historical writings 878 Poland, this forced me to Germany93 and compelled me to oaths of which I did not know, as will be more extensively manifest — if God permits it — in The Roman Journey.94 6. Although he promised — in the presence of the Very Reverend Fr. Ruszocki,95 canon of Krakow, to send a visitator to Poland and that I could find in Germany the order to return to the Province, he kept neither of these two promises. If it had not been that God Himself arranged that Fr. Charles of St. Mary,96 Superior of the German Province, gave me permission to leave, I would have never appeared in Poland,97 just as some mockingly stated during the time of my absence. But there exists no power nor any plan against the Lord. 7. What kind of idea was it, to order the Provincial in Poland to incarcerate me98 upon returning, and this would have happened, if God had not prevented it. Even more, the dart, which he aimed at me in his letter to the Provincial was not trifling, namely: “I do not respond to Fr. Stanislaus, since he is a firebrand, an instigator, and a betrayer of the Congregation.”99 93 Father Papczyński went from Rome to Germany, to the Nikolsburg House of the German Province, probably at the end of January 1668. 94 Father Papczyński was probably forced to swear an oath subjecting himself to the orders of German Provincial during his stay in Nikolsburg. We are not able to read about this in The Roman Journey, and there is no proof that Fr. Papczyński actually wrote such a document as he intended to. If he did, then it has disappeared and its content is unknown. 95 It seems that Ruszocki was one of the protectors whom Fr. Papczyński found in Rome at the time. Cf. SH, p. 42, n. 42. 96 Father Charles Pessau of St. Mary was the German Provincial from 1662 until March 20, 1668. He had to remain in his office until April 1668, when the election of the new Provincial was made more certain. This new Provincial was Fr. Paul of St. Philip Neri Eder. Cf. Positio, p. 256, n. 15. 97 Father Papczyński arrived in Krakow around May 15, 1668. 98 General Chiara sent such an order to Fr. Wenceslaus Opatowski of the Most Blessed Sacrament, who was reelected as the Provincial Superior of the Polish Province on March 20, 1668. He probably sent it at the end of March, 1668. It seems that the General did not forsee that Fr. Papczyński would be given permission to return to his Province by Fr. Pessau. Imprisonment did not occur for the reasons referred to in SH, p. 43, n. 47. 99 This letter is no longer extant, and there is no mention of it in other documents. It may have been a letter to the Provincial Superior of the Polish or German Province. Cf. SH, p. 43, n. 47.
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