St Stan Illustrated Story

100 S uch incidents could not fail to spread the name and fame of Fr. Stanislaus throughout the surrounding countryside. Little won- der then that the king himself, John III Sobieski, heard of his presence at New Jerusalem. In all probability it was Bishop Wierzbowski, whom the king had visited there on more than one occasion, who gave him this information. Father Papczynski was not a complete stranger to Sobieski, who was often in Warsaw during the reign of John Casimir and had thus been able from time to time to profit by his advice in the confessional and to hear his sermons. Moreover, when in 1677, Sobieski (by now king of Poland) took the newly-formed religious community in the korabiew Forest under his own protection and that of the Polish Re- public, he came to know Fr. Papczynski as the venerable Founder of the Marian Fathers. Now as he listened to the praises heaped upon the Marians by the bishop and learned of their exemplary life and the marvelous results of their work, the king resolved to give new proofs of his favor to Fr. Stani- slaus’s Institute. The opening words of a document dated June 2, 1679, and signed by king Sobieski at New Jerusalem, express the king’s desire to aid “the souls suffering unbearable pain in purgatory.” He, therefore, took the Marians, who “in so many ways help the faithful departed,” under his special protection, confirmed and added to the privileges be- stowed on them by his predecessors, guaranteed the peace and inviola- bility of the Congregation, and made an additional grant of land “in perpetuity” to the community in the korabiew Forest. Finally, the king expressed his wish and his permission for this “most pious Institute” to spread to other parts of his kingdom.