41 Beginnings: 1670-1677 “Father Stanislaus made on December 11, 1670, in anticipation of the founding of the Congregation of the Marians, unconfirmed at that time by the relevant church authority.”57 In this way, the long and arduous journey of establishing and forming the Society of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, declared in the Oblatio, began. Soon after, the first candidate for the new community, Stanislaus Krajewski, also made his Oblatio as a formula for the monastic profession. Fr. Papczyński, being an experienced and responsible religious, was aware of the difficulties and challenges that could accompany the establishment of a new congregation. He understood that such a foundation required deep reflection, great prudence, hard work, and constant prayer. Therefore, he consulted with learned, devout, and experienced individuals numerous times.58 As for himself, he humbly confessed that he was “the most wretched, most despicable sinner, most inadequate, most unfit instrument for founding” this Congregation, but he placed his trust in the goodness of God and Providence, which “despite innumerable difficulties that stand in the way — begin and complete what they desire, even when the means — according to human judgment are inadequate.”59 Leaving the Piarists, he wanted to don the white habit in honor of the Immaculate Mary as soon as possible, with the permission of Bishop Mikołaj Oborski. Unfortunately, the ceremony scheduled for taking the habit was canceled. He then returned to Warsaw, where he had worked for several years as a Piarist under the jurisdiction of Bishop Stefan Wierzbowski.60 Fr. Stanislaus encountered great kindness from the bishop in Warsaw and, therefore, renewed his request for permission to introduce the new white habit. He believed that the white habit, which he had chosen for himself and the future members of the Society of the Immaculate Conception, was the most appropriate and best expressed the Immaculate Virgin’s purity. The bishop granted him permission with a promise of assistance in founding the new institute,61 but this was 57 A. Pakuła, Błogosławiony Stanisław Papczyński, p. 7. 58 Bishop Jerome Wierzbowski’s letter of recommendation of March 20, 1699, in S. Sydry, O. Stanisław, pp. 225-226. 59 S. Papczyński, The Foundation of the House of Recollections, 1, in: Selected Writings, p. 901. 60 Navikevicius, p. 158. 61 Positio, Papczyński, p. 333; cf. S. Papczyński, The Foundation of the House of Recollections, 7, in: Selected Writings, pp. 904-905.
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