Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

39 Marians in the first subsection, entitled Góra Kalwaria – the cradle of the Marians : The birth of the Order of Marian Fathers took place in Góra Kalwa- ria. For Fr. Stanislaus with his companions came there in 1677, at the invitation of Bishop Stefan Wierzbowski. The previous, four-year-long stay in Puszcza may be regarded as a preparation period. For the fol- lowing 24 years, here at Our Lord’s Cenacle in Góra, Fr. Stanislaus worked on and fought for his creation, conducted apostolic works, delivered fervent sermons, heard confessions, and spent his days and nights in prayer. It was here that he performed miracles during his life and after his death. 10 Let us also be mindful of the approaching 300 th Jubilee of the origin of our Order [in 1971 or in 10-years]. 11 It seems that it would be impossible to proffer such arguments a doz- en years later. For after the 300 th Jubilee celebrations which took place in 1973, no one from among the Marians would dare to suggest, even in an oratorical euphoria, that the community had existed since 1671 or that the Marian Order came to life only in Góra Kalwaria. It transpires quite clearly from the above excerpts that in the 1960s, the understanding of the Con- gregation’s origin among the Marians was shaky and unspecified and that it became firmly established under the influence of the aforesaid Jubilee cele- brations. One of the effects produced by the celebrations was the popular- ization of the belief that the Marians had been founded in 1673 in Puszcza Mariańska [formerly Korabiewska]. Father F. Bartecki gave the year 1670 as the origin of the Order in the title of his Master’s thesis in 1967: Rozwój prawa partykularnego Zakonu oo. Marianów w latach 1670-1910 [The Development of the particular law of the Marian Fathers Order from 1670-1910] 12 . If he had written his thesis a few years later, he would probably have given a different timeframe for the Order’s existence. 10 Ibid, 1. 11 Ibid, 18, words in brackets were added to the type-set by hand. 12 F. Bartecki, Rozwój prawa partykularnego Zakonu oo. Marianów w latach 1670-1910, Warszawa 1967, mps (book collection of the Marians religious house in Licheń).