Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

163 vocation, he made the act of the Oblatio out of faithfulness to what God had done in his heart. Not a few knew that I was in the Congregation of Pious Schools, which was more dear to me than my life, in that most sweet Society of the Poor of the Mother of God. It is very difficult to explain how highly I valued my vocation stirred up solely by God. Moreover I be- longed to that most holy company, bound to it not only by the bond of love, but truly also bound by a commitment of the oath of perse- vering in it for ever. I wanted the first to be indissoluble; the other was dissolved by the one, to whom was given the highest authority of binding and of loosing, the Vicar of the Most Holy Jesus Christ, the legitimate Successor of Saint Peter, Pope Clement X. And yet ah! It came to this by what way of the cross! (FHR, No. 2, p. 62). The Oblatio, which was born and expressed out of pain, reflects the fundamental and most important feature of our charism. It expresses not only the personal charism of our Founder, but is also a part of the found- ing charism. Naturally, we mean the truth about the Immaculate Concep- tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary, expressed two centuries before its solemn proclamation by the Church as a dogma. The acceptance of the Oblatio as the moment of the Congregation’s origin can be understood as the com- munity’s desire to draw from it the inspiration for our way of life ad intra and a d extra . This also fits in with the Church’s modern teaching on loyalty to the charism of the religious family. In the first place, there is the need for fidelity to the founding cha- rism and subsequent spiritual heritage of each Institute. It is preci- sely in this fidelity to the inspiration of the founders and foundresses, an inspiration which is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit, that the essential elements of the consecrated life can be more readily discerned and more fervently put into practice (VC, 36). The biography of Father Stanislaus written by Father Casimir Wyszyński stated that he [i.e., Fr. Stanislaus] “changed his original vocation.” 13 Intend- ing no offense to the one of the most eminent figures in the history of our 13 Stróż duchowego dziedzictwa marianów , op. cit., p. 69.