Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception
Congregatio Clericorum Marianorum sub titulo Immaculatæ Conceptionis Bmæ Virginis (Latin) Roman Catholic Church | |
Website | www.padrimariani.org |
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The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary (
The Congregation of about 500
The Marians were the first Catholic
, their motto is Pro Christo et Ecclesia.They are also the official promoters of the Divine Mercy message since 1941.
History
On December 11, 1670,
Pope Innocent XII granted his approval for the young institute in 1699 with solemn vows under the French Rule of the Ten Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, initially placing them within the Franciscans.[8]
With the death of the founder in 1701, however, the Marian Fathers found themselves in a critical period of transition. Internal factions divided the membership into one group favoring a strictly contemplative life, and a second group seeking to add missionary and pastoral outreach to the institute's contemplative spirit.[8] The period known as the "Rostkowski Dispersion" followed, fired by internal conflict, as well as the negative attitude expressed by some bishops and lay dignitaries. In 1716, Bishop Adam Rostkowski decided to close the Marian novitiate, instructing Marians to leave the monastery and move out to assume pastoral work in parishes.
In 1722, Bishop John Tarlo of Poznan called the scattered Marians back to their monasteries, and convened a general chapter. The man elected to serve as Superior General was
The rest of 18th century was marked by steady growth as the Marians expanded from Poland to Portugal and Italy thanks to the efforts of two outstanding Superior Generals of the institute: Casimir Wyszyński (1700–1755) and Raymond Nowicki (1735–1801).
Rapid changes in the European political situation by the end of the 18th and through 19th century led to the near destruction of the institute.
With the complete failure of the
Again, in 1798, after Napoleon seized Rome, he mandated that all foreigners be expelled from its borders. The exodus included the Marian Fathers removed from their monastery and Rome's St. Vitus Church.
In 1834, the Portuguese government became hostile toward all religious, and finally closed all Marian monasteries in that nation.
In Eastern Europe following the Vienna Congress of 1815, most of the Marian monasteries found themselves in the newly created Kingdom of Poland, which was part of Imperial Russia, whose Czarist regime was openly hostile to the Catholic Church.
The defeat of two Polish national uprisings against Czarist Russia, one in November 1830, and another in January 1863, meant repression for religious institutes in Poland. The Czarist regime prohibited the acceptance of new candidates to the religious life, effectively stamping out the normal process of growth in vocations to the religious life for the Marian Fathers and other institutes.
One of the most famous Marians in the 19th century was
By 1865, the Russian occupying forces allowed only one Marian monastery to remain open in
At this critical moment in the history of the Marian institute, an ardent and energetic Lithuanian priest came to visit Sękowski, with the aim of secretly renewing it. The priest was George Matulaitis-Matulewicz, and at that time he was a professor at the Academy of Theology in St. Petersburg, Russia. Matulaitis had a profound understanding of the contributions and significance of religious life to society, although Catholic monasteries were being suppressed at that time. He believed it was important to do whatever needed to be done to revive Catholic religious life in the lands dominated by Imperial Russia.
As a youth, he had been brought up in a village where the Marian Fathers staffed the local parish. The experience had left him with a lifelong respect and admiration for the Marian Fathers. And so Matulaitis, along with his friend
Matulaitis made his vows and was accepted into the Marian institute by Sękowski, and in the same year, 1909, Francis Peter Bucys became the first novice of the institute on its way to renewed life.
Matulaitis wrote the renewed institute's constitutions, inspired by the spirit of Stanislaus Papczyński and the desire to adapt his ideals to modern times. The new constitutions and revived form of Marian life were approved by Pope
To assure that the institute could continue to flourish without interference from the Imperial government, the secret Marian novitiate and house of studies were transferred from St. Petersburg in Russia to Fribourg in Switzerland. From this time on, the Marian Fathers began to experience consistent growth. In 1927, the year when
Bucys succeeded Matulaitis as the superior general of the renovated congregation. Thanks to Matulaitis's reforms, the Marian Fathers became a modern religious congregation. Yet Matulaitis did not change the main ideals of the religious community, such as spreading devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and supplication for the souls suffering in Purgatory. However, he did expand the field of the Marian apostolate and introduced significant changes into the Marian Fathers' way of life, adapting it to the new conditions and needs of modern times.
20th century
Although it is now an international organization, the Marians still have strong roots in Poland, (e.g. the
Between 1950 and 1986 the Marian Fathers operated two boarding schools in England, at Lower Bullingham near Hereford and the second, Divine Mercy College, at Fawley Court, Buckinghamhire, (north of Henley-on-Thames). Though intended for boys of Polish origin, in particular the children of the 100,000+ Poles who found exile in Britain after the Second World War, a proportion of the boys accepted were non-Poles. In 1987, the Marians distributed the film Divine Mercy: No Escape, which depicted the life of Maria Faustina Kowalska and featured a presentation by Pope John Paul II.
In 1996 the priests Seraphim Michalenko and George Kosicki formed the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy to provide instruction in Divine Mercy theology and spirituality to both parish leaders and clergy. At its inception, Pope John Paul II entrusted the institute with the task of providing "formation and research in The Divine Mercy message". Their role in spreading the Divine Mercy message was acknowledged by Pope John Paul II in a special papal blessing in 2001, the 70th anniversary of the revelation of the Divine Mercy Message and Devotion.
21st century
With a Polish Pope in the chair of
In 2009 the Marian Fathers controversially sold the
Statistics
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Mariology of the Catholic Church |
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- 2006: 350 priests 517 male religious
- 2007: 345 priests 506 male religious
- 2008: 348 priests 492 male religious
- 2010: 345 priests 472 male religious
- 2011: 350 priests 478 male religious
- 2012: 349 priests 471 male religious[13]
Affiliated bishops
- Fabijan Abrantovich
- Francis Brazys (Priest: 19 December 1942 to 22 December 1964)
- Francis-Peter Bucys(Priest: 25 March 1899; Superior General: 27 July 1927 to 21 July 1933)
- Andrei Tsikota
- Pranciskus Karevičius (Priest: 17 May 1886 to 27 February 1914)
- Andrei Katkoff (Priest: 30 July 1944 to 14 November 1958)
- Jan Paweł Lenga (Priest: 28 May 1980 to 13 April 1991)
- Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius (Priest: 20 November 1898; Superior General: 14 July 1911 to 23 October 1918)
- Jan Olszanski (Priest: 15 November 1942 to 16 January 1991)
- Liudas Povilonis
- Ceslao Sipovic(Priest: 16 June 1940 to 2 July 1960; Superior General: 2 July 1963 to 28 July 1969)
- Vincentas Sladkevičius (Priest: 25 March 1944 to 14 November 1957)
- Juozas Žemaitis (Priest: 25 September 1949)
References
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M.I.C.)".
- ^ a b c ""The History of the Marians", Marians of the Immaculate Conception". Archived from the original on 2012-06-20. Retrieved 2014-09-16.
- ^ "The Basilica - SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF LICHEN Sorrows IN OLD". SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF LICHEN Sorrows IN OLD. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ^ The Guardian; 20 June 1998. Texnews.com Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Historic England. "Name: FAWLEY COURT (DIVINE MERCY COLLEGE) (1125740)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- ^ "StackPath".
- ^ "Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary", Catholic Hierarchy
Bibliography
- Andrew R. Mączyński, MIC and Maciej P.Talar Three Centuries with Mary Immaculate As Patroness. Marian Press
- Tadeusz Rogalewski, MIC Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701). Marian Press, ISBN 0-944203-62-0