Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

depths, to preserve a spotless soul "not of th is world"? For th is and other reasons, these S isters had a pen iten ­ tial outlook, a pe rm anen t sense of recollection in th e ir work with e r ra n t and sometimes deeply sinful souls, so th a t by the ir own penance they n igh t make repara tion to God for the ir wards’ offences - un til wards were able to do th is themselves - and then the S isters continued the sp irit of penance toge ther with the girls when the la t te r began to unde rs tand the m eaning of life. In such a way, the S isters not only cared for th e ir wards bu t included them in th e ir own adoration of God. Nevertheless, there was a b a r r ie r between the nuns and the ir wards: the wards m igh t no t en ter the Congre­ gation, no m a tte r w ha t the degree of th e ir personal sanctity. But before the Congregation had worked out its own sp iritual formation, and in connection with th is its organizational form, many years of life and work as a community elapsed. C ircumstances in th e ir lifestyle and experience gradually gave shape to both formation and organization. The Constitutions were only finalised after the death of th e Foundress, in 1878, i.e., sixty years after the estab lishm en t of the "House of Mercy" in Laval. This, however, had had no effect on the fruitfulness of th e ir work. When Mother Therese Rondeau died in 1866, h e r life’s work included the saving of 1500 souls; 1100 had died meanwhile, and the re were a t the time more th an 400 girls in th e care of the Congregation in two houses. The girls came to the House of Mercy of the ir own free will and could leave a t any time. The only condition for acceptance was to promise to break with the ir former lifestyle. To help them , th e ir r e d names and complicated life-stories were kep t absolutely secret. The whole impedimenta of th e ir lives remained on the other side of the convent door. In the House they received new Christian names while they were in 392