page_title: Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Fr. Raymond Nowicki
context_page_description: The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary is a Catholic male clerical religious congregation founded, 1670, in Poland. It is also known as Marians of the Immaculate Conception.
  The Congregation of about 500 priests and brothers has convents in 19 countries on 6 continents. Marians pledge support to the Pope and follow the official teachings of the Catholic Church and aim to spread devotion to Blessed Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Conception, pray for the souls in purgatory and undertake a variety of apostolic work.
  Marians were the first Catholic men’s religious institute dedicated to the honor of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. The community traces its roots to Saint Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński who was beatified in Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń, Licheń Stary, Poland, in 2007, and canonized on 5 June 2016 at Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City by Pope Francis. As an Institute of consecrated life their motto is Pro Christo et Ecclesia. Marians are also the official promoters of the authentic Divine Mercy message since 1941.
context_section_description: The Congregation began on December 11, 1670, with Saint Stanislaus Papczyński publicly announcing in his Oblatio the desire to establish a community of men dedicated to spreading the honor of the Immacuate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1673, in Puszcza Korabiewska (today known as Puszcza Marianska/Marian Forest) near Skierniewice, Poland, the first religious house of the Marians was approved by the local bishop. The first members of the community based their life on the Rule of Life, written by St. Stanislaus. He tempered his plans at first to establish a community active in the Church's service. At the beginning, the Marian Fathers lived an eremitical rule of life as they pursued final recognition and approval by the Church. Within a short time, the new and still small institute received approval from their local Ordinary, Bishop Stephen Wierzbowski of Poznan.
  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.
  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. 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 Fr. Andrew of St. Matthew Deszpot, a Czech originally received into the institute by the founder St. Stanislaus. At the same chapter, a General Procurator was chosen, Fr. Joachim of St. Ann Kozłowski. He was given the mission of going to Rome to have the institute's constitutions confirmed, and to remove the institute from the jurisdiction of local bishops. In 1723, Pope Innocent XIII approved the Marian statutes and released the institute from the interference of local bishops.
  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: Venerable Serv. of God 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 Kosciuszko Uprising in 1795, Poland lost its independence. Now the Marian Fathers found themselves divided by virtually sealed borders. The partitioning of the Polish Republic was decreed by the occupying armies of Russia, Prussia, and Austria.
  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 Marian
caption: Fr. Raymond Nowicki
exif: {}