a fourth vow in addition to the conventional three. It was the promise to engage in perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In time the needlework brought in commissions from wealthy clients which improved the material position of the women, while Kozłowska fostered their spiritual development. In 1890 her widowed mother, Anna Kozłowska, having sold her properties in Warsaw, decided to move to Płock and live with her daughter. Initially Anna had opposed her only daughter's desire to become a nun, as she foresaw a better future for her in marriage, rather than grinding poverty in a convent. She eventually relented and decided herself to join her daughter's community. In 1903 she made her religious profession adopting the names, Maria Hortulana Rift with Koźmiński and beginning of the Mariavite movement To begin with fr. Koźmiński had been very pleased with Franciszka's religious progress. Nonetheless, in 1902, when she was forty years old, relations with her mentor broke down irretrievably. The reasons were that he disapproved of the attitude of some of his clerical brethren who, though educated and pious, had fallen under her spell and took spiritual direction from a woman. Another difficulty had been her introduction of certain religious practices without his leave. From 1893, Kozłowska reported that she had experienced religious visions. The first vision supposedly instructed her to form a new clergy order with the primary goal of propagating the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. They became known as "Mariavites", taking their inspiration from imitating the life of Mary. The group broadened its appeal in the first ten years, and in 1903, it attempted to gain canonical status within the Catholic Church. Having first met her at Christmas 1901, Father Jan Kowalski led the delegation under his newly assumed religious name, Maria Michał Kowalski. Kozłowska, not wishing to create difficulties with the church authorities, largely stayed out of public view and left the structural and political implications of the movement to others, particularly to Kowalski. Attempt at recognition In an effort to regularise the movement in the eyes of the Catholic Church, the group submitted documents to the local Bishop of Płock, in whose diocese Kozłowska lived and to two leading archbishops. The latter two rejected the idea out of hand, but the Płock authorities set up a Canonical Inquisition into the movement. To expedite matters, Kowalski led a