Saint Stanislaus Papczynski Selected Writings

821 introduction Fathers monastery in Warsaw; yet we know that Grabiecki ceased to be the Superior of this monastery in 1664. Along with the speech itself, DA includes the following, which precede the main text: • a quote from the Book of Sirach, probably chosen and added to the printed version by Franciszek Grzybowski — the promoter of this release, • a dedication to Fr. Albert Grabiecki from the same promoter. Moreover, at the end of the speech, Franciszek Grzybowski placed a short poem of his own composition, which reads thus: Aquinas is deservedly hailed as the Angelic Doctor, For his life and knowledge were angelic. He is regarded as a lover and a rock of angelic virtue, He worshiped Hera3 with a pure angelic mind Angelic were his customs, brain, and angelic Heart; he is called deservedly the Angelic Doctor. d. Sources In his speech, Fr. Papczyński used a variety of sources to illustrate and prove his statements. He used both the Holy Scriptures (e.g., Ezekiel, Tobias, etc.) and the history of the Church (St. Dominic, John XXII), as well as drawing on rich materials from secular history, particularly Greek and Roman (Alexander the Great, Scipio, Marius). He also included examples from mythology (Hercules). It is characteristic that he did not give references to the quoted material, but retold it in his own words instead. Father Stanislaus’ perfect mastery and usage of a rich array of compositional and stylistic instruments of the rhetorical art is noteworthy. He generously employed rhetorical tropes and figures along with sophisticated language. 3 Hera is the Queen of the Gods and the wife and sister of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon. She was worshiped as Angelic Hera — the Queen of the Virtues; cf. Parandowski, “Mitologia,” Warszawa 1990, pp. 63-65.

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