Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

31 dom of Poland by the Servant of God, Stanislaus Papczyński, for assisting the pastors and instructing the youth in the first principles of Faith and education. Afterwards it was aggregated to the Order of Friars Minor of St. Francis.” 18 It seems that in 17th century the Marians generally believed that the Congregation originated in 1670. Change in the Marians’ cognizance of their own beginnings. The change in the Marians’ cognizance of the beginnings of the Con- gregation supposedly took place after the renewal of the dying Order. In the Information for the Apostolic See about the Congregation of Marian Clerics of April 10, 1910, Fr. George Matulewicz wrote: “A Congregation of Marian Clerics under the title of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was founded by the Venerable Servant of God, Stani- slaus Papczyński. He laid the foundations of this Congregation in the Ko- rabiew Forest in 1679, with the consent of the Bishop of Poznan, Stefan Wierzbowski.” 19 The year 1679 is the date of the decree by which Bishop S. Wierzbowski installed the Congregation as a diocesan Institute. The commentators maintain that Father Renovator wrote the above in- formation, among others, on the basis of the above-named papal Breve of March 10, 1786. 20 Strangely enough, Fr. G. Matulewicz did not repeat the date of the origin of the Congregation given in this Brief, but gave a completely different one. Fr. G. Matulewicz’s action will appear maybe more comprehensible, if we consider the fact that he had a solid juridical background and was for a certain time a lecturer of Canon Law at the seminary of Kielce. As an expert in Church law, he knew well that only acts of Church authority brought about legal effects in regards to the com- ing into existence of new religious congregations, while actions of private individuals remained only pious intentions, with no legal effects. Conse- quently, only the act of a lawful authority could bring about the initiation 18 Pius VI, Brief Ex debito Pastoralis Officii ; in: Constitutiones Congregationis CC. RR. Ma- rianorum , Romae, pag. 357n; “nempe Anno MDCLXX. a Servo Dei Stanislao PAPCZYŃSKI Ordo, seu Congregatio praefata in adiutorium Parochorum, et ad instruendam in primis Fidei, ac Literarum principiis Juventutem in Regno Poloniae approbante tunc existene Apostolico Nunzio fuerit instituta; subinde Ordini Fratrum Minorum S. Francisci fuit aggregata”. 19 Quoted after: Odrodzenie Zgromadzenia Księży Marianów w latach 1909-1910 (doku- menty) , edited by J. Bukowicz and T. Górski, Warsaw, 1995, p. 101. 20 Cf. ibid., p. 103, footnote 2.