The Renewal of the Order redone 2018

31 Introduction It was thus decided that Rev. Matulewicz should leave the Russian Empire and move to the renowned center of studies in Fribourg, Switzerland. Many priests and seminarians used to go there to study. Therefore, under the pretense of pursuing university studies, it was possible to seek refuge in order to organize and educate the spirit and mind and then go back to work to the areas under Russian rule. 98 Undoubtedly this decision required a change in the direction of his entire life for Rev. Matulewicz. He had to abandon any further acad- emic and clerical career. At the end of the 1910-11 school year, he informed the Dean of the Academy, Rev. Aleksander Kakowski, that he needed to find another professor of dogmatic theology and inspector. When the saddened Dean asked why, Matulewicz answered that he was a monk and must leave. 99 At the end of June 1911 he visited in turn Vilnius, Warsaw, Lodz, and Kovno. It was a drive for vocations. He was looking for candi- dates to the Order and was talking with bishops. By the end of July he went to Fribourg. There was a rumor, in fact beneficial for the Marians, that he might assume the chair of dogmatic theology there. 100 He introduced himself to the local bishop and received permission, first oral and then written, to open a novitiate. 101 He rented a boarding school for priests called “Canisianum” near the university. There he opened the novitiate and called it the House of Studies. Ten novices applied, 102 Poles and Lithuanians, mostly colleagues and disciples of Rev. Matulewicz. Events of the previous weeks, especially his election as General and the transfer of the novitiate to Fribourg, created a new legal sta- tus. Accordingly, Rev. Matulewicz wanted to inform the Holy See 98 Ibid., p. 132, Nov.17, 1911. 99 LVA, set 1674, inv. 1, vol. 99, pp. 118-119, letter of J. Matulewicz to Fr. Buczys, [June 5-10, 1911]. 100 Polak-Katolik” [Pole-Catholic], 1911, No. 199, p. 3. 101 See Document 34, Appendix. 102 Diary, p. 133, November 17, 1911.