MARIANS IN 1670-1788 40 already carried within himself the idea of a new community to which he wanted to dedicate himself entirely after leaving the Piarists.51 And now, the path to realizing these inspirations, which he was sure he had received from God, opens up. “This vision concerning the founding, despite everything, [...] of this congregation of the Immaculate Conception — he wrote later — was sent from God, and it entered my soul, urging me to follow.”52 On December 11, 1670, the day he was released from the Pious Schools Order, Fr. Papczyński, in the presence of the Vice-Provincial Father Michał Kraus, made his Oblatio, consecrating and dedicating himself to “to God the Father Almighty, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, and also to the Mother of God the Ever-Virgin Mary, Conceived without original sin.” Next, he made a profession of faith and what was called a blood vow, by which he promised to spread the honor of the Immaculately Conceived Mary and to defend her even at the cost of his own life.53 By making this Oblatio, Fr. Stanislaus wished to bind himself spiritually through these new vows until he could make them in the Order he intended to found. Fr. Papczyński was formally released from religious vows and the oath of perseverance in the Piarist Congregation according to Canon Law’s prescripts. His status was officially changed from a member of a religious order to a diocesan priest. However, he so greatly valued the religious life, which he regarded as “greater perfection,”54 that — although released from vows — he did not want to live a single day or moment as a non-member.55 Even in his testament, composed much later, he merely mentioned “having been dispensed from the oath of perseverance in the Congregation of Pious Schools by the authority of the brief of Clement X”56 and said nothing about exemption from vows. It should be emphasized that Oblatio is essentially a formula for religious profession, which — as Fr. Andrzej Pakuła stated: 51 See Andrzej Pakuła, Błogosławiony Stanisław Papczyński jako zakonodawca, in: Błogosławiony Stanisław Papczyński. Pisma fundacyjne, Warszawa 2007, p. 8. 52 S. Sydry, O. Stanisław, p. 68. 53 T. Rogalewski, Stanisław Papczyński, p. 162. 54 S. Papczyński, The Foundation of the House of Recollections, 6, in: Selected Writings, p. 903. 55 Cf. Michał Kozak, “Oblatio” jako klucz hermeneutyczny do duchowości Ojca Stanisława Papczyńskiego, in: Immaculata (2016), No. 6, pp. 47-55. 56 S. Papczyński, Second Testament (Last Will), 3, in: Selected Writings, p. 935.
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