Saint Stanislaus Papczynski — The Life and Writings

his spiritual sons. Now he had passed to the Lord to receive his eternal reward, offering his final amen to God’s will for his life. a saint for our Time What can Fr. Papczynski say to our contemporary world? Does this man, who lived in the 17 th century, have any message for the people of the 21 st century — the century of computers and cell phones, of a global economy and space travel? How should we talk about the Founder of the Marian Fathers? In what ways can we imitate him? What can we learn from him? If we think about it, we will notice that this holy man has several common elements and connections with our own time. The 17 th century was extremely important for Poland, but difficult as well. The Poles faced numerous conflicts and fought several wars with different enemies: Sweden, Turkey, Russia, Brandenburg, Transylvania, and the Cossacks. In these battles, many people lost their lives and quite often were not prepared for death. Moreover, there were plagues that decimated the ranks of society. Simultaneously, the 17 th century was marked by moral de- cline, debauchery, and drunkenness —both among the nobility and the lower classes. Father Stanislaus, an astute observer of society, saw all this disorder. He was realistic about the human condition even as he had his mystical experiences. He founded the Congregation of Marian Fathers to prayer- fully come to the aid of the souls in Purgatory. In his pastoral work, he would turn toward the poorest and most neglected. At the same time, he would maintain contact with the great and powerful of this world, including the kings of Poland. He noticed how much the children and youth needed education and how they did not have a chance to obtain it because of their social status. Seeing the enormous threat from alco- holism, he forbade his confreres the use of any strong or “burning” alcohol under the threat of “losing God’s blessing.” S AINT S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 22