Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

11 Andrzej Pakuła MIC The Act of the Oblatio as a charismatic work of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński. The time of the creation, context and the meaning of the first formula of the religious vows of the Congregation of Marian Fathers The content, composition and function as a formula of profession of the Oblatio is an expression of the personal spirituality of our holy Father Stanislaus, including his understanding of religious vows and the nature of the religious life. In order to fully understand the meaning of this text and to grasp its spiritual depth, it is important to define the time of its creation, the circumstances 1 surrounding this event and its importance, both for Fa- ther Stanislaus and for the religious community that he founded. The Context of the Oblatio The text of the Oblatio was preserved as an integral part of a short work entitled Foundation of the House of Recollection ( Fundatio Domus Recol- lectionis , afterwards: FDR). This work has an autobiographical character and is written in the first person singular. Therefore, it seems only prop- er to present it here in the same way, without taking out of context the events and narratives, in which it was placed by the Author himself. This 1 The text of Oblatio and most of the related research done before 1973 were presented in the Positio , prepared for the purposes of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński’s canoniza- tion process: Positio (Sacra Congregatio pro Causis Sanctorum, Officium Historicum, Poznanien- sis Beatificationis et Canonizationis Servi Dei Stanislai a Iesu Maria Papczyński, Fundatoris Clericorum Regularium Immaculatae Conceptionis BVM († 1701), Positio super Introductione Causibae et super viritutibus ex officio concinnata , Romae 1977; hereinafter: Positio ). Additional and later papers by various authors generally trust this Positio in terms of historical data, yet they significantly differ in the interpretation of the source document itself, the circumstances of its creation and its significance both in the life of St. Stanislaus, as well as in the founding of the Congregation of Marian Fathers, initiated by the act of the Oblatio .