St. Faustina Kowalska Catholic Online Saints & Angels Facts Feastday: October 5 Patron: of Mercy Birth: 1905 Death: 1938 Beatified: Pope John Paul II on April 18, 1993 Canonized: Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000 Author and Publisher - Catholic Online Printable PDF of St. Faustina Kowalska Shop St. Faustina Kowalska Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept My mercy. On the next day when she entered the chapel Jesus instructed her once more how she was to say the prayer on an ordinary rosary. This message, Pope Benedict XVI has said, The message of Mercy as the Divine Power, as God putting a check on all the worlds evil, is indeed the chief message of our times. Whereas, it turned out, God let her know how much she would suffer. Just as the astounding revelations on the Divine Mercy entrusted by Jesus to St. Faustina constitute God's final effort of salvation . Of Helenka she used to say that she had an inner life of her very own and that her little soul must be dear to Jesus. That joy faded somewhat towards the end of her first year in the novitiate when she started to go through a period of extremely painful spiritual experiences known as the passive nights. I often visited her Sister Serafina Kukulska recalled and always found her cheerful, even happy, and sometimes as if radiant, but she never disclosed the secret of her happiness. Jesus introduced the Chaplet of Divine Mercy through a vision granted to St. Faustina. Helenka went to school in 1917, aged twelve, when the area was liberated from Russian occupation and a primary school was established in winice Warckie. Not only did she notice them, but she would also think of ways to help them. St. Faustina is celebrated each year as an Optional Memorial on October 5. St. Faustina offered her day in 1936 for Russia, as Jesus was in anguish over what was happening in the atheistic country. The grace of God is as great as the suffering. Father gave a detailed answer to all my questions. I remember her wholesome, happy smile Aldona Lipszyc recalled after many years She used to sing a lot and I always think of her in connection with the hymn she sang most often and which I learned from her, 'I am to revere Jesus hidden in the Sacrament'. Eugene Kazimierowski was the artist who painted the first Image of Divine Mercy which currently hangs in the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius, Lithuania. My superiors tell me that sometimes there are illusions and all sorts of spectres. There was not much work for her to do at Derdy, and Sister Faustina felt as if staying in this house was almost like a holiday. He would bless their words and endow them with such great power that even the most hardened of sinners would repent. I opened up all my soul, as usual. Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated the Second Sunday of Easter (which is the first Sunday after Easter). That was the quiet, godly influence Sister Faustina had on sinful souls. I couldnt grasp the meaning of whatever I read; I couldnt meditate. From the age of seven, she had felt the calling for religious vocation, but her parents would not give her permission to enter the convent. Her kitchen help Sister Serafina Kukulska recalled was a girl with a very difficult character, a convert, whom no-one ever wanted to work with. Whatever you ask for at that hour, for yourself and for others, will be granted you; at that hour grace came upon the whole world mercy superseded justice(Diary 1572), He assured Sister Faustina. His disclosure was followed by the same in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Helenka spent the last months of her postulancy in the novice house in Krakw, where she arrived on 23 January 1926. I feel very, very weak and am writing with a trembling hand. Souls that venerate the image of Divine Mercy will not perish In her diary, Saint Faustina recorded the words of Christ regarding the image. When I recall she confessed that in a few days time I am to be made one with the Lord by my perpetual vows, my soul is inundated with such unimaginable joy that I just cant describe it at all (Diary 231).The ceremony for her perpetual vows was conducted by Bishop Stanisaw Rospond on 1 May 1933. Faustina's message reverberated in St. John Paul II's heart. At last on 1 August 1925, the vigil of the Feast of Our Lady Queen of Angels, the day came when Helenka Kowalska crossed the threshold into the convent enclosure. I am suffering as much as I can bear. In the Vilnian period Jesus returned to the issue of the establishment of the Feast of Divine Mercy in the Church. Divine Mercy Sunday is the perfect day to start listening to what Jesus himself tells us: (1) "I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor . It was Father Micha Sopoko, who lectured in pastoral theology in the Faculty of Theology of the Stefan Batory University, and in educational studies in a teachers training college. Under Communism maintaining contact between Poland and the Holy See was not at all easy, and so it was difficult to refute the Holy Sees objections to the writings of Sister Faustina and the forms of worship. I got in touch with Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, an artist who lived in the same house as I and undertook to paint the picture, and with Mother Superior, who allowed Sister Faustina to visit him twice a week to instruct him on the details of the painting., The painting of the first picture of the Merciful Jesus started very discreetly at the beginning of January 1934. This truth that God is in His very nature Love and Mercy Itself, is given to us by our Judeo-Christian faith and God's self-revelation. Two days later she was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of winice Warckie. She waited for the priest He had promised and the chance to have the painting of the Merciful Jesus made according to Gods will. Sister Faustinas parents came to the agiewniki convent. By July 1937, the first Divine Mercy holy cards were printed with Sr. Faustina's instructions for praying the Novena of Divine Mercy, which she reported was a message from Jesus. Every day He gave her a subject for contemplation and points for meditation. Sister Faustina experienced visions of Jesus and Mary, during one of which Our Lord revealed that she was to . As a little girl she was already distinguished from others by a sense of mercy. When she was eighteen she once again asked her parents permission to enter a convent and again was refused. There will be a Feast of Divine Mercy, I see it, all I want is to do Gods will, she told Mother Superior. When all the opinions, including a psychiatric examination carried out by Dr. Helena Maciejewska, turned out in Sister Faustinas favour, Father Sopoko still deferred for some time. Sister Faustinas health was deteriorating all the time and the end of her life on earth was approaching. Others, the more thoughtful ones, said that Sister Faustina must surely be very close to God if she has the strength to bear all that suffering (Diary 126). That is how Sister Faustinas hospital ministry for the dying started. Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: Francesco d'Assisi; c. 1181 - 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianity. The Lord is with Thee. After all, she lived in a convent and was only a simple nun performing prosaic duties; she had neither extensive relations with other people nor any opportunities to disseminate this message in the world at large. She saw clearly what she was taking upon herself. In October 1937 Jesus gave Sister Faustina another form of worship of the Divine Mercy. that it is good for that person from the perspective of eternity. He did his best to follow all her requirements.. In a mystical experience after Holy Communion she received a blessing for the task from the Holy Trinity. At the hospital she experienced a lot of extraordinary graces. He said to her, You are the witness of My mercy; forever and ever you shall stand before My throne as a living witness to My mercy (Diary 417). The parish priest, Father Jzef Chodyski, made the following entry for 27 August 1905 in the parish register: On this day, 27 August 1905, at one oclock in the afternoon, Stanisaw Kowalski, farmer, aged 40 years, came accompanied by Franciszek Bednarek, aged 35 years, and Jzef Stasiak, aged 40 years, farmers of Gogowiec, presenting to us an infant of the female sex, born of his wife Marianna ne Babel, aged 30, at eight oclock in the morning of 25 August 1905 in the village of Gogowiec. In her everyday contacts Sister Faustina was able to interpret lifes troubles in a spirit of living faith and see Gods goodness in everything. Sister Felicja akowiecka visited Sister Faustina twice a week. It was yet another task which seemed to transcend her capabilities. After examining by the Holy See the next miracle of healing Father Ronald Pytel of Baltimore, MD, from incurable disease of the heart, the Holy Father John Paul II numbered her to the group of saints of the Catholic Church. Soon after that mysterious event she returned to Gogowiec to ask her parents permission to enter a convent. On her way to Vilnius she made a stop at Czstochowa to entrust Mary her life and mission, which she received from God. Our Lady faithfully accompanied Sister Faustina and spoke to her on the prophetic mission. As the devotion became more and more widely known the opinion of Sister Faustinas sainthood grew as well. The Diary has been translated into more than 20 languages, including, English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak . He said, When they say this Chaplet, it will please Me to grant everything they shall ask for (Diary 1541). Sister Faustina decided to leave and straightaway write to the Holy Father to dispense her from her vows. Mother Janina Olga Bartkiewicz, who was postulant mistress at the time, showed a big heart to young postulants preparing for the religious life, but at the same time made big demands of them and directed them firmly. And now praised be the Divine Mercy in us and through us., It was at Prdnik Hospital that she spoke for the last time with her Vilnian spiritual director, Father Sopoko, who was in Krakw in early September 1938 and had the opportunity to visit his extraordinary penitent before she died and hear instructions directly from her relating to the work of Mercy which Jesus had initiated through her services. I had seen him in the vision. Sister Faustina fulfilled this mission not only by the witness of her own life and the writing of her diary, in which she revealed Gods extraordinary merciful love for each human being, but also through her everyday relations with her neighbours. Yet, I decided to bear it all quietly, and not to answer questions. . Some, especially the more curious ones, were irked by my silence. Already on her third day there she had evidence of the efficacy of the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy Jesus had given her. Faustina was a remarkable child who knew from an early age that she was called to have a religious life. I didnt understand any of the things my confessor said to me. She was better at keeping the house than I was. At this time Sister Faustina often spoke of Gods mercy, Sister Szymona Nalewajk recollects, while I would challenge her and stress His justice. They were all taking part in the ceremony with great joy, and many received what they had asked for. That day at supper time a bell was heard. Mother General Michaela Moraczewska visited all the Congregations houses and spoke on the great mission for which God had chosen Sister Faustina. Two years later he made his second pilgrimage as Pope to the agiewniki Shrine, and in the basilica church he had just consecrated entrusted the whole world to the Divine Mercy. For us on earth she left a promise: I shall not forget you, O poor Earth, though I feel I shall im[1]mediately sink completely in God, as in an ocean of bliss; but it will not prevent me from coming back to Earth and fortifying and encouraging souls to trust in Divine mercy. Sister Amelia, who had a very sensitive conscience, asked her, 'Sister, how come, when you try so hard but over the week you still commit such a lot of sins. I want priests to preach My great mercy to sinful souls (Diary 49-50). That was St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Divine Mercy revelations, who was canonized in 2000 and whose revelations were celebrated Sunday. When I went indoors, and thought about what had happened at the gate I heard these words in my soul, My daughter, the blessings uttered by the poor as they leave your gate have reached My ears; they are thankful to Me, your mercy within the bounds of obedience pleased Me, so I descended from My throne to taste the fruit of your mercy. (Diary 1312). She woke up during the night and realised that a soul was asking her for prayer. At the age of seven she had her first undeniable experience of Gods love. When I tried to explain that I had a problem with saying this Litany, he rose and granted me absolution. On Jesus confirmation that He meant a material picture, she informed the local superior, Sister Ra Kobukowska, about the situation, who demanded a sign confirming the truth of the visions. After a few months, in June 1934, the work on the painting was drawing to a close. During the 1930s, a Polish nun named Faustina Kowalska reportedly had . It is undoubtedly a sign of our times a sign of our 20th century. By William Nardi 10/5/2020 Sister Gaudia Skass of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy displays an image of the Divine Mercy. Two days later she was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of . I want the picture which you will paint with a brush blessed in a special ceremony on the first Sunday after Easter, that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy. There were holy pictures on the walls, and a little altar stood in the middle of the bedroom, with a crucifix and two holy statues, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Although she could not read she was the one who instructed them in the faith and the principles of morality, and prepared them for their First Holy Communion. I shall complete all that is wanting in you (Diary 435). After his ordination on the third Sunday of each month he celebrated Divine Mercy services in this chapel. The painting of the vision Sister Faustina had had three years earlier at Pock gave rise to several fundamental questions which Father Sopoko put to Sister Faustina, and she in the simplicity of her heart passed them on to Jesus, who explained, My gaze from this picture is like My gaze from the cross (Diary 326), Jesus explained, The two rays stand for blood and water. On April 18, 1993, the Holy Father John Paul II raised her to the glory of the altars and on April 30, 2000, numbered her among the saints of the Church. Together they said the prayers for the dying, after which Sister Faustina told Mother Superior that she would not die yet. But Helenka felt her heart was so big that no human love would satisfy it. In the Cracovian convent Sister Faustina received the rest of the prophetic mission. Nearly half a year passed in this way and there was no change at all in the state of my soul. 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