The Rule of Life

to anybody. In truth, it is convinced that it should venerate each of the most holy, ancient and pious Orders and all Institutes to such an extent as to profess itself the last of all and recommend itself humbly to their protection and charity. 4. From all these things each one can conclude that his present Institute of Marians Hermits, founded in the status approved by the Canon Law, does not need any other approval. 8 For when the Superior General applied to the HolyApostolic See for its confirmation, 9 the whole affair was first examined for almost a year by theApostolic Nunciature in Poland. Then on the basis of its information the matter was also discussed for a longer time in Rome. Finally the answer came, through the aforesaid Cardinal, 10 that it is enough for the Institute to have the approval of the Ordinary of the place and this Rule of Life which has been studied by His Eminence with utmost assiduity and corrected with highest wisdom. 11 Such an answer is contained in the authentic letter of His Eminence directed to the Superior and his companions, 12 the letter with has been presented to and accept- ed by the present Bishop of Poznan. 13 9 8 This fact is stressed by Fr. Stanislaus, because some people claimed that the Marians, without a Pontifical approval, had no right to exist as a religious Institute. 9 Fr. Stanislaus made a double petition in this sense in 1692; cf. Positio , pp. 515-519. 10 He speaks here about Cardinal Leander Colloredo, whose name fig- ures on the front-page of the Rule of Life. 11 It is impossible for us to know the extent of the corrections made in the Rule of Life by Cardinal Colloredo, because we do not know if the text presented by Fr. Stanislaus for approval was exactly that of 1687. Hence it is possible that Fr. Stanislaus himself is responsible for some differences between the Norma Vitae of 1687 and that of 1694. 12 This letter is no longer available to us, not even in a copy. 13 He speaks here about Bishop John Stanislaus Witwicki, Ordinary of Pozna ń (1687-1698).