231 Father Founder’s beatifi cation “forced” us, as it were, to quickly publish his works in Polish, to fi rst learn about his life and spirituality, and then about the sources and history of our Congregation, especially from before its renovation, which was not a well-known part of our history. The most signifi cant fragments of the Founder’s writings have also been published in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Throughout the entire pre-beatifi cation year, Father Founder was speaking to each one of us through his writings, which were read daily before meals and on the days of recollection. I remember our delight, bewilderment and shock. A person, who was completely different from the one existing in our minds, emerged from his written works and biography, along with a clear vision of our Congregation’s beginnings. During these readings, some of the fragments which I had already known spoke to us in a more powerful manner as if a special light of the Holy Spirit was shining on the words of our Founder. I did not believe my eyes when I was looking at the sources of our history: some which I had forgotten, and others which had been previously unavailable to us. We retrieved a Father and a starting place, out of which the vocation of each one of us had come. In his Fundatio Domus Recollectionis, Fr. Papczyński writes: “God’s vision, carved out in my soul, concerning the foundation of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception, (…) compelled me to its aim. (…) I was searching for ways to set up a Society of the Immaculate Conception, already formed in my mind by the Divine Spirit” (Lest You Remain Without Work in the Vineyard of the Lord, p. 103). Our beginnings are clearly defi ned and certain. We did not come into being as a result of human design. The vision of the Congregation was formed in the mind and heart of our Founder by the Holy Spirit. These are our roots and the source of our life. This is the foundation of our charism and the sound tradition of the Order. Father Stanislaus risked everything and dedicated his entire life to the fulfi llment of this vision, and he has been declared Blessed… This vision is also carved in the soul of every Marian, and in my own soul, as well. I must seek the Congregation’s spirituality and charism primarily in the Founder’s original experience, but I also have to seek it within myself, in the experience of my own life. Just as I once read through all of the documents of the Church, now I read with an intensifi ed curiosity all of the Founder’s writings about his vision for our community. We are the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception (Oblatio, 2). We are to “promote devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of God” (Norma vitae, I, 2). Out of a Divine inspiration, Father Founder put on the white habit in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary (Testament II, 3). For the Marians, the heart of the Holy Spirit’s vision is the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. The Founder does not speak
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