Spirituality of the Religious Life According to St. Stanislaus Papczyński 70 with deliberation; silence is linked with the need – in the example of Mary – to “ponder in their heart (praemeditari) what they are going to say.”125 Leporini, the author of the first biography of the Marian Founder, presented him as someone who consequently and faithfully practiced the virtues from his youth, being “inflamed by a keen desire for a higher perfection.”126 Vita Fundatoris lists the following virtues: chastity, moderation, poverty, humility, prudence, fortitude, patience, stability of spirit, wisdom, zeal, generosity, trust in Divine Providence, love of God and of the neighbor, magnanimity, faith, hope, piety, perseverance, and compassion. Summing up Fr. Papczyński’s characteristics, Leporini states that Saint Stanislaus was “a guardian and an ornament of all the virtues.”127 In his writings, the Marian Founder notes above all the significance of the infused virtues called, the “seeds of virtues scattered into the soil of [the Christian’s] heart,” which – in the likeness of growing crops – demand constant and persistent practice. Otherwise – as he admonishes in Inspectio cordis, writing a commentary on the Gospel story about planting the seed of the Divine Word (Lk 8:7), “the thorn bushes of fresh faults and offenses, the thistles of evil feelings and shameful desires [which] grow upon the beautifully cleaned out, cultivated, and well-planted soil of your heart,” rise in the human heart and consequently “choke the excellent seedlings.”128 We must remark 125 Rule, p. 44. 126 This phrase, used by Leporini to describe the Marian Founder, is constantly present in the latter’s teaching, especially in his Inspectio cordis. There, he repeats like a refrain his encouragements and admonitions about the religious persons’ duty to strive for a higher perfection and “higher virtues” (sublimiores vitutes), connected to a closer and more precise imitation of Christ in carrying of the cross instead of settling for “some simple perfection” (quavis simplex perfectio) and “ordinary manner of living” (vulgaris vivendi consuetudino). VF, p. 636; cf. also IC p. 303. 127 VF, p. 642. Leporini’s conviction was unquestionably confirmed by the Decree of the Heroic Virtues of the Servant of God Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński, issued on June 13, 1992. The Decree reads: “It is considered to be a certain thing that the Servant of God Stanislaus of Jesus Mary Papczyński practiced the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, and other virtues associated with these, to a heroic degree,” Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Decree on the Heroic Virtues at stanislawpapczynski.org 128 IC, Sexagesima Sunday, AHC, pt. 2.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==