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Starting at age 14 (1919), she worked on and off as a domestic helper to support herself
and her family. 22 She had a three-year equivalent of formal elementary education and could read
and write in simple language. 23 She intended to enter a convent after her schooling, but her
parents refused to give her permission. 24 She then downplayed her religious calling until age 19
(1924), when jolted by a vision of the wounded Christ beside her, as she began to dance at a
party, which she attended with her sister. 25
Thereafter, she determined to pursue her religious vocation and to advance spiritually
towards sainthood, notwithstanding any great suffering that might come her way. 26 As she felt
divinely inspired to enter a convent in Warsaw, she travelled there (Diary, # 10). Unfortunately,
several convents turned her down, being poor, uneducated, and having job skills only as a
housemaid. 27 But on August 1, 1925, the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy finally
accepted her, joining in their apostolic residential work for troubled or “fallen” young women
who were referred to as “wards” or “students.” 28
On April 30, 1926, at age 20, she received her religious habit, as well as the religious
name, “Sr. Maria Faustina,” following the Congregation’s tradition. 29 The name Faustina means
“the fortunate, happy, or blessed one,” the feminine construct of Faustinus, after a second
century Christian saint and martyr. 30 It seemed to portend a life of martyrdom, albeit bloodless,
mixed with consolations, which God made her realize and taste momentarily on that fateful day
(Diary, # 22). Sr. Faustina added the appellation “of the Blessed Sacrament” apparently moved
22
Ibid., Faustina, Diary, xv, xxix-xxx; Addenda, 701.
Ibid., Faustina, Diary, xii, xv.
24
Ibid., Faustina, Diary, xxx.
25
Ibid., Diary, # 8-9, xv; Addenda, 701.
26
Ibid., Diary, # 1333, 1358-1366, 1372, 1691, 302-306.
27
Ibid., Diary, # 13, xv, xxiii; Odell, Faustina, 39.
28
Ibid., Diary, # 10-12, xxx; Addenda, 701; The Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, 1; Odell, Faustina,
41, 44.
29
Ibid., Diary, xvi, xxxi.
30
Ibid., Odell, Faustina, 48.
23
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