Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

had been working as a domestic for tha t time in order to earn her dowry. B u t when I heard the accusation that Helena had deceived them, I became angry and hotly denied it, saying, "Helena is not capable o f lying. I have probably come to the wrong place and she is not here." I asked i f there were another convent nearby, and they directed me to the Convent o f Sisters o f Our Lady o f Mercy. Helena was indeed w ith them." From the re s t of Mrs Lipszyc’s account, we learn th a t after seeing the Mother Superior she saw Helena herself. "Helena obviously wanted to speak to me alone. Taking advantage o f the temporary absence o f her companion, while showing me to the door, she said that she was in difficulties, tha t she found the Rule with its insistence on silence and walking slowly to be burdensome, that she could not defend herself when unjustly accused o f anything... She d id not feel right, there, and d id know i f she could persevere in that Congregation, for she had to suppress her tempera­ ment and speak quietly, and th is was very hard for her. She also spoke o f hum ilia tions she had to undergo." In telling h e r daugh ter w ha t had tran sp ired on her v isit to the convent Mrs Lipszyc was unable to control he r anger a t anyone accusing such a tru th fu l girl as Helena of lying. "If I were deceived in her, I could trust nobody," she said. Although saddened by the g ir l’s problems in the convent, she was not surprised. "I understood her, knowing her lively personality, and I knew," she said, "that she m ight experience some difficulties from her superior." (Archives of S.F., Recoil.) 60