MARIANS IN 1670-1788 176 Joseph (Alexander) Wyszyński Another negative figure was associated with the events concerning the “dispersion,” who was said to be partially responsible for the Marian crisis. That person was Joseph Wyszyński, the older brother of Casimir. Casimir Wyszyński learned about his actions in Rome from Joachim Kozłowski. “Father Joachim complained to him [Casimir Wyszyński] about his older brother Joseph […], who had taken the habit in the Korabiew Forest during his novitiate and had subsequently been the cause of the dispersion.”141 Alexis Fischer provides a more detailed account of Joseph’s harmful activities, citing alcohol as one of the causes. He writes that Joseph, despite being admonished and reprimanded, “incited magnates and bishops against the Order, which was already being persecuted,” and then left the Marian novitiate.142 Boleslaus Jakimowicz, a researcher of the Wyszyński family history, provided a very negative assessment of the role played by Joseph Wyszyński during his time with the Marian Fathers: “In the world, Joseph was a soldier, and having abandoned his military career, he put on the Marian habit, but then left in 1716, finding it hard to adjust to the religious discipline, especially mortifications and abstinence from alcoholic beverages, expressly forbidden in the Marian Order. Accustomed to a secular lifestyle, he insisted on reforming religious life and incited other brethren to rebel against religious statutes. Together with the Superior General Matthew of St. Casimir Krajewski and other confrères, frustrated by the excessive — as they believed — severity, he went to see the Apostolic Nuncio in Warsaw, the Bishop of Poznań, and secular magnates, demanding the dissolution of the Marian Congregation.”143 Despite such a clear account, some doubts arise. In the documents of the Chapter that took place on September 23, 1715, there is a list of all the Marians, including novices. However, this list does not mention Joseph Wyszyński, who took the name Alexander upon entering the Order. It can be inferred 141 Świadectwo Michała Wyszyńskiego o bracie, in: Najstarsze świadectwa, p. 23; Świadectwo Wojciecha Magnuszewskiego, in: Najstarsze świadectwa, pp. 31-32; Świadectwo Aleksego Fischera, in: Najstarsze świadectwa, pp. 53-54. 142 Świadectwo Aleksego Fischera, in: Najstarsze świadectwa, pp. 53-54. 143 Positio, Wyszyński, pp. 17-18.
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