Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

131 Order at his own request and with a Papal dispensation. After a small ceremony involving this formal act, which took place at the Piarist Residence in Kazimierz near Krakow, Father Papczyński publicly de- livered before the attendees of the ceremony, an offering of himself (i.e., oblatio ) to the service of God and Mary Immaculate, solemnly pledging to persevere in his religious vows in the ‘Society of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception,’ which – as he mentions – he wishes to establish ‘by the grace of God.’” 3 Therefore, chronologically, the Oblatio is the earliest expression of the “original spirit” or charism, enlivening the Marian Founder and aiming at the initiation of a new religious Institute. On the other hand, since spread- ing devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Most B.V.M. had to be at the time the only and most important aim of this Insitute, the Oblatio of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary appears as the expression of his individual sense of faith that fits in the context of the sensus fidei of the entire Church. This very charismatic gift of the Holy Spirit became the most important foundation for the solemn proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, made on December 8, 1854. Anyone, however slightly interested in the history of this dogma, is fa- miliar with the centuries-old controversy and difficulties associated first with the formulation of the doctrine, and then with the proclamation of the dogmatic definition of the Mother of Christ’s extraordinary sanctity. There were many for and against this truth of the Catholic faith, titular for the Marians. Although the liturgical feast of the Conception of the Most Holy or the Most Pure Virgin traditionally existed in the Christian East since the 7 th Century, consequently spreading to the West in the 9 th Century under the name of the Feast of the Conception or the Conception of Anna, yet, until the 19 th Century, the Holy See did not make any dogmatic statement on this subject, mainly due to the lack of direct biblical corroboration. In fact, there were Popes 4 , and even Councils, who had been nearly successful in dogmatically defining the truth about Mary’s Immaculate Conception, 3 K. Krzyżanowski, Powstanie i rozwój Zakonu za życia Założyciela , in: J. Bukowicz, T. Gór- ski (Eds.), Marianie 1673-1973 , PUG, Roma, s. 18-19. 4 A special mention is due to Pope Alexander VII (1599-1667), Father Papczyński’s contem- porary, and particularly his famous brief Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum critical for the later dogma of the Immaculate Conception, of which an extensive excerpt was quoted by Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus . Cf. J. Królikowski, Papież Aleksander VII i niepokalane poczęcie Maryi , in: “Sal- vatoris Mater”, t. 6, No 2 (2004), pp. 330-337.