Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

THE FAMILY HOME When, on 28th October 1892, S tan is laus Kowalski and M a rianna Babel were m arried , i t never en tered th e ir w ildest dream s th a t God would so bless th e ir union. He was 25 and she 18, and th e ir life was to be by no means a bed of roses. They were both poor country people from smallholdings, bu t he was a carpen ter and th a t was h is chief livelihood. The ir dream s were modest: to lead an hones t and godly life with a roof over th e ir heads and w ithou t going hungry. The wedding was in the village of D$bie in th e Turek d is tric t of Lodz voivodship*, where th e b ride’s pa ren ts lived. The bridegroom was a "local", living in Glogowiec, a few kilometres away. There he had a small cottage b u i l t h a lf of stone and h a l f of brick, and ju s t over 407 a res of arab le land (ten acres) and 132 and a h a lf ares (three and a q u a r te r acres) of p a s tu re for his three cows. He farmed th is in the evening and in th e early morning before leaving to ea rn h is bread in the sweat of h is brow. When he m arried , he hoped th a t life would become a little easier, as h is wife would tak e on the farm and look a fte r th e small num be r of livestock. She did no t disappoint him. She was a fa ithfu l and loyal companion who k ep t the hom estead in perfect order, looked a fte r him and helped h im in all she could. She even b rough t him his lunch to work, summer and winter, daily th roughou t th e i r m arried life. A voivodship corresponds to a B ritish county or French depa r tm en t - T ran s la to r 17