Your fruit will remain

224 among the young community and a general shortage of priests, Bishop Adam Rostkowski, acting on behalf of the Bishop of Poznań, Szembek, closed the no- vitiate around 1716, and ordered the Marians to leave the monateries and engage in pastoral work in the parishes. The crisis was also aggravated because, although the Holy See had recognized the Marian Order after 1699, its Constitutions had not yet been confirmed. When the so called “Rostkowski Crisis “was over in 1722, Fr. Kozłowski went to Rome, where in 1723 he received Papal confirmation of the Order from Innocent XIII, together with his approval of the Constitution, formulated on the “ Norma vitae ”, and adjusted to the “Rule of Ten Virtutes of the BVM”. The new recognition of the Order gave rise to its gradual growth. The period from 1725 – 50 was marked by the outstanding personality of the Venerable Ser- vant of God Casimir Wyszyński (d.1755), who held many functions, among them, two terms as Superior General (1731 – 41, 1747 – 50). He initiated and directed the continued spiritual renovation of the Order, placing particular emphasis on faithfulness to the spirit of the Founder and the emulation of the Ten Virtutes of the BVM. He also started preparations for the Beatification of Fr. Papczyński. The Order experienced true growth during his office with a number of new founda- tions: in the Duchy of Lithuania : in Raśno and in Mariampol (1749); in Volhynia in Berezdov (1750); in Portugal in Balsamao (1745), where Fr. Wyszyński spent the last few months of his life, and died in the opinion of sanctity. The Order continued to grow in the second half of the 18 th century, so in time it became an international community. Two new monasteries were opened in Portugal; also in the former Polish Commonwealth (today Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine), and in 1779, the Marians settled in Italy, where in Rome they acquired a monastery and St. Vitus’s Church from the Cistercians. A noticeable growth of the Order followed, under Fr. Raymond Nowicki, Superior General (1776 – 88): there were 147 members in 13 monasteries. On 10 th March 1786 Pope Pius VI granted the Marians independence from the Franciscan Ob- servants, and on 27 th March 1787, the successive confirmation of the Rule and the Constitutions, adjusted to their new legal status. During this period, at the Bishops’ request, the Marians intensified their activity, by preaching parish mis- sions, engaging in charitable works (hospitals for the poor), and starting parish schools situated near the monasteries. Their parishes often became the centres of new parishes. The end of the 18 th Century brought a period of decline for the Marians, caused by adversities and the political situation, together with persecutions by govern- ments who were hostile to the Church. St. Vitus’s Monastery in Rome was the first to be closed down by Napoleon’s authorities in 1798. Three monasteries in Portugal were suppressed by the government in 1834. From the beginning of the