Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

63 oblative references found in his writings, which explain this concept and deepen it theologically – by two other formulas of religious vows, which St. Stanislaus used during his lifetime but which were not of his authorship. These two formulas present a slightly different understanding of religious consecration and – consequently – place an emphasis on other words. The first formula of religious vows used by our Father Founder, St. Stanislaus is his profession of simple vows in the Piarists which took place on July 22, 1656, in Warsaw. The formula contains no such wording as oblatio or offero , while it expresses the act of consecration by the phrases “I make my profession” ( faccio meam professionem ) and “I vow” ( voveo ) 26 . The second formula of religious vows is associated with the acceptance of the Rule of the Ten Virtues imposed on the Congregation of Marians. This formula was imposed by outside factors, and for this reason, Saint Stanislaus adds a stipulation while making his vows on June 6, 1701, at the Nunciature in Warsaw: “[I ... promise and vow] ... to observe through the whole time of my life the Rule of the Imitation of the Ten Virtues of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in what is not contrary to our religious institute.” 27 This phrase, included by the Marian Founder in the text of his profession, is an integral part of the formula. Oblative references are also absent from here. Conse- cration is signified by the words “I promise and vow” ( promitto et voveo ). In the documents – signed by both the Marian Founder as well as Archbishop Francis, the Apostolic Nuncio in Poland, and other witnesses – the act of making religious vows is called “profession” ( professio ). 28 The offering [of oneself ] expressed in the formula of the religious vows has the character of a total dedication. One’s total and complete devotion to God transpires in the logic of the chosen words, meant to fully define a human person (“my heart, my soul, intellect, memory, will, feelings, my whole mind, my whole spirit, my interior and exterior senses, and my body, leaving absolutely nothing for myself ”). The goal of the oblatio is to achieve such a transformation, that the religious becomes exclusively and com- pletely the servant ( totus servus ) of Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Additional features of this transformation, enumerated further in the 26 In the Polish translation, both aforesaid terms were rendered by the same word “to make” ( faccio mean professionem as “I make my profession” and voveo as “I make three simple vows”) cf. S. Papczyński, Profesja ślubów prostych , in: Pisma zebrane , op. cit., pp. 1409-1410. 27 S. Papczyński, Profession of Solemn Vows , in: Historical Writings of Blessed Stanislaus Papczyński, op. cit., p. 116. 28 S. Papczyński, Professio votum solemnium , in: S. Papczyński, Scripta historica , Varsaviae, 1999, pp. 143-144.