The Immaculist Character of Spirituality 201 The substantiation of the Immaculate Conception on the basis of reverse causality (from consequences to cause) may be found in the Marian Founder’s written works, especially in a brief poem from Prodromus Reginae Artium.110 The logic of the reasoning goes from a reflection on Mary’s attitudes presented in the Gospels, especially her life “in the fullness of grace,” her lack of inclination to sin, her extraordinary endowment, and participation in the life and salvific work of Christ, to the assertion that all this demonstrates the absence of original sin and its consequences.111 Naturally, the mystery of the Immaculate Conception in Papczyński’s theological reflection, expressed sometimes in poetic form, contains an anthropological dimension that refers to the redeemed man, marked by a grace that renews creation. In his poem, Triumphus sine originali macula conceptae magnae virgini, written on the occasion of the second edition of 110 Using the form of the epigram, Papczyński knows how to substantiate Mary’s Immaculate Conception very well, as he tells us in the preface to this work. Since this is one of his few works in which he attempts to provide the grounds for Our Lady’s privilege, while using this consciously selected method, it is worth giving the full excerpt here: “Likewise, out of the consequences, one can demonstrate in the following epigram that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin: “Quis Te primaevo tactam, Virgo, asserat ausu? Cui tetigit mentem nulla cupido mali? Quae stygium gaudes pede contrivisse colubrum. Amisit vires qua pariente dolor: Cuius, non mortis vi, sed vi tractus amoris, Spiritus ex famula sponte migravit humo: Cuius perpetuo membra incorrupta manebunt; Iamque dato lucent glorificata Polo: Quae nulla primi poena ausus tacta fuisti, Hoc Te quis tactam, Virgo, fuisse putet?” ‘Who would dare, O Virgin, to think that you have been marred by the original stain, [You] Whose thoughts weren’t touched by | any proclivity to evil? [You] Who crashed the infernal serpent with her foot. Childbirth lost all its intensity | as soon as it started. Your Spirit that was guided by love, not the power of death Left the body itself, | left its earth. Members of your body shall always be intact. And glorified they shine already | in heaven gained. No punishment of original sin touched you. Who would dare to | think you marred?’” PRA, p. 323-324. 111 Cf. K. Pek, Ojca Stanisława Papczyńskiego wyjaśnianie..., pp. 78-79.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==