the mystical temple of god 572 real attention and frequently considers it carefully, he will reap great benefit, namely, an increased knowledge of himself and of God, a sure way of salvation and a rule of Christian perfection. If someone reads it more carefully and meditates more often, he can benefit from our work a great deal, [gathering] namely an increase in the knowledge of himself and God, a sure path to salvation and model of Christian perfection.”6 It should be obvious that the author offers his work to everyone as a textbook of spirituality. Sources of Teachings and Subsequent Editions Father Papczyński based his ascetic theology on Sacred Scripture, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, works by Christian writers and mystics, and treatises on theology, quoting frequently from such books. While preparing the critical edition of TDM, Fr. C. Krzyżanowski, MIC, endeavored to link these quotations and references with their original sources and achieved a great deal in this respect. Despite this effort, however, he acknowledged the incompleteness of the result, caused by various reasons such as: a lack of references, the author’s inaccuracy in providing references, missing publishers’ addresses, or unknown translations of the quoted text. Actually, Fr. Papczyński, when necessary for his project, sometimes dealt quite freely with statements by other authors, whether by changing their wording, leaving a word out of the quote, or simply paraphrasing the text. In addition to the printings in 1675, 1741, and 1747, TDM was also reprinted in modern times; in 1958, through the efforts of the General Postulator, its Latin version with no critical apparatus was mimeographed. In 1965, TDM’s first translation into Polish appeared (prepared by Prof. E. Jarra). TDM’s critical edition in Latin with footnotes and an introduction was published by C. Krzyżanowski, MIC, in 1998. The English-language translation was released in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in 2013. 6 Ibid., p. 24.
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