Saint Stanislaus Papczynski — The Life and Writings

popes were directly involved in his case: On June 13, 1992, St. John Paul II promulgated the decree on the heroic virtues of the servant of God. Pope Benedict XVI made the decision for his beatification, which took place on September 16, 2007, in Lichen. Finally, the Holy Father Francis completed this work on June 5, 2016, announcing to the Church that Stanislaus Papczynski enjoys the glory of the saints in Heaven. So we see that the conviction of God’s people about the sanctity of this priest and religious began to be reflected in the subsequent official decrees and decisions of the Church only in the last 25 years. What does God want to say to us? And what have we to say to the new saint? What strikes us in his outlook and spirituality? 2. There is no doubt that an important element of the new saint’s identity was his vocation to the consecrated life and the priesthood. He obtained priestly formation in the Piarist Order and later fulfilled his vocation in the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that he founded, the Congregation that lives out his charism — his sensitivity to the things of God and his way of proclaiming the Gospel. The new saint was a zealous priest. God’s promise deliv- ered through the lips of the Prophet Jeremiah (“I will give you shepherds after my own heart” [Jer 3: 15]) found realization in his life and ministry. He became famous as an excellent preacher, as a sacrificial confessor, as a priest especially sensi- tive to the plight of the poor. We can say that he could harmo- niously combine three realities that make up the triad of priestly ministry: the ministry of the Word combined with sacramental ministry and the ministry of charity. In this sense, he can be a model for all priests, and an example of all-inclusive evangelization, which is concerned with the whole man, his spiritual and temporal needs. Documents and Homilies from His Canonization 191