Spirituality of the Religious Life According to St. Stanislaus Papczyński 194 time. Its core was a total dedication of oneself in holy slavery to Mary, the Mother of God and the Queen of the universe, and – at the same time – freeing oneself from bondage to sin and Satan. The Blessed Virgin Mary, especially in her mystery of the Immaculate Conception, was the symbol and most perfect model of one’s dedication to slavery to God and freedom from evil. Mary’s “slaves” did not stop at freeing only themselves from the slavery of sin and evil, but took up apostolic works, such as praying for the slaves and ransoming Christians from pagan slavery; assisting prisoners and helping souls suffering in purgatory. According to the idea of holy slavery to Mary, “from among all the slaves, the souls suffering in purgatory are in the most difficult situation. Therefore, Mary’s “slaves” were obliged to remember them in prayers in a more special manner.”87 Before Fr. Papczyński raised the Congregation of Marian Fathers into existence, he got acquainted with these trends of spirituality and pious practices; and although there may not be any direct reference to any of these trends of spirituality, yet we may assume that they had some impact on Fr. Papczyński’s general concept of spirituality, including the spirituality of the emerging Congregation. The fact is, however, that the Marian Founder did not leave any explanation that could shed some light on the real reasons for promoting the idea of the Immaculate Conception and linking it with “praying for the souls suffering in Purgatory” and “assisting the pastors in the works of the church.” It is noticeable however, that he consistently placed devotion to the Immaculate Conception as the first task of the newly established community. This applies both to the chronologically consecutive documents written by St. Stanislaus, and to successive General Chapters celebrated after his death. In a document created in 1675 entitled Fundatio Domus Recollectionis, Papczyński stresses the supernatural origin of the Congregation. At the same time, he attempts to demonstrate that due to the immaculast character of the community which it had from the beginning according to the Divine plan, it must 87 W. Makoś, Maryjne niewolnictwo w nauce polskich teologów z pierwszej połowy XVII wieku, Lublin 1964, pp. 120-121 (mps AMG).
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