interesting description of the controversial generalate of Fr. Matthew Krajewski, who, as the first to break with the eremitic tradition of the Marians, sent several of them on a mission to Lithuania and allowed for pastoral work in the country. Unfortunately, the Protocollum Ordinis was kept up only to the year 1744. It’s worth noting that each monastery maintained its own Protocollum, in which the most important documents and decrees related to the entire Order were recorded, along with acts specific to each monastery. Eight such protocols from individual monasteries in the 18th century have survived.3 A vital resource is the Leges Marianae, a collection of Marian legislation compiled by Fr. Wacław Makoś in 1999. It brings together various editions of the Marian Rule, Marian Constitutions, and several significant generals’ letters. The mentioned collections of documents, mainly Constitutions, Rules, resolutions, decrees, orders from Chapters, and the superiors general, have a legal and legislative character. They set the congregation’s institutional framework and indicated the directions for its activities. Unfortunately, very few testimonies and documents that would provide insights into the daily functioning of individual monasteries, the monastic life, or the interactions with the surrounding community have been preserved. Reconstructing even a portion of this Marian reality required meticulous, thorough research, detailed analysis, comparisons drawn from documentation fragments, and critical scrutiny and caution when evaluating private, subjective letters sent to Rome, many of which have been preserved. The beginnings and 18th-century history of the Marian community are closely linked to the history of Poland. For the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, this period marked the increasing political and military dominance of neighboring and emerging powers such as Prussia, Russia, and Austria, which were already attempting to negotiate the partitions of Polish territories among themselves. They enticed Polish elites with various promises to gain support and pull them to their side. During this time, the hidden goal of hostile empires was to push the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into institutional chaos and military weakness by blocking any reforms that could potentially strengthen the 3 See Bibliography.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==