Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

161 This confession, addressed to the Novice Master, seems to be not just a pious act, perhaps slightly exaggerated or even pathetic, of showing hu- mility. It came as a particular profession of the faith proclaimed by the Church against such trends as Semi-Pelagianism. 12 “God’s benefits” may signify God’s action (also through Mary), which Saint Stanislaus Pap- czyński experienced as early as in his mother’s womb, in his childhood and the period before joining the Piarists. The realization of God’s faithfulness and protection did not leave him in his painful experiences of that time, as well as during the trials and persecution that he suffered at the Piarists, including his imprisonment in Podolínec and Prievidza. Acquired or re- freshed alertness to the actions of the Holy Spirit allowed him to perceive subtle inspirations, one of which took place at the moment preceding the Oblatio . In the tangle of doubts, fears and anxieties (see FHR, No. 3, pp. 62-63), he “heeded” this glorious inspiration not to dwell on them. Although just before the time of the release [from simple vows] Di- vine Majesty suggested to me , that while I was going to be released from these, in the same act I would bind myself freely to God by other vows, which I did by offering myself taken out of my heart , and made publicly, although in a rather quiet voice (see FHR, No. 3, p. 63). The Oblatio was not an act of desperation. The internal driving coercion and resolve to leave the Piarists were just a part of the whole story, which God directed. Saint Stanislaus was not departing from the Piarists in order to found the Marians, nor was he intending to fulfill his personal plans of changing his status. We can probably say without falling into some kind of determinism, that God Himself decided to give flesh – in the form of yet another community bearing the name of the Immaculately Conceived – to 12 Semi-Pelagianism is a misnomer for a Christian theological and soteriological school of thought on salvation. Semipelagian thought stands in contrast to the earlier Pelagian teaching about salvation, Pelagianism (in which people achieve their own salvation by their own means), which had been dismissed as heresy. Semipelagianism in its original form was developed as a compromise between Pelagianism and the teaching of Church Fathers such as Saint Augustine, who taught that people cannot come to God without the grace of God. In semipelagian thought, therefore, a distinction is made between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith. Semi- pelagian thought teaches that the latter half – growing in faith – is the work of God, while the beginning of faith is an act of free will, with grace supervening only later. [8] It too was labeled her- esy by the Western Church at the Second Council of Orange in 529 (online Wikipedia).