Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

30 The oldest tradition speaking of the Congregation’s origin There has never been a doubt about Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński being the Founder of the Congregation. It seems that, from the beginning, the Marians were convinced that, upon leaving the Piarists, Fr. St. Papczyński immediately became a Marian or, in other words, that the Marians’ origin goes back to 1670. The following are certain facts speaking to this effect. In the oldest biography of Fr. Founder, written around 1705 by Fr. Man- sueto Leporini, OFMRef., we read that Fr. St. Papczyński “being obedient to the Divine voice and to its admirable ordinance changed his first voca- tion, with the consent of the supreme Vicar of Christ, Clement X, and that of the General Superior. On Wednesday within the octave of the Immac- ulate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary – December 10 [ sic!|, 1670, – he was dispensed from simple vows and the oath of perseverance by Fr. Michael of the Visitation. In the very same time Fr. Stanislaus made a new offering to God and His Mother – oblatio , appropriate for his Congregation. He received a blessing from the above-named Father: “May God strengthen what He has done in you.” 15 Further in the text M. Leporini mentions the bishop’s visitation of the Korabiew hermitage, during which the bishop “gave his approval to the new Institute.” 16 In a similar way Fr. Casimir Wyszynski, presenting the Congregation’s beginnings, was convinced that Fr. St. Papczyński changed the religious institute, i.e. became a Marian immediately after leaving the Piarists 17 . The Brief Ex debito Pastoralis Officii of March 10, 1786, which rati- fied the Marian Order, gives the year 1670 as the date of the Marians’ ori- gination. The Breve sums up the report about the beginning of the Marians made by Fr. Norbert Golkowski, Procurator of the Congregation, as fol- lows: “...in the year 1670, with the approval of the Apostolic Nuncio of that time, the above-said Order or Congregation was established in the King- could possibly suggest that the Pope give his approval to the new Order. Should the Marians actually the obtained papal approval in 1699, then it would be certainly impossible for Bishop A. Rostkowski to suppress the Order in 1715. It transpires from this fact that at the beginning of the 17th century the Marians were still an Institute of diocesan rights. 15 Leporini M., Vita Fundatoris , n. 32, in: Positio , p. 639s. 16 Ibid., n. 37, in: Positio , p. 641. 17 Cf. Wyszynski K., Vita Ven. S.D. Stanislai a Iesu Maria Papczyński , n. 30, in: Pisma o. Ka- zimierza od sw. Jozefa Wyszynskiego , editors: W. Makos and Z. Proczek, Puszcza Marianska 2002, pp. 683s.