Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Between th e two extremes of opinion - th a t she was a model nun , or th a t she was "a hysteric" - S ister Faus tina moved with the same inn e r freedom. In he r behaviour she was absolutely independen t of hum an opinion. O thers’ good opinion of h e r left h e r indifferent. I t was not for others th a t she h ad entered the Congre­ gation, b u t for God, and in the Congregation she was able to the full to practise a life in Christ. B. The S isters’ Wards The Congregation of S isters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland ran religious educational ins titu tions with a specific character. The Congregation was concerned with very difficult or morally-neglected girls. The ir education ran on two lines.The school gave them an elementary education, and th is was provided by the sisters of the f irs t choir, the so-called directresses. Bu t outside lessons th e ir upbringing was supplemented by work. This was done by the wards u nd e r the supervision of sisters of the second choir, as the wards were assigned to work in th e household, where the direction, whether in the kitchen or the garden, was in the hands of the co-adjutrix sisters. In the educative work of th e Congre­ gation, th is was the domain which ensured for the sisters of the second choir a d irect p a r t in th e upbring­ ing of the girls en tru s ted to them . The wards worked in small groups, usually of only a few, so th a t control over them was no t difficult and i t was easy to establish a personal contact with them. S ister F au s tina took a lively and active p a r t in the upbringing of the girls. She p u t all h e r apostolic zeal into it, and when, in Vilnius, Je su s gave h e r a be tte r unders tand ing of His g re a t Mercy, she drew the necessary inferences a t once. She asked h e r superiors for the most difficult girls, th e most stubborn and those 438