Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was born on August 25, 1905 in central Poland, the third of the ten children of Stanisaw Kowalski and Marianna Kowalska. The Roman Catholic devotion and venerated image under this Christological title refers to what Faustina's diary describes as "God's loving mercy". In October 1928 the Congregation held its General Chapter, and the office of Mother General was entrusted to Mother Michaela Olga Moraczewska who was educated (a graduate of a music conservatory) and spoke several languages. During confession, he assured her she was on the right road, and that her relationship with Jesus was neither hysteria, nor delusion, nor daydreaming. Helenka asked the pastor of St. James parish, Father Jakub Dbrowski, for help. During the 1930s, a Polish nun named Faustina Kowalska reportedly had . I learned how much God loved me. In a response she heard: It is not the beauty of the paint nor of the brush, but My grace that makes this painting great(Diary 313). The Divine presence flooded my soul; I know I am under the glance of the Mighty One. The Bishop bestowed on her a ring with the name Jesus engraved on it as the sign of eternal nuptial. Then I saw her all different, changed, and levitating over the bed, gazing into the distance as if she were looking at something there. However, she advised her not to hurry with the foundation of a new congregation, for if the idea indeed came from God, then it would be accomplished in its time. Helenka looked after her employers children and also after those in need, of whom there was no shortage. Sister Eufemia Traczyska, a young nun in her juniorate, had heard from Sister Amelia Socha that Sister Faustina was bound to become a saint. 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. After a few weeks stay at Walendw she went to the Congregations house at Derdy, which was just a kilometre away where she cooked for the small group of sisters and over thirty charges. The One to whom I have made my vows is my husband and therefore your son-in-law. She felt that she loved God and was loved in return. After two miracles were investigated and confirmed, the pope made her Blessed Faustina in 1993 and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in 2000, the first saint of the 21st century and New Millenium. It was during Vespers in simple words straight from my heart I made a vow of perpetual chastity to God. She was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of Swinice Warckle. 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. Whenever I left the house Mrs. Sadowska said of her maid years later I could rest assured. She was modest and quiet, ready to do any chore and help anyone, but at the same time cheerful and always with a smile on her face. Helena Kowalska, known as Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, was born on August 25, 1905, in Glogowiec, Leczyca County, north-west of Ldz, Poland, as the daughter of a farmer. He said, I protect souls that spread the worship of My Mercy throughout their lives, as a loving mother protects her baby; and at the hour of their death I shall not be a Judge unto them, but their merciful Saviour (Diary 1075). During these visits she spoke with Dr. Adam Zylber on Sister Faustinas condition. Jesus introduced the Chaplet of Divine Mercy through a vision granted to St. Faustina. Sr. Faustina died October 5, 1938 and she rests at the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland. How marvellously her Divine Mercy service is making its way around the world and winning so many human hearts! Only during a discussion with her spiritual director Father Sopoko did she disclose that God wants a congregation to preach Divine mercy to the world and to pray for Divine mercy for the world (Diary 436). One big prayer of thanksgiving sprang up from my heart (Diary 17). 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. Her repeated protests that she felt unable to meet such a demand were of no avail. Her relics are in the Shrine of the Divine Mercy at agiewniki, Krakw. Her feast day is Oct. 5. A Gift of God for Our Times that it is good for that person from the perspective of eternity. In October 1937 Jesus gave Sister Faustina another form of worship of the Divine Mercy. 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. My mission will not end at my death. 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. It was an exhortation Sister Faustina heard many times: Tell the world of My mercy, of My love. This scrawny young man, in dreadfully tattered clothes, barefoot and without a hat as Sister Faustina described the incident was freezing, as it was a cold and wet day. 30 on Parzczewska St. (now 1 Maja 7 St.) and they needed help with the housework and looking after their only son Zenek. At first she was happy to be leaving, but on the next day was overwhelmed by darkness and felt she had lost Gods presence, so she decided to put off this move a little until her next meeting with her confessor. As she continued to grow and develop in her own faith and spirituality, she was blessed with inspiration to develop the Divine Mercy image. The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy has fully adopted Sister Faustinas prophetic mission, and on 25 August 1995 recognised her as its Spiritual Foundress. The figure of Blessed Micha Sopoko, confessor of Sister Faustina Kowalska, is well known, but Father Jozef Andrasz SJ (1891-1963), who played a very important role in the. That day at supper time a bell was heard. While she prayed there she heard the words, I admit you, you are in My heart (Diary 14). If time allowed she would play with me. When we got there Sister Faustina as if opened her eyes and gave a faint smile, and then bowed her head and Sister Amelia said that probably she had just died. Father gave a detailed answer to all my questions. Sister Faustina is one of the Church's most popular and widely known saints and the greatest mystics in the history of the Church. Mankind shall not find peace and contentment until it turns with trust unto My mercy (Diary 300), He told Sister Faustina. She suffered from tuberculosis of the lungs and alimentary system and that is why for over 8 months stayed at the hospital in Krakw Prdnik. We did not understand her. 5 October. She said that she would soon die and that she had finished all she had had to write and pass on. Indeed she gave the impression of a supernatural being. My soul trembled at the very thought that I was to take my vows. 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. Is a gift from God for our times, great mystic, mistress of spiritual life, prophet, who reminded the biblical truth about merciful love of God for every human being and calls to proclaim it to the world through the testimony of life, deed, word and prayer. Faustyna, popularly spelled "Faustina", had apparitions of Jesus Christ which inspired the Roman Catholic devotion to the . Our dear Novice Mistress bolstered my courage in these difficult moments. Like the biblical prophets, she started enumerating her inadequacies and excusing herself that she was not capable of accomplishing this work. But she wasnt sure she had understood His words correctly, that she was to found a new congregation, neither had she been told explicitly to inform her confessor of this, so for the next twenty days she remained silent. On that day the depths of My mercy are open; I pour out a whole sea of graces on souls that approach the fount of My mercy. Two days later she was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of . I felt wonderfully happy at having been able to confess everything. I was to bring her into the life of the community, and admired her for her quick learning. Numerous new Divine Mercy shrines have sprung up to preach the truth of Gods merciful love for each human being. Thats how Mother Magorzata Gimbutt described the candidate on a preliminary interview to Mother General, Mother Leonarda Cielecka, who was not very keen on admitting persons with such a background into the Congregation. 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. His right hand was lifted up in a gesture of blessing, and His left hand was touching His breast from which two rays, a red one and a pale one, radiated out. After taking her first vows Sister Faustina stayed for a few months in Krakw. Was when I was seven, [it happened] during Vespers and Jesus was exposed in the monstrance. Located in: Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. For another year she worked as a housekeeper to save some money for a modest monastic trousseau. However, impelled by the vision of the Suffering Christ, in July 1924 she left for Warsaw to find a place. The Diary of St. Faustina is the second most important book in the world, after the Bible. On that day are open all the Divine floodgates through which graces flow; let no soul fear to approach Me, even if its sins be as scarlet (Diary 699). St. Faustina was canonized in 2000, making her the first declared saint of the third millennium. From a very tender age she stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience and her sensitivity to the poor. Things turned out in such a way, Mother General Michaela Moraczewska explained Sister Faustinas frequent moves, that she had to be transferred fairly often to new places, so that she worked in almost all of the Congregations houses. 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. The sisters went down to the evening service. It was Sunday, 22 February 1931. He promised special graces to priests who preached the truth of Gods merciful love for mankind. Go immediately to Warsaw, there you will enter a convent (Diary 10). After her perpetual vows Sister Faustina stayed in Krakw for almost a month, taking advantage of the service of Father Jzef Andrasz SJ, who like Father Edmund Elter had confirmed her in the belief that the visions were genuine and advised her to remain faithful to the grace of God and to be obedient. People of faith feel this perfectly well!. Sister Faustina was to contemplate His love for her and love of ones neighbour. Faustina's message reverberated in St. John Paul II's heart. She was the tutor who prepared Helenka to take the veil and directed her in the first months of her novitiate. On her way to Vilnius she made a stop at Czstochowa to entrust Mary her life and mission, which she received from God. In the next visions Jesus made great promises to Sister Faustina in connection with the trustful reciting of the Chaplet. Her superiors sent her first to the Congregations house in nearby Walendw, where an eight-day annual retreat was just starting under the direction of the Jesuit Father Edmund Elter, a professor of ethics, homiletics and rhetoric at the Gregorianum University in Rome. In these dark nights of the soul there were moments of light and joy, when God allowed her to feel His love or when Our Lady came to her aid. What most struck me about Sister Faustina, she wrote after her death, and still strikes me today as an extraordinary phenomenon, especially in the last months of her illness, was her absolute self-oblivion for the sake of the dissemination of the worship of Divine Mercy. There she prostrated herself before the Blessed Sacrament and begged the Lord to tell her what she was to do next. Her condition was incurable, he replied, but Sister was an extraor- dinary nun, so he did not take any notice of that. I feel very, very weak and am writing with a trembling hand. St. Faustina offered her day in 1936 for Russia, as Jesus was in anguish over what was happening in the atheistic country. I want this picture venerated first in your chapel, and in the whole world. The achievement of this objective not only brought Sister Faustina the greatest amount of suffering, but also led her to full union with Jesus, to what is generally referred to as mystical betrothal and mystical marriage. Father Sopoko had preached a sermon on the Divine Mercy, during which Sister Faustina saw Jesus in the painting assume a living form, and His rays penetrate into the hearts of the people gathered for the ceremony, making them happy. The flames of mercy are burning Me; I want to pour them out onto human souls. As Jesus told her, His request that Gods merciful love for mankind be preached is the last recourse for many souls, which are being lost notwithstanding His bitter Passion. In the Cracovian convent Sister Faustina received the rest of the prophetic mission. Jesus paid no attention to this and did not withdraw His directive, but encouraged her, saying, Do not be afraid. Then she whispered, Jesus wants to elevate me and make me a saint. The tension regarding the accomplishing of the work of Mercy entrusted her by the Lord had gone. When I apologised to Jesus for asking that question, He replied that it had not offended Him at all. The following day, as she entered the Chapel, Jesus spoke to her and explained that the main purpose of Chaplet of Divine Mercy is to appease the Just Anger of the Holy Trinity. 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. In order to obtain a PARTIAL indulgence, the Faithful are required to pray, a legitimately approved invocation to our Merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. The other sisters who visited her in hospital noticed her radiant happiness. At night the whole family would kneel for evening prayers, in May they would sing the Loreto Litany in front of the outdoor chapel outside the house, and in October recite the rosary. It reveals the supremely holy and wise personality of the author, not so much in what she said . But occasionally someone was a witness to them. One such moment was the ceremony for her first vows, which was celebrated on 30 April 1928 by Bishop Stanisaw Rospond. St Faustina Kowalska is one of the most famous saints of the 20th Century, and was the first Saint canonised in the new millennium. If You are my God, please bless me. She woke up during the night and realised that a soul was asking her for prayer. Many churches dedicated to the Divine Mercy, the Merciful Jesus, or St. Faustina are being founded in Poland and throughout the world. Sister Faustina experienced visions of Jesus and Mary, during one of which Our Lord revealed that she was to . An experienced confessor, Father Sopoko first tried to get to know his penitent, and not be misled by any delusions, hallucinations or fantasies deriving from human nature. She was better at keeping the house than I was. In a mystical experience after Holy Communion she received a blessing for the task from the Holy Trinity. It is also the means to establish peace in human hearts and between nations: Mankind shall not find peace and contentment until it turns with trust unto My mercy (Diary 300). Her health slightly improved, Sister Faustina returned to agiewniki Convent. She attended elementary school for merely three years and then she went to work as a housekeeper in various welltodo families in Aleksandrw and d. His disclosure was followed by the same in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. 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 But her arguments always won. I gave the world its Saviour, and you are to tell the world of His great mercy and prepare the world for His second coming, when He will come not as a merciful Saviour, but as a just Judge. In the convent chapel Father Andrasz blessed another picture of the Merciful Jesus painted in accordance with Sister Faustinas instructions and started special services in honour of the Divine Mercy. 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. I stood next to the bedside cabinet on which there was a little altar set up and was overwhelmed with terror, but a moment later she came round and said, 'Ah, Sister, youve come, Im glad, do come in'. I felt extremely happy, I thought I had entered life in paradise. Finally, as he later disclosed, More out of curiosity rather than conviction as to the authenticity of Sister Faustinas visions, I decided to have the picture painted. The crowds were so huge that I couldnt see an end to them. Her given name was Helena. This was also when she underlined the words Jesus had said, as instructed by her Vilnian spiritual adviser. When she started the job she asked to be allowed time for daily Mass, visiting the sick and dying, and using the ministry of her mistresses confessor. Unexceptional, a meagre little creature, poor, nothing special about her, not very promising. In the early morning Father would sing the Hours or other hymns, and when Mother rebuked him that he would wake the children, he replied that they had to learn from their youngest years that God was the most important. A name with several distinguished namesakes: the wife of ancient Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a famous Italian opera singer, and two Catholic saintsmaking it both substantial and unusual. This was her last attempt to leave the Congregation, but the spiritual struggle continued. As a little girl she was already distinguished from others by a sense of mercy. He preached conferences on spiritual struggle, sacrifice, prayer, and mercy. She is known and venerated within the Church as the Apostle of Divine Mercy. Here are some more interesting facts: At Skolimw she asked Jesus whom she should pray for. FAQ: Who Is The Patron Saint Of Football? I pass it on to all people, He said, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their brethren. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of my mercy; let them profit from the blood and water which gushed forth for them ( Diary, 848). And Jesus said: I shall treat every soul that says this Chaplet as My glory, and I shall grant it My defence at the hour of death; also those at whose deathbed others say the Chaplet shall be granted the same indulgence. Apostle of Divine Mercy, Prophet of Our Times, Great Mystic, Mistress of Spiritual Life these are the epithets usually appended to the name of Sister Faustyna Kowalska, St. Faustyna (Faustina), of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. She went to Aleksandrw dzki, a town where Kazimierz Bryszewski and his wife Leokadia had a bakery and shop at No. He was strict with himself and his children and did not tolerate even the slightest misdemeanour. Sister Eufemia wanted to see how saints die, but she could not exactly count on her superior granting her permission to attend a sister dying of tuberculosis. But did you know she loved the Blessed Mother and her rosary? Along with great physical and spiritual suffering there were also vast graces, which Sister Faustina did not divulge to anyone except her confessors. 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. Mummy served customers in the shop he recalled years later and Helenka tidied up, helped with the cooking, and had to wash up, carry out the refuse and bring water as there was no running water. During the ceremony she fainted twice. However, under heavy inner pressure, Sister Faustina did not wait until the feast-day but told Father Andrasz during her weekly confession that she had decided to leave the Congregation. Saint Faustina Kowalska, an apostle of the Divine Mercy, belongs today to the group of the most popular and well-known saints of the. She continued to make entries in her diary almost to the end of June. 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. Prayer for the intentions of Our Holy Father, the Pope.
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