Servant of Mary new file

During the annual council at the Korabiew Forest, Father Wyszy<ski asked the general council to consider a proposal to accept this new foundation. The council gave its consent taking into consideration not only the possibili- ty of establishing a new religious house, but also the greater opportunity to spread devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the contract, Father Wojciech Strach, a Czech, arrived at Staropol with one lay brother in April of 1750. On September 26, 1752, another priest, Father Jacek Wasilewski, was sent to assist them, and, in 1755, Father Francis Raabe, a Czech, and a lay brother, Thomas Dering. At first they lived in a house by the wooden church. Countess Butler ordered that household quarters be built, and bequeathed to the Marians about 11 acres of land as well as the grounds between the rivers Sheshupa and Je>, upon which the Marians would later begin to build the town of Mariampol. The construction of a monastery which could house a greater number of people was finished only in 1758. The solemn installation of the Marians in Mariampol by the Dean of Olita, Father Wnorowski, with the participation of Countess Butler and her son Michael, in the presence of the pastors of the local parishes, took place on September 13, 1758. The monastery in Mariampol played an important role in the history of the Marians. A novitiate was established there in which new initiates of the religious would prepare themselves to the service of God and Mary Immaculate. 33 THE SERVANT OF MARY IMMACULATE