Servant of Mary new file

place in the wall of the church where they remain to this day. Father Wyszy<ski’s death was a great blow to the Portuguese Marians. They were left not only without a superior but also without a priest. None of them had made a profession by that time. They immediately besought the Superior General in Poland to have some Marians sent to continue the work begun by Father Casimir. It was only on March 8, 1758, that Father Alexy Fischer, a Czech, and Father Raphael de Buffa, an Italian, arrived at Balsamao. The Superior General, Father Cyprian Fija=kowski, had given Father Fischer full authority over the Marians in Portugal until his death on December 31, 1783. For some time later, the Portuguese Marians would contact the Polish Marians directly. Later, they did so through the Procurator General in Rome or through the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon. After 1798, when the Marians were expelled from Rome by the Napoleonic troops, such con- tacts came to an end altogether. In the Vatican Archives, there are requests of the Portuguese Marians from the years 1819 to 1820 to be rec- ognized as a separate branch of the Order with their own Superior General. Officially, however, they were left under the authority of the Superior General in Poland, even though the superiors in Balsamao were still referred to as “Superior Generals in the Kingdom of Portugal.” The liqui- dation of religious orders in Portugal in 1843 put an end to their existence. The last “Superior General,” Father Joseph of the Cross, left Balsamao in January of 1851 and died in his native village of Lagoa, not far from Balsamao, proba- Foundation in Portugal 52