historical writings 934 1. I, Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, formerly a member of the Congregation of Pious Schools,335 now by the mercy of God a religious — though unworthy — of the Order336 of the Immaculate Conception, out of love for God fulfilling the divine decree, according to which all men must die once, publicly declare that I depart from this earthly life in the Roman Catholic faith, for which I was ready to shed my blood during the Swedish War.337 When I was going from the [Old] City338 with my companion339 near [the church of ] the Dominican Fathers,340 a heretical soldier attacked me with an unsheathed sword. Meanwhile, my companion (although he was German)341 fled, [as] I, having knelt down, presented my neck to be cut off; but by Divine Providence, it so happened that I was not wounded at all, even though I was quite strongly struck three times. However, for about an hour and a half, I experienced enormous pain.342 2. Now, I give thanks to the Divine Goodness, that He preserved me for an even longer martyrdom. For I suffered very grievous persecutions in the Congregation of Pious Schools. I was even nearly killed on account of enmity, and finally, I was 335 Father Papczyński was a member of the Piarists from 1654-1670. 336 Originally in 1699 this was probably “Congregation,” but in 1701 the Marian Congregation became an Order (with solemn vows), and therefore Fr. Papczyński replaced the word Congregation with Order to reflect the current ecclesial status of his Institute. 337 This was the war of 1655-1660, during which the Protestant Swedes invaded Poland and attempted to crush Polish culture and the Catholic religion. Warsaw was seized by the Swedes, and an eyewitness wrote that in Warsaw “Swedes kill whoever they want in the streets with impunity.” 338 This was the Old City of Warsaw (inside the walls). The Piarists had a house on Długa Street, outside the Old City but only a short distance from its walls. 339 This was, undoubtedly, Joseph Starck of St. Catharine, who was sent together with Stanislaus for theological studies in Warsaw. Cf. Positio, p. 286 (Doc. IX, 1: A.D. 1655). 340 The Dominican church of St. Jacek was located outside the Old City, but only a few steps from the city gate. 341 Starck is denoted as “Germanus Podoliniensis” in the Elenchus of Students from Podoliniec. Cf. Positio, p. 494, n. 8. 342 We do not know the date of this incident, but it must have occurred after September 8, 1655, when the Swedes occupied Warsaw, but before May 6, 1656, when the Piarists moved from Długa Street to a safer location.
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