St Stan Illustrated Story

83 A fter some time the Saint was himself again. Without a word he rose and made his way to the door. But – not in the usual way. Finding his exit blocked by the wall behind him and not wishing to disturb the seated guests, he went straight through the table as though it were not there. Neither his foot nor his habit touched any of the guests, or even one of the dishes spread all over the table. In a few seconds he was at the dining-room door. He found his wagon and asked the driver to take him back immedi- ately to the hermitage. His confreres were surprised to see him so soon. He said only: “Brethren, pray for the dead!” Then he again locked him- self in his cell for several days, taking neither food nor drink. When he next visited Lubocz, his host James karski begged him to describe what he had seen during his ecstatic vision. The Saint was at first very unwilling to reveal anything. karski, however, urged him all the more, promising that he would reveal nothing of the secret to anyone during Fr. Papczynski’s lifetime. Father Stanislaus at last gave way and said, “I was in purgatory; I saw the unbearable agony of the suffering souls.” When he was asked how he had been able to walk straight through the table, he answered: “That I don’t know myself, for it seemed to me that there wasn’t anything in front of me and that I simply walked across the floor.”