Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

the care of th e community. Thus they were as if new-born, and only penance connected them with th e ir former lives, as well as the new ly-regenerative con­ science and wish to make repa ra tion to God for th e ir sins. They were generally known as "penitents". Let us not however deceive ourselves. Even the u tmost good will could not always make up for defects of character. The will could no t keep pace w ith feelings of remorse or even the most ferven t desire for change, where there had been a to ta l lack of grounding in principles and of tra in ing in perseverance a t p u t t in g into practice those same principles. The wards had to be tau g h t everything from the beginning: many had to be shown the most e lem en tary C h ris tian concepts, and respect for work, a sense of duty, discipline and obedience. They were difficult to guide, emotional and w ithou t self-control. Therefore work with them requ ired enormous patience and understand ing , combined w ith firmness and refusal to compromise. The basis of dealing with them , in other words the sp iritua l, was to behave with the deepest sympathy, unde rs tand ing and love, which m us t no t be oppressive while rem a in ing watchful. The system the Congregation operated to re-educate them did not depend on pun ishm en t b u t r a th e r on stim u la ting good will and no t allowing th e wards to be discouraged by failures; they were constantly to be encouraged. The girls were divided up into small groups, com­ pletely independen t so-called "classes", each of which h ad its own life and was no t in contact with th e others. This system no t only fac ilita ted b e t te r control of the more un ru ly and difficult elements, b u t perm itted an in s titu tion of more th an two hund red wards to have a family atmosphere. Under th e eye of the head of each class, a religious known as th e "class mother", "the children" were no t lost in the general mass, which was ra th e r too numerous; b u t in th e individual freedom afforded by th e ir small group they gradually became accustomed to th e ir new life with its different style and 393