Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

190 Christ and the Church, expressed in the first Fiat at Nazareth and complet- ed through her motherly suffering under the Cross of Christ on Golgotha, where the Church was born. Thus understood, the Mystery of the Immac- ulate Conception constitutes the spiritual identity of Mary revealed by her to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes on March 25, 1858. Therefore, the proclamation of this mystery requires of us not to multi- ply various pious or promotional practices, otherwise important and nec- essary to celebrate it, but, above all, it calls on us to become a sign of the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception by making a total and selfless of- fering of ourselves to God and the Church. For this reason, the first step on the path of serving this mystery is the Oblatio of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, whom God prepared through the sufferings which he experienced in his life, and especially through the arduous experience of his departure from the Piarists, to the initiation of the Order of the Immaculate Concep- tion. The Oblatio was our holy Father Founder’s response to the charism of the Immaculate Conception, a gift freely given to him in order to proclaim Christ and to build up the Church. Father Founder received this gift at the most trying moment of his life, probably when, after making the decision to leave the Piarist Order, he was imprisoned by his superior for about 3 months, which he spent first in Podoliniec and then in Prievidza. 2 The “divine vision” concerning the founding of the Marian Congregation be- came Fr. Papczyński’s point of reference throughout his life. It also commu- nicated a new meaning to his life and religious vocation, and enabled him to go through the experiences of the Cross following the example of Christ. Fidelity to this mystical encounter with God led our Father Stanislaus to 2 Cf. T. Rogalewski, Lumen Marianorum, Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701). Founder of the Congregation of Marian Fathers and Inspirer of the Marian School of Spirituality , Stock- bridge, 2012, p. 209. Having written two petitions to the Piarist Superior General, Fr. Cosmas Chiara (August 15 and ca. October 15, 1669), asking to be released from simple vows and the oath of perseverance in the Congregation of the Pious Schools, Fr. Papczyński, who was then staying in Kazimierz near Krakow, just before Christmas 1699, also requested protection and transfer to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary of Krakow, Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki. A positive re- sponse arrived at the end of that year. However, his Provincial Superior, Fr. Wacław Opatows- ki, ignored this act and using force, transported Fr. Stanislaus first to Podoliniec, on January 8, 1670, and then, on January 28, to Prievidza, where the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Krakow, who claimed this prisoner, no longer applied. It was only on March 22, 1670, that Fr. Stanislaus was released from the Piarist prison in Prievidza, Slovakia, thanks to a special intervention from the Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow, Nicholas Oborski. Cf. Ibidem , cit., pp. 190-196; St. Stanislaus Papczyński, Apology for the departure from the Institute of the Pious Schools , Nos. 19-20, in: Historical Writings ... cit., pp. 40-41.