238 Father General reminded all that our Founder instructed the Marians to recite daily the Offi cium defunctorum already in his Norma vitae (NV, VI, 2.4). In fact, until the renovation of our Congregation, the Marians faithfully carried out this practice, even though it took on various forms. Appeals for the daily recitation of the Offi cium defunctorum may be found in every law published before the time of the renewal (1687, 1694, 1723, 1786). What this practice looked like in real life is illustrated by e.g., the book of ceremonies Horologium Marianum and the prayerbook entitled Rahelhete manual. As we all know, in his fi rst project of the Constitutions, Fr. Renovator left out the eschatological element of our charism. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, concerned for the preservation of the Congregation’s charismatic continuity, brought back the prayer for the dead as one of our particular goals. At that point, only a general encouragement was given and no provisions were made as to any regular or communal practices of prayer for the dead. Although in time, Blessed George began to encourage the Marians in his instructions actively to pray for the dead and various attempts were made in the following years to revive this practice, nevertheless, until the present day, the Congregation does not have a uniform regular communal practice of prayerfully supporting the deceased. The Superior General expressed his conviction that now, after the Founder’s beatifi cation, it is necessary to seriously consider the regular practice of a designated part of the Offi cium defunctorum. Father Zbigniew Piłat was the fi rst to take the fl oor in the debate. He expressed his doubts as to the need of petitioning the Apostolic See in this matter, promoting instead the idea of issuing an appropriate decree obligating the entire community to carry out certain practices as defi ned by law. Father Andrzej Pakuła stated that, before going to a vote, it was necessary to make the motion more precise by appointing the day on which the Offi cium would be recited. Father Vytautas Brilius asked if the potential privilege could be extended to the laity among whom we minister. Several people in the room spontaneously supported this proposal. Father Brilius continued by saying that this project would have far lesser grounds if it was to include the Marians alone; however, it we were to pray along with the faithful (e.g., Marian Helpers) then it would make greater sense. Father Basileu Pires was against making the breviary prayer for the deceased an obligatory norm for the Congregation. Father Wojciech Jasiński took the contrary position. He also said that our confreres in England pray for the deceased every Tuesday. This idea was born in one of the house meetings and was accepted as a means of fulfi lling our eschatological charism. Father Marek Szczepaniak motioned to heighten the communal sense of responsibility for supporting the departed. In his opinion, the Directory must state that individual Provinces are allowed to defi ne by their Statutes a day on which they would recite the Offi cium in order to avoid a mandatorily
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