Your fruit will remain

231 degeneration. The acceptance of Regula decem placitorum ( the Rule of Ten Vir- tues of the BVM), (Reguła dziesięciu cnót NMP, Lublin 1984) based on excerpts from the Gospel depicting Mary’s life in the form of her virtues and predilections, (virtute/beneplacita), with the aim to emulate, strengthened the ecclesiotypical dimensions of Marian spirituality, and the conviction of the evangelical sources of this concept. Marian spirituality was explored and theologically defined by the Founder’s successors and disciples in two directions: the justification of the emulation of the BVM, and the strengthening of the Marians’ spiritual dimension by setting it in a wider Christological and ecclesial context. The representative of the former is, above all, the Servant of God, Casimir Wyszyński and his Gwiazda zaranna of 1749, where in Wstęp, he thus justifies the emulation of Mary: “The one who is bound with Mary should imitate her virtues, and follow the path which she trod behind Christ. He left us the first and most perfect example of how to emulate His life in Mary – his dearest Mother.” The author is trying to demonstrate the con- tinuity of this idea, recalling constantly in his preaching and activity, the person of the Founder, and in his biography of Fr. Papczyński, he brings out the Marian character of the idea. The latter exponent of the trend was represented by Bl. G. Matulaitis-Matule- wicz. Through the reform of the Marian Order, and in his works, among others in Konstytucje Zgromadzenia Księży Marianów (Krakow 1933)(Constitutions of the Congregation of Marian Fathers), Dziennik Duchowy (Warsaw1988)(Spiritual Di- ary), Idea Przewodnia i duch Zgromadzenia (Warsaw1988)(The Leading Idea and Spirit of the Congregation), appropriate to his contemporary times. He stressed the universality of the Church and of the Congregation, and joined the Marian life-style with the idea of the universal apostleship, in the image of St. Paul the Apostle, in a harmonious manner. Instead of instructing ‘the simple folk’ in a simple manner , he introduced: any manner, inspired by devotion, to redeem and sanctify souls, emphasizing, “acquiring and spreading knowledge and instructing others, including the apostlate in the Eastern rite, and among the non-Catholics, especially ‘where the need is the greatest’. He expressed the fundamental ele- ments of Marian spirituality in a new way. He says in his ‘Leading Idea’: “The command of the Congregation resounds: ‘For Christ and the Church!’ Therefore let the Confraternity desiring to absorb the spirit of Christ and the Church try to seek God in everything, to please God in everything, do good in all, for the greater glory of God, to bring God into everything, so that He truly becomes the center of life for both the entire Congregation and the individual members (…) Thus, may Christ be the commander and the example, for both the entire Congregation, and its individual members, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary, our chosen Patroness, show us the way and help us: to live together and die together, to work together