Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

45 ska also comes from the first post-visitation resolutions, which reads: [the Bishop] approved [approbavit] the institute of the aforesaid religious Fr. Stanislaus and the oblation of Br. Krajewski . 22 In the mind of the doc- ument’s author, this was not the initiation of the Marians, but their first approval by the Diocese. Also puzzling is the fact that the Bishop approved Br. Krajewski’s oblation which he had made four months previously-and other changes in the life of the hermits that had come to pass recently, but not Fr. Stanislaus’s oblation made three years earlier. Perhaps, in the Bishop’s understanding, Fr. Stanislaus’s oblation was a fact, largely-known and accepted by the Church authorities, and therefore not requiring any further approval. It seems that the proper interpretation of the document of 1673 also leads us – just like other source documents – to recognizing Fr. Stanislaus’s Oblatio as the true beginning of the Congregation, a histor- ic moment where the first Marian emerged in the Church. Second factor: the coincidence or the late discovery of the text of the Oblatio The 20 th -Century Marians discovered the text of Fr. Stanislaus’s Oblatio quite late, only in 1962. 23 While doing research in preparation for Stanislaus Papczyński’s Beatification, in the private archives of J. Muniak, a follower of the so-called Stanislavits, the Marians found by chance a copy of the man- uscript of the Protocollum Ordinis or a collection of various documents regarding the Congregation of Marians. Although, from the Founder’s bi- ographies, the Marians knew that Fr. S. Papczyński had offered himself to God and the Blessed Mother, i.e. made an act of oblation, yet, not know- ing the text and the contents of the document, they were unable to form a proper opinion about it. To illustrate: S. Sydry erroneously interpreted the importance of this act, believing it to be only the expression of Father Founder’s private devotion, who, standing on the threshold of a great en- deavor, he decided to offer (=entrust) to God this future Congregation. 24 However, the newly-discovered text of the Oblatio clearly proved that it was the religious vows, not an offering of the Congregation. We should 22 [episcopus) approbavit Institutum dicli Religiosi Patris Stanislai et Fratris Krajewski obla- tionem, cf. Posnaniensis .., 342 . 23 C. Krzyzanowski , Scripta nuper reperta historiam nostrae Congregationis respicientia, “Marianus. Comentarii Curiae Generalis Congr. Marianorum” (Romae), 6(1964) n. 25, 58-60. 24 S. Sydry, O. Stanisław Papczyński i jego dzieło ..., 68 nn.