Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

picture of those days is given us by Mrs Lipszyc, whom Helena saw, as we have a lready mentioned, twice after en tering the convent, and to whom she frankly confided her new impressions. Helena had come to the convent w ithout the perm is­ sion of h e r paren ts . She informed them of h e r intention only when she h ad been provisionally accepted, and she requested the necessary documents. In answer, her p a ren ts sen t h e r elder s is te r Eugenie with instructions to dissuade her. Her s is te r’s visit did no t have the desired effect. Helena wrote direct to he r former parish p ries t and obtained the necessary certificates w ithin the s tipu la ted time, and hav ing collected the required sum of money, en tered the convent w ithou t fu r th e r contact with he r paren ts . For the necessary reference on h e r charac ter and behaviour, she tu rned to h e r most recen t employer, Mrs Lipszyc. This lady did no t refuse, and shortly betook he rse lf to the convent. The v isit tu rned out well. Mrs Lipszyc gave a most favourable reference for Helena. As a digression, i t is worth mentioning the following adven ture which befell Mrs Lipszyc when she was looking for the righ t con­ vent, for no reference could b e tte r indicate the opinion she had of Helena: "I knew tha t Helena had entered a convent on Zy tn ia Street in Warsaw, but I d id not know the name o f the Congregation. While looking for it on that street, I went inside the convent o f some Congregation. I mentioned that I was there to provide an opinion o f a g irl who had worked as a ma id for me for a year, and had now entered the Congregation. The S ister who was ta lk ing to me became annoyed tha t the candidate had deceived her in not adm itting that she had been a servant, for their Rule, tha t o f a single-choir community, d id not perm it them to accept servants. I at firs t began to explain tha t Helena was not a domestic by trade, but ju s t a country girl, who 59