St. Faustina

 St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, Apostle of the Divine Mercy

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." ~ Psalm 136

Formative years

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy, was born as Helena Kowalska, in Glogowiec, Leczyca County, north-west of Lódz in Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of 10 children to a poor and religious family.

When she was seven, Faustina first felt a calling to religious life when attending the Blessed Sacrament Exposition.

In 1924, Faustina experienced her first vision of Jesus. While at a dance with her sister, Natalia, Faustina saw a suffering Jesus who asked her, "How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting me off?”. According to Faustina, she immediately went to the Cathedral where Jesus instructed her to leave for Warsaw immediately and join a convent. Faustina packed her bags at once and departed the following morning. When she arrived in Warsaw, she entered Saint James Church, the first church she had come across, and attended Mass.

While in Warsaw, Faustina approached many convents but was turned away each time, judged by her appearance and sometimes her poverty. Finally, the Mother Superior for the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy decided to take in Faustina on the condition that she could pay for her religious habit. Working as a housekeeper, Faustina saved her money to make good the dues.

On April 30, 1926, as a 20-year-old, she finally received her habit and took the religious name of Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament and in 1928, she took her first religious vows as a nun. In her spiritual life, she distinguished herself with an unquenchable love of the Eucharist and a deep devotion to the Mother of Mercy.


A simple nun who hadn'r complete schooling, she was tasked to do menial chores. Her life was seemingly insignificant, monotonous and dull; she nonetheless went about her work with great diligence. Externally nothing revealed her rich mystical interior life where she hid an extraordinary union with God.

In 1932, Faustina returned to Warsaw. On May 1, 1933 she took her final vows in Lagiewniki and became a perpetual sister of Our Lady of Mercy.

Apostle of Divine Mercy

On Sunday, February 22, 1931, Faustina was visited by Jesus, who presented himself as the "King of Divine Mercy" wearing a white garment with red and pale rays coming from his heart. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world.

"Secretary of My most profound mystery — the Lord Jesus said to Sr. Faustina — know that your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about My mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me." (Diary 1693).

At a time when some Catholics had an image of God as such a strict judge that they might be tempted to despair about the possibility of being forgiven, Jesus chose to emphasize his mercy and forgiveness for sins acknowledged and confessed. 

The two rays emanating from Christ’s heart, she said, represent the blood and water that poured out after Jesus’ crucifion and death. "The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous; the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross... Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him." (Diary 199)

Her response unsurprisingly was one of total submission to this task, "O my Jesus, each of Your saints reflects one of Your virtues; I desire to reflect Your compassionate heart, full of mercy; I want to glorify it. Let Your mercy, O Jesus, be impressed upon my heart and soul like a seal, and this will be my badge in this and the future life." (Diary 1242).

Jesus told her, "I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart." (Diary, 1588)

In a diary entry from February 22, 1931, Faustina writes: "In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'"

Faustina also describes during that same message, Jesus explained he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be "solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy."

Faustina, not knowing how to paint, asked around her Plock convent for help but was denied. It wasn't until three years later, in 1934, that the first painting of the image was created by Eugene Kazimierowski, who was recommended by her confessor Father Michael Sopocko when Faustina was transferred to Vilnius

During her first confession with Sopocko, Faustina told him about her conversations with Jesus and his plan for her. Father Sopocko insisted she be evaluated by a psychiatrist. Faustina passed all the required tests and was determined sane, leading Sopocko to support her religious efforts.

Sopocko encouraged her to start keeping a diary and to record all of her conversations with Jesus. Faustina told Sopocko about the Divine Mercy image and it was Sopocko who introduced her to Kazimierowski, the artist of the first Divine Mercy painting.

According to Faustina's 600-page diary, on Good Friday, April 19, 1935, Jesus told her he wanted the Divine Mercy image publically honoured. On April 26, 1935, Father Sopocko delivered the very first sermon on the Divine Mercy.

This was one of the key messages, "Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God." (Diary 1107).


In September 1935, Faustina wrote about her vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, used to obtain mercy, trust in Christ's mercy and to show mercy to others.

During the following year, Faustina attempted to set up a new congregation for Divine Mercy, but was reminded that she was perpetually vowed to her current order and sent back to Warsaw. She reported Jesus said to her, "My Daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My Divine Mercy, I will make up for what you lack."

Visions of Hell

In 1936, Faustina fell ill again. She moved to the sanatorium in Pradnik, Krakow and continued to spend most of her time in prayer. 

In October 1936, during an eight-day retreat, she was led by an angel to what she called the “chasms of hell,” which she described in her diary as a place of “great torture” and “fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it — a terrible suffering.” This hell was filled with darkness, and, despite that darkness, “the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own.” 

She testified in her diary: “I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence.” (Diary 741)

Scary as the images are, these visions also echo a positive urgency for mercy. Through these visions and their messengers, the divine is giving us yet another chance. We’re being warned to get ourselves in order, to stop sinning, and to seek conversion and redemption before it’s too late.”

In July 1937, the first holy cards with the Divine Mercy image were created and Faustina provided instructions for the Novena of Divine Mercy, which she reported was a message from Jesus. Throughout the rest of 1937, the Divine Mercy image continued to be promoted and grow in popularity. 

The crux of Divine Mercies can be remembered with the mnemonic ABC
A — Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.
B — Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.
C — Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

Death and canonization

Faustina's health significantly deteriorated by the end of 1937. Her visions intensified and she was said to be looking forward to the end of her life. On October 5, 1938, Faustina passed away. She was buried on October 7 and currently rests at the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland.

Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice - a life lived for others. At the Divine Lord's request, she willingly offered her sufferings in union with Him to atone for the sins of others. In her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God's mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again.

Faustina is considered to have had hidden stigmata, meaning she felt physical pain in the places where Jesus was wounded, but there were no visible wounds on her body. She felt pain in her hands, feet, side, head, and in the place of the crown of thorns. She only told her confessor about her invisible stigmata.

In 1965, Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, who would later become Pope John Paul II, opened up the first investigations into Faustina's life and virtues. He submitted a number of documents on her life to the Vatican and requested the official beatification process to start.

St. Faustina Kowalska was beatified on April 18, 1993 and canonized on April 30, 2000, both by Pope St. John Paul II. Her feast day is celebrated on October 5 and she is the Patron Saint of Mercy

Saint Pope John Paul II canonized Sr. Faustina in 2000 making her the "first saint of the new millennium."  Speaking of Sr. Faustina and the importance of the message contained in her Diary, the Pope called her "the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time."

References

1. Diary, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul (c) 1987 Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA 01263
2. Mary Faustina Kowalska. (n.d.). The Vatican. Retrieved October 5, 2024, from https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20000430_faustina_en.html
3. St. Faustina Kowalska. (n.d.). Catholic Online. Retrieved October 5, 2024, from https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=510
4. Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. (2024, August 6). Franciscan Media. Retrieved October 5, 2024, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-maria-faustina-kowalska/
5. Bermudez, A. (2024, August 15). 7 things you need to know about St. Faustina and her vision of hell. Catholic News Agency. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249183/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-st-faustina-and-her-vision-of-hell