189 Adam Boniecki, MIC Poland, Kraków, former Superior General Editor-in-Chief of Tygodnik Powszechny Acquainting the public with the person of Blessed Fr. Stanislaus was a discernible fruit of his beatifi cation. It was done on a considerable scale in Poland and met with public interest. Getting to know the person of our Founder more closely by the Marians themselves also was a fruit of the beatifi cation, or much rather of the preparations for it, which found its confi rmation today in Fr. Cambra’s homily. The beatifi cation helped us to better understand our charism, showing us the continuity and bringing the old Marian tradition closer. It also made us ask ourselves anew about the identity of our Congregation renewed by the Church. The preparations for the beatifi cation were a time of the intensive work of re-discovering our legacy which remained unavailable for dozens of years, hidden in archives and libraries behind the wall of unfathomable Latin. The credit goes to our confreres: Fathers Casimir Krzyżanowski, Wacław Makoś, Ryszard Piętka, Jan Bukowicz, and others who performed the task of bringing those materials closer to us. This also helped us to realize, even discover, such elements of our Founder’s charism as his total dedication to the matters of God, his total self-sacrifi ce and penance. All of this has been clearly demonstrated by his recently published works. The ceremony of the beatifi cation itself proved to everyone high and large the organizational abilities of our Congregation. I heard one of the bishops who participated in the celebrations saying: “I pity those who would need to organize the next beatifi cation for no one can do it better.” The organizational part of the festivities and the liturgy was worthy of the Vatican itself. It is worthwhile though to understand a certain perplexity and the problems brought about by the beatifi cation. It seems to me as if some confusion has arisen in the minds of the community members as to the relations between the Congregation reformed and renewed by the Church and the one of Fr. Papczyński, in which we take roots, and of which we are the continuers. Even here, at this conference, we hear voices advocating the need to bring back The Rule of the Ten Virtues, for example, or the white habit. Although no one has said that, but the return of the white Marians’ penitential practices: fasting, prayers such as the Offi ce of the Dead, is presumed. In short, it would mean the return to what used to be the essence and lifestyle of the white Marians. Interestingly, these kinds of motions are nothing new. The motif of bringing back the white habit and some of the pious practices has been weaving its way into our various meetings. The
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