St. Faustina's Spiritual Director Assessed Her Personality

With respect to her natural disposition she was an even-tempered person, without a traceof psychoneurosis or hysteria. Her contacts both with sisters in the congregation and with strangers were characterized by genuineness and simplicity. There was nothing artificial or theatrical about her, no affectation or desire to attract attention to herself.

Quite the contrary, she tried not to distinguish herself from others in anything, and she told nobody about her inner experiences, except for her confessor and the Superiors. Her spirituality was normal, restrained by her will, not manifesting itself in different moods and emotions. She gave no way to any physical depression or irritation in face of failures which she bore quietly, with submission to the will of God.
 

St. Faustina's Mental Health

Mentally, she was sensible and she was characterized by a clear judgement on things, even though she had almost no education: she could barely write with mistakes and read.She gave apt advice to her companions, when they turned to her, and in order to check her out several times I presented some doubts to her, which she resolved aptly. Her imagination was rich, but not exalted. She often could not distinguish between the work of her imagination and the supernatural one,especially when it concerned memories of the past. However, when I pointed it out to her and told her to underline in her diary only what she could swear was not a product of her imagination - she left out quite a few of her old memories.
 

St. Faustina's Morality

Morally, she was completely sincere without the slightest exaggeration and a trace of lie: she always told the truth, although it sometimes distressed her. In the summer of 1934, I was absent for several weeks, and Sr. Faustina did not confide her experiences to other confessors. On return, I learnt that she had burned her diary in the following circumstances. An angel supposedly appeared to her and told her to throw it into a stove saying: "You are writing nonsense and you only expose yourself and others to great distress. What do you get out of this mercy? Why are you wasting your time writing some delusions?! Burn it all and you will be quieter and happier!" Sr. Faustina had nobody to consult and when the vision repeated, she carried out the order of the alleged angel. Then she realised that she had done a wrong thing and she told me all about it and complied with my order to write it all again.

With respect to supernatural virtues she was making considerable progress. Indeed, from the beginning I saw in her well established and tested virtues of chastity, humility, zeal, obedience, poverty and the love for God and neighbour, but still it was possible to perceive steady growth of these virtues, especially at the end of her life with an intensification of the love of God, which she revealed in her poems. Today I do not remember exactly their contents, but I generally recall my admiration as to the contents (not the form) when I read them in 1938.
 

"I once saw Sr. Faustina in rapture"

I once saw Sr. Faustina in rapture. It was on September 2nd, 1938 when I visited her in the Pr¹dnik hospital and said good bye before leaving for Vilnus. Having walked away a few dozen meters it came to me that I had brought with me for her several dozen copies of the prayers on the Divine Mercy created by her and published in Cracow (the novena, litany and chaplet) and I forgot to give it to her. So I immediately walked back to hand them out. When I opened the door to Sr. Faustina's private room I saw her immersed in prayer in the sitting position, but almost hovering over the bed. Her gaze was fixed at some invisible object, her pupils slightly widened, she did not pay attention to my arrival, so I did not want to disturb her and I was going to withdraw; soon, however, she recovered, noticed me and said sorry for not hearing me knock on the door and my enter.

I handed out the prayers, said good bye and she said: "See you in Heaven!" When I visited her next on September 26th for the last time in Cracow-Lagiewniki, she did not want to talk to me, or rather she could not, saying: "I'm busy communing with Our Heavenly Father" and she really made the impression of a supernatural creature. Then I did not have the slightest doubt that what the diary contained about the Holy Communion administered to her by an Angel in the hospital corresponded with the reality.

As to the subject of Sr. Faustina's apparitions, there is nothing in it that would defy faith or good manners, or that would concern controversial opinions among theologians. Quite the contrary, everything aims at a greater knowledge and love for God. "The picture is painted artistically and constitutes a precious output of modern religious art."
 

Devotion to Divine Mercy

The cult of Divine Mercy (private in the form of the novena, chaplet and litany) not only does not defy the dogmas in any way, but aims at elucidating the truths of the Holy Faith and a visual presentation of what had previously been in the liturgy only in connection, - at highlighting and presenting to the whole world what the Fathers of the Church wrote about, what the author of the liturgy had in mind, and for what great human misery calls today.

The intuition of an ordinary nun, barely knowing the catechism, in things so subtle, so apt and suiting the psychology of today's society, cannot be explained otherwise than by a supernatural work and enlightenment. Many a theologian after long studies would not be able to solve even approximately these difficulties so aptly and easily, as Sr. Faustina did.

Admittedly, the supernatural work in Sr. Faustina's soul was often accompanied by the work of her quite vivid human imagination, as a result of which certain things were unconsciously slightly misrepresented by her. But it happens to all people of that kind as their lives show, e.g.: St. Brigida, Catherine Emmerlich, Mary of Zgreda, Joan of Arc, etc. That can explain the inconsistencies of s. Faustina's description of her entering the convent with the testimony of the Most Venerable Mother General Michaela Moraczewska and perhaps also some other expressions in the diary. Anyway, these are old things that both the sides could have forgotten, or have slightly altered, things which do not belong to the heart of the matter.

The effects of s. Faustina's apparitions both in her soul and in the souls of other people, went beyond all expectations. As Sr. Faustina was a bit frightened at the beginning, was afraid of the possibility of carrying out orders and shrank from them, later on she was gradually calming down and arrived at a state of complete security, certainty and a profound inner joy: she was becoming increasingly humble and obedient, increasingly united with God and patient, absolutely complying in everything with His will. There is probably no need to go on about the effects of the apparitions in the souls of other people who learnt about the apparition since facts speak best for themselves. Numerous votive offerings (about 150) at the picture of the Most Merciful Saviour in Vilnus and many other cities are a sufficient proof of the graces granted to the worshippers of the Divine Mercy both in the country and abroad. The information of the prayers granted by Divine Mercy, sometimes clearly miraculously, is coming from all sides.

Summing up the above, we could easily reach a conclusion; but since the final decision on the issue depends on the infallible institution in the Church, that is why we give to it with all submissiveness and we are most peacefully awaiting a verdict.