To underscore its indebtedness to its past and its obligations to the present and future, the Marian Fathers on Dec. 8, 2019, launched a four-year-long Jubilee celebration of the 350th anniversary of their founding.
The Marian Fathers are planning events for each of the years - some geared toward Marian priests and brothers and others to Marian Helpers. Plenary indulgences are available at Marian locations worldwide, including at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Marian Fathers and Marian Helpers are all being urged to recommit themselves to serve Christ and His Church, to inspire conversions, to evangelize through witness, and to live more deeply the spirituality of the religious Congregation.
This year, Dec. 11, 2020, will mark 350 years since St. Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701) - a Polish priest, mystic, preacher, and writer who staked his life upon the mystery of the Immaculate Conception - made what's known as his Oblatio, offering himself to God and to the Blessed Mother and professing his intention to found the Marian Fathers.
In a letter to his confreres, the Marian Fathers' Superior General the Most Rev. Fr. Andrew Pakula, MIC, said:
"I trust that our celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the origin of our religious community will contribute to the renewal of our faith and our personal bond with the Lord who called us; to the deepening of our identity and the awareness of our charism; to our giving witness to who we are and to the purpose of our existence in the Church; to our rediscovering what Christ and His Immaculate Mother, our Patroness, mean to us; to strengthening our bonds with our holy Father Founder, St. Stanislaus, who - always obedient to the Holy Spirit - gave rise to our religious community."
Jubilee themes
Each year of the Jubilee will have a special theme: "Consecrated for Christ and the Church" (2020); "In the School of the Immaculate Conception of Mary" (2021); "On the Paschal Path" (2022); and "On the Charismatic Mission" (2023).
The Apostolic Penitentiary has granted the opportunity to obtain plenary indulgences (the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin) during the Jubilee at two Marian locations in the United States: the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy and the Divine Mercy Chapel at Marian Assisted Living in Brookeville, Maryland. The indulgences are available on a daily basis under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father), combined with a prayer for the Congregation of Marian Fathers or a prayer through the intercession of St. Stanislaus.
Confraternity
To help the lay faithful participate more fully in the Marian Fathers' spirituality, the Marians are also putting special emphasis this Jubilee on promoting the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Stanislaus himself encouraged his spiritual sons to establish confraternities. To learn more, visit marian.org/confraternity; email [email protected]; or call 1-800-462-7426.
The Jubilee will close on Dec. 8, 2023, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Congregation's titular feast day. That year will mark the 350th anniversary of the approval of the Marian Fathers' first religious house, in Poland's Korabiew Forest, today called Marian Forest (Puszcza Marianska).
Jubilee motto
The Jubilee motto is Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae ("In Honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary"). Indeed, just as the mystery of the Immaculate Conception serves as the essence of the Marian Fathers' charism, entrustment to Mary Immaculate serves as a defining element of the Jubilee itself.
A full 184 years before the Church declared the Immaculate Conception an official dogma, St. Stanislaus professed:
"I believe everything that the holy Roman Church believes, but first of all I profess that the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, was conceived without any stain of original sin."
Today, Marian priests and brothers serving in 20 countries and Marian Helpers around the world make St. Stanislaus' frequently repeated prayer their own: "May the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception be our health and our protection."
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