173 Striving to Follow Their Own Path was growing. Some candidates who joined the Marians left the Order, explaining they did not want to be Franciscans.129 In 1717, Bishop Adam Rostkowski arrived to visit the Marian Fathers. It is unknown at whose request this visitation occurred or who lodged a complaint with the Nunciature. Clues suggest that it was requested by Fr. Matthew Krajewski, elected as superior general in 1715, as he obtained the Bishop’s support for his new apostolic actions. Fr. Krajewski and Bishop Rostkowski also participated in the Marian Chapters in 1719 and 1720, while Fr. Kozłowski and the Reformates were absent. This period was called the “Rostkovian dispersion” and lasted until 1722, as discussed above.130 Bishop Adam Rostkowski, Suffragan of Lutsk According to the majority of Marian historians, the decisions made by Adam Rostkowski, the Bishop and suffragan of Lutsk, regarding the Marian Order were decidedly negative. As a result of these decisions, the so-called “Rostkovian dispersion” occurred, which is all the more surprising considering that — it is worth emphasizing — religious life, its structures, and issues at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries were not unfamiliar to him. Adam Ksawery Francis Rostkowski (1660-1738) was one of the most enlightened, educated, and prudent bishops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a true man of the Enlightenment era. He received his education in Jesuit colleges and studied theology under the Missionary Fathers, whom he joined in 1684. After his ordination, he left the Missionary Fathers to continue his theology, philosophy, and canon law studies. He studied at four foreign universities,131 obtaining doctorates in these fields. He was actively involved in the reform of the Commonwealth and was a fervent advocate of social, political, and ecclesiastical reforms. He worked on the reform of the Church, particularly in introducing discipline into ecclesiastical and religious life.132 He conducted 129 Doc. Viln., F4-A 166. 130 See II/5. Cf. W. Makoś, O. Stanisław, pp. 218-219. 131 PSB, pp. 160-161. 132 Maria Dębowska, Rostkowski Adam bp, in: Encyklopedia Katolicka, Lublin 2012, t. 17, c. 361-362.
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