historical writings 876 conclusion that I ought to give way before such fierce violence, so that I would not have to swim constantly upstream lest I be overwhelmed by the wickedness desired [by those seeking to harm me], and truly many others who supported me always desired the same [good outcome for me]. 2. The first attack against me was made by Fr. Cosmas of Jesus and Mary, the Superior General.83 When I heard that he was elected, I immediately predicted that a disaster threatened me on his account.84 And this prediction was fulfilled. In the beginning, he indeed propitiated me through kind and quite fatherly letters,85 but later, instigated by certain members of the oldest and most experienced Germans of the Polish Province,86 he openly declared himself as my enemy and, precisely on this account, but under a different pretext, he ordered me that I must travel to Rome from Poland.87 If I did not, he directed me to be enclosed in prison, even if in his letter he sweetly persuaded me to travel there [to Rome] with the promise of honors, rest, as well as his kindness and favors. And indeed in regard to himself, he incensed me even more since I did not see him remaining consistent with himself (he, who as their leader ought to have been the most consistent), for he wrote quite differently to me than he did to the Superiors about me.88 83 Fr. Cosmas Chiara (1616-1681), Superior General of the Piarists (16651671); cf. Positio, p. 254, n. 3. 84 We do not know what prompted Fr. Papczyński to make such a prediciton. Cf. Positio, p. 254, n. 4. 85 The letters about which Fr. Papczyński speaks here no longer exist. 86 “Germans” refers to Piarists from Moravia, Bohemia and Silesia who came from the German Province to join the newly created German-Polish Province in 1642, and in 1664, only five of them (referred to as “triarii”) remained in the Polish Province that had been erected in 1662. Father Papczyński was undoubtedly thinking of the Provincial Fr. Wenceslaus Opatowski and his Assistants Fr. Wezyrka and Fr. Michał Kraus. The “instigation” he refers to was probably the letter they sent to General Chiara around August 9, 1667. Cf. SH, p. 39, n. 31 87 Father Papczyński was summoned to Rome by letters sent in July and September 1667 to Provincial Opatowski. The other pretext was apparently given to Fr. Papczyński by the General, and was “provincia docendi nostros in Italia” ("the task of teaching our [students] in Italy"). Cf. SH, p. 40, n. 32 88 The letters which are spoken about here no longer exist, and so we are not able to verify this assertion of Fr. Papczyński.
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