St Stan Illustrated Story

109 A fter many arduous weeks, Fr. Papczynski finally reached Rome. Unfortunately, he arrived there shortly after the death of Pope Alexander VIII (February 1, 1691), and before a new succes- sor had been elected to the See of Peter. To obtain the desired papal approbation of his Congregation, Fr. Stanislaus had no choice but to await in Rome the election of a new Pope. In the meantime, he made many pilgrimages to the various churches of Rome and its vicinity and spent much time in prayer at the tombs of the Apostles and Mar- tyrs. One day – according to Fr. Leporini – as he knelt in prayer at the tomb of Pope Innocent XI (who in 1681 had granted various indulgences to the Marians and permitted them to establish in their churches the Con- fraternity of the Immaculate Conception for helping the souls in purga- tory), “he received an interior revelation” that Cardinal Anthony Pignatelli would be elected Pope at the Conclave then in session. And this, indeed, came to pass, for the Cardinal – who as Papal Nuncio in Warsaw had been the penitent of the Saint – was raised to the See of Peter under the name of Innocent XII.