TESTIMONIES: Her companions

Today I am going to tell you how her school friends saw Dina – is that alright?

 They say that Dina was always very punctual and attentive in class.  She never found an excuse to be absent from school. Very studious and gifted, methodical in her work, she never lost a minute. Doing well in every subject, she came first, but was never proud. Always very generous, one day she allowed another student who had ten marks less than her, to take the first place for which she had struggled and which was hers by right. She was known as an outstandingly good student.

One companion says that Dina was a little nervous. She was rather timid but made efforts to overcome her timidity. Dina was a little shy of her above-average height. The somewhat fearful look in her eyes made her companions nick-named her “our little gazelle” which greatly amused her. In spite of this timidity, if it was a question of helping her companions, she did so. When any of them got up to mischief, she never reported about them, but when asked, told the truth. She never told lies.

Dina did what her teachers told her, which was more than the rest of us, and for this we pulled her leg, calling her Saint Dina, Holy Dina. This was not from ill will, but to tease, although underneath we did admire her.

She was very humble and unpretentious, she did everything naturally. She was simple, courteous, distinguished in her manner and easy to get on with. She did not speak of herself or of her gifts; if these were mentioned, she accepted graciously. She did not take the first place in meetings. She did not say much, but when she did speak her conversation was serious, but agreeable and entertaining, listening to all that was of interest to us.

Dina was self-forgetful and thought of others. She always had something good to say to those who annoyed her. She did not like to hear unkind things being said about others, she knew how to make excuses for their shortcomings.  In conversation she never criticised or said anything disagreeable about other people.  When a conversation arose about someone, she always tried to bring out a good quality. One companion says that she never listened to criticism: if I criticised sometimes, she found an excuse, assuming that the person’s intentions were good; she corrected my opinion but without being harsh. I do not think that I have ever heard that she made anyone suffer, she was too gentle for that.

Dina had a strong personality but was never in a bad mood. I was near her in the dormitory and in the mornings I noticed that she always had the same smile. In one music examination they asked her something that surprised and bewildered her; she blushed and seemed very annoyed, but soon regained her self-possession. She was rather slow and once her mother reproached her for making me wait, she was not cross but smiled humbly.

Her life was reflected in her writings. When asked about this, her companions say that what she says about her childhood and adolescence is true.  We can see that she was interiorly fulfilled.