Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

outsiders know about this and we, nothing?" Various judgments were Being made about me. I suffered much fo r three days, but... I was happy to su ffer fo r Qod and fo r the soubs that have been gran ted 9(is mercy during these days. (Diary, Notebook I, para . 421). The scene described above throw s much ligh t on the kind of ha rdsh ip th a t S is ter F au s t in a usually suffered a t th e hand s of h e r companions. There was too much secrecy around h e r person: it was no t possible always to hide everything. W ha tever did come to ligh t was fragm en tary , unc lear and incomplete. This m u s t have caused many s isters to have th e impression e ithe r th a t special ru les applied to S is te r F au s tin a , or th a t they themselves were though t unworthy of confidence, since even m a tte rs concerned with religious life were being kep t secret from them . This supposition is not baseless. There were some very difficult situa tions . I t is a fact th a t wh ilst in Vilnius, th e very place where J e su s ’ desires came to pass, and where much activity in connection w ith th is occurred, S is te r F au s tin a caused a number of h e r companions to feel i r r i ta ted to a much g rea te r ex ten t th an anywhere else she remained. This irr ita tion was most obvious du r ing the period she was increasingly active in connection with the exposition of th e image. Bu t he re we should pause and look back once more to the time when th e p ic ture was painted . We know th a t i t was ready in Ju n e 1934, and given to F a th e r Sopocko. But we do no t know when F a th e r Sopocko p u t i t in the cloister a t th e convent of th e B em ard ine Sisters. This probably happened only by th e au tum n , for F a th e r Sopocko was still checking the iconographical significance of certa in elements in th e picture which were insufficiently clear to him. The s ta tem en t of the superior of th e Vilnius convent 209