We named Faustina after the Polish nun, mystic, and saint, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. Saint Faustina is known as the saint of "Divine Mercy". When we went to the hospital we had a short list of names for girls: Geneveve, Olivia, Loretta, and Penelope (also Lucy and Julia); but after she was born about an hour, Cynthia just started calling her "Faustina". We both really liked it right away. For some time, her middle name was "Maria" after virtually every female's middle name in both of our families! Naturally, we changed it to honor my mother, Elaine.
Her name originates in Latin and means: "fortunate, blessed, or auspicious".
Her middle name as stated above is in honor of her grandmother, Elaine Marie, who passed away on June 22, 2003 after a second bout of cancer. Her grandmother exhibited great virtue of faith and she was an anchor of family life. Faustina will be baptized at the Cathedral of St. Paul on June 22 in honor of Elaine. There is rich Christian symbolism here regarding Baptism. In Baptism, we are brought into the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection, thus symbolizing a birth to new life. As one can see, Elaine's death coincides both to Faustina's Christening into her new life with the Lord, as well as her own birth into eternal life with God. One day Elaine's body will be resurrected (with us all) and we will again be restored into life with the Holy Trinity as intended "in the beginning" (Gen. 1:1).
Enough theology, back to the name...
Elaine is a form of the Greek name Helen, which means "light, torch, or beacon".
Essentially, Faustina's first and middle name can mean "auspicious light"; we certainly hope she is such in our broken world!
NB: read all about the Divine Mercy devotion here.
Deo gratias!
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