19 pisma zebrane A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER The Selected Writings of St. Stanislaus Papczyński represents a collection of nearly all the written works of the Marian Founder translated into English. The works omitted in this English translation include the majority of Stanislaus’ work on the art of rhetoric (Prodromus Reginae Artium), and also two panegyrics. In the case of Prodromus, certain excerpts were included because of their aesthetic and spiritual value, but the rest was omitted due to size constraints and the fact that a detailed manual of rhetoric would not be of interest to most readers. The panegyrics were omitted because the complexity of St. Stanislaus’ Baroque Latin renders them unable to be satisfactorily expressed in English. These works are best studied in the original Latin by those to whom it is of interest. Two important events led to the release of this book. First, there was the desire to commemorate Fr. Stanislaus’ canonization, which took place on June 5, 2016 in the Vatican. Second, in 2020 there was the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of Marian Fathers (December 11, 1670). These events occurred at a time when the Congregation had been slowly changing its national profile, from a community living and serving mainly within the circles of Polish-Lithuanian culture to one that has a field of influence in Africa, Asia and Oceania and naturally, English-speaking cultures. Since English is now used in the Congregation at a level on par with the Polish language, an urgent need arose to provide the new generations of English-speaking Marians with source materials on the history and spirituality of the Congregation to ground them in their Marian identity. Although we know that Fr. Papczyński wrote works in Latin and Polish, the only surviving works are Latin texts. Alongside the release of his Selected Writings, a critical edition is being prepared of all the Marian Founder’s writings in their original Latin:
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