St Stan Illustrated Story

75 I t is no wonder then that after a few months the faithful, drawn by the holiness of the Saint and their own desire to take advan- tage of his advice, began to come to the hermitage in ever increasing numbers. It soon became necessary to find ways of ministering to them at the hermitage. krajewski had begun, some time before, to build a chapel, but the site that he had chosen was too damp to be suitable. Father Stanislaus immediately sought permission from the Church authorities to build a larger chapel, with a Retreat House near it, on higher ground where the soil was dry and sandy. As soon as the necessary permission was obtained, he began clearing the forest, preparing the wood for the building, and leveling the ground. It was hard physical work, and the laborers, at the time, were few. A few years earlier, Fr. Papczynski had written on the subject of pastoral work in these words: “Oh, how praiseworthy are those fellow-laborers with Christ, who, solely out of love for Him pro- claim clearly and zealously, and especially to children and simple folk, all that is necessary to salvation, to a life lived in conformity with Christian morality, to the extirpation of faults and the acquisition of virtues. No work of charity could be more excellent or more blessed.” He ended by begging Our Lord that he himself might never in any way neglect such work for souls. It seems that Our Divine Savior did not deny him this grace. He took advantage of every opportunity to help souls. His apostolic zeal is shown by the fact that he even used to leave the hermitage at kora- biew to preach, to catechize, to hear confessions, and to conduct de- votions in the neighboring parishes. This activity received the general recognition of the faithful and bore fruit in their souls.