Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Though she had entered these households as paid help, because she was so easy to ge t along with and because she was so young, she was tre a ted as one of the family and h e r work did not make for changed circumstances. She was still concerned with childcare and housework, and the only new element for h e r was cooking on a far g rander scale than had been possible a t home. She had no close personal contact with the city world of fac­ tories and service industries. The problems of employ­ men t and the city p ro le ta ria t were unknown to her, so th a t when she arrived a t th e convent doors, she was a pure product of Poland’s countryside. In order to make clear w ha t I unde rs tand by th a t culture of country folk, i t is worth making a small digression, to define more closely the n a tu re of the peasan t or small farm er who has been produced by th is set of values. I quote from Professor S tan is laus Pigon, the prom inent scholar who, being h im se lf of peasan t origin, h a s analysed the conditions and lifestyle in the Polish countryside, and who p resen ts the following picture of thementality of th e small farm er and peasant: "It is to his type o f work tha t the small farmer owes his natural instinct for the harmony and order o f farm life, an instinct o f du ty and sense o f respon­ sibility for the whole o f life. He f ind s w ithin himself, compelled by the necessities o f daily life, the whole gam u t o f hum an abilities. He cannot, o f course, lim it h im se lf to ploughing and sowing, but must know how to mow and reap, thresh and clean grain, and m ill it. Nor can he lim it h im se lf to the fields and the care o f livestock. He must be able to undertake carpentry, weaving, any k ind o f craft for h is own use, i f he wishes to be a thrifty and capable farmer... This variety o f practised capabilities m ust give the small farm er’s mentality a richness o f grow th and fu lfilmen t unattainable in that system o f specialization found in the town." 54