Spirituality of the Religious Life According to St. Stanislaus Papczyński 18 are articles dealing with more specific issues on Mariology, eschatology, the theology of the Cross, and rhetoric. Unfortunately, there still is no written work on the spirituality of the religious life according to Stanislaus Papczyński and the early tradition of the Congregation of Marian Fathers. Sporadic mentions of the subject appeared in works dealing with some individual biographical issues of theMarian Founder or his theological thought. However, being marginal in character, they are introduced as part of a thesis or a period of the Founder’s life under discussion. They frequently omit the source documents which were important in the forming of the Institute’s spirituality. It should also be noted that no other publication has been known to deal with the theological and spiritual aspects of the religious life as presented in the writings of Saint Stanislaus Papczyński. Neither is there any work on the source documents of the early Marian tradition, that is, the time of the Congregation’s origin. Thus, the basic question still remains unanswered about the theological and spiritual core of this religious institute, founded over 300 years ago. This question is of great importance primarily for the identity of the Marians themselves. Whereas the Church documents on the consecrated life indicate the need for a “fidelity to the founding charism and subsequent spiritual heritage of each Institute” (VC, 36), it is not possible to positively respond to this need without theologically describing the Institute’s original spirituality. Also, the beatification of Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński in 2007, nearly 300 years after his death, seems to confirm the importance and relevance of the example of his life and message, which define the Institute he founded. Furthermore, theological studies on the Marians’ spirituality, especially of its earliest period, considerably impact the studies on the history of Catholic spirituality in Poland. Some of the researchers are of the opinion that Stanislaus Papczyński is the creator of a new trend of the inner life and that the Marians’ spirituality is illustrative – in the broad sense – of the Polish school of spirituality.1 1 Cf. K. Górski, Zarys dziejów duchowości w Polsce, Kraków, 1986, p. 219; W. Słomka, Duchowośći szkoły, EK 4, col. 316; S. Urbański, Teologia życia mistycznego. Studium
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