Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

smaller pains which could be overcome. The f irs t description of an acute a t ta ck of pa in in the abdomen is given by S is te r F au s t in a in h e r Diary, unde r the da te 24th September 1936: 'Mother Superior ordered me to say one decade o f the rosary in pCace o f a it the other exercises, and to go to hed at once. Sis soon as I [ay dozvn I f e d asleep, fo r I zvas very tired. ‘But a zvhile later, I zvas azvakened hy suffering. I t zvas such a great suffering that it prevented me from making even the slightest movement; I could not even szvallozv my saliva. ‘This lasted fo r ahout three hours. I thought o f zvaking up the nornce sister zvho shared my room, 6ut then I thought, "She cannot give me any help, so let her sleep. I t zvould he a p ity to zvake her..." ‘When the suffering ceased, I hegan to perspire. B u t s t i l l I could not move, as the pain zvould return at each attempt. In the morning, I f e l t very tired, though I f e l t no fur ther physical pain. S t i l l I could not g e t up to a ttend Mass.' (Diary, Notebook II, para . 696). This a ttack preceded o thers. They usually happened a t night, a few hours a fte r a meal, when the food left th e stomach for th e in tes tines . This n igh t ho u r was an additional to rm en t for th e sick woman, who was compelled to awaken a sleeping companion, or to suffer alone and w ithou t help. As we m igh t expect of her, S is te r F au s tina usually chose the la t te r course. J u s t when h e r s ta te of h ea l th h ad g rea tly worsened, the re was a change of In firm arian . In November 1936, S is te r B. was tran s fe rred to Walendow, and to fill h e r place came S ister Chrysostom, well known to S ister F au s tin a from h e r time in Vilnius, where she had also been infirm arian . For someone so seriously ill as S is te r Fau s tina , to be p u t in the care of one who for long had 269