The Renewal of the Order redone 2018

65 Documents 2) that instead of solemn vows we be allowed to profess the three simple vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience, each year for six years and then in perpetuity; 3) that the constitutions of the Congregation of Marian Fathers be changed, if possible, in accordance with the Standards issued by the Holy Congregation of the Religious in 1901, and that we be allowed to test such constitutions with the consent of the Holy See. III. Because of the ban imposed by the lay government, novices could not be accepted, and from all the Marian religious who have ever existed presently only Father Wincenty Sekowski, the Superior General, is alive. All the others have already died. Even Father Wincenty Sekowski is advanced in age and does not enjoy good health. In this situation it seems appropriate and even necessary that one of the priests desiring to join the Marian Fathers’ Congregation profess his annual vows immediately so that if Father Wincenty Sekowski dies suddenly, the Congregation itself does not become extinct. It would also be a good thing if others who feel the same vocation might immediately begin their novitiate or test. Therefore, I humbly ask the Holy See: 1) That I, Jerzy Matulewicz, who for a long time have felt called to the vocation of a religious and have inasmuch as possible endeav- ored to arrange my life as a priest in accordance with the monastic regulations and since I believe that I am thoroughly familiar with the regulations governing monastic life, both general and specifically pertaining to the Marian Congregation, could immediately profess the first annual vows in the Marian Fathers’ Congregation, any impedi- ments that may appear notwithstanding; 2) that Rev. Franciszek Buczys, Doctor of Theology, Professor of Fundamental Theology or Apologetics in the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, who for several years has also felt called to the vocation of a religious, be immediately allowed to begin his novitiate, any impediments notwithstanding; 3) that others, either priests or laymen, desiring to join the Congregation of Marian Fathers, may begin their period of trial;