851 secrets of conscience 1. Secrets of Conscience Secreta Conscientiae Warsaw(?) ca. June of 1656; Two Fragments Introduction The full title of this writing of Stanislaus Papczyński, known to us from his writings that were studied during the beatification process1, is: Secreta Conscientiae ad Reverendum Patrem N.N. Poloniae V[icarium?] meum in Spiritualibus Magistrum [Secrets of Conscience for Reverend Father N.N. Vicar of Poland and my Teacher in Spiritual Matters]. Thus, this writing was directed to Stanislaus’ spiritual director during the novitiate, Fr. Alexander Novari, who in 1656 was the Vicar of the Provincial (Fr. Conti) for the Piarist houses in Poland.2 Papczyński wrote Secreta conscientiae (SC) probably toward the end of his novitiate, as the Constitutions recommended that each novice, before professing vows, make a sort of general confession “totius vitae anteactae” (of the entirety of one’s life before entering). Such is the character of SC, written like a booklet as “his confession, his failures and sins, which he committed in his youth, before entering the Order.”3 Papczyński was admitted to the novitiate on July 2, 1654, and so he would have finished his two-year novitiate on July 2, 1656. We can thus assume that about a month before, he was preparing to make a general confession, as was spoken of above. It was probably sufficient to do this from memory, but he decided to write down what he intended to reveal in confes1 Cf. Positio, p. 32, n. 141 2 Cf. Ibid, pp. 32-33. 3 PP, f.71r: art. 44.
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