Saint Stanislaus Papczynski — The Life and Writings

the Pilica River, where he accepted a chaplaincy at the court of the karski family, a noble family of Poland. In September 1671, Fr. Stanislaus took the white habit to symbolize the immaculate purity of the Mother of God, which he wanted to imitate to the end of his life. He also received the blessing of the apostolic nuncio, Angelo Ranucci. During the two years of his stay with the karski family, he was able to spread devotion to Mary Immaculate and continuously deepened his own relationship with God. Father Stanislaus experienced many graces and extraordinary signs, such as levitation and the gift of healing. For these spiritual gifts, he was nicknamed “holy priest.” At Lubocza, Fr. Stanislaus dedicated a lot of his time to writ- ing. Among the fruits of these efforts are Templum Dei Mys- ticum ( The Mystical Temple of God ) and his Norma vitae ( The Rule of Life ), which would later become the Constitutions of the Marian Fathers, the community that he would found. founding the new Congregation Taking the advice of his spiritual director and close friend, Fr. Francis Wilga, a Camaldolese at the monastery in Bielany (a district of Warsaw), Fr. Papczynski decided not to ask the Holy See to approve the community that he had founded — or rather, planned—until he had attracted companions to follow his Rule of Life and could find a place where they could live in community. Thus, in the fall of 1672, he arrived at the korabiew Forest, about 40 miles from Lubocza, where he found Stanis- laus krajewski and two other fellows who had been living for several years in a hermitage they had built in the forest. Father Stanislaus hesitated at first, but, after a certain amount of time, invited krajewski to Lubocza. There, krajewski expressed his readiness to join the fledgling order, made his oblatio , and took the white habit. Then, after having obtained the appropriate per- missions, Fr. Stanislaus himself decided to settle in this hermitage withkrajewski and the others. This is how the house inkorabiew Forest (whose name would later be changed to Puszcza Marian- ska, meaning “Marian Forest”), began in October 1673. It became S AINT S TANISLAUS P APCzyNSkI 16