Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska
(Feast Day - October 5 / Born 1905 - Died 1938) - AKA "The Secretary
and Apostle of Divine Mercy": This saint was
graced with mystical visions of Jesus, Mary, the angels, heaven, hell,
purgatory; as well as being graced with the ability to read the souls of others,
to bilocate (be in 2 places at once), and have a mystical engagement and
marriage to Jesus. The Lord instructed her to write down his words and
spread his mercy throughout the world, which she did.
Please click the link to read more about St. Mary
Faustina Kowalska...that webpage doesn't allow me to copy any text to post here:
http://www.marypages.com/FaustinaEng.htm (this one has the most detailed
information)
Instead I'll put info from another site here to
get the basic information.
Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in a small village west of Lodz,
Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was
almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled
young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was
given the name Sister Maria Faustina, to which she added, "of the Most
Blessed Sacrament", as was permitted by her congregation's custom. In the
1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she
was told to spread throughout the world. 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. It was
not a glamorous prospect.
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
personal 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. Her special
devotion to Mary Immaculate and to the sacraments of Eucharist and
Reconciliation gave her the strength to bear all her sufferings as an
offering to God on behalf of the Church and those in special need,
especially great sinners and the dying.
She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director and some
of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life.
After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were
amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical
experiences had been given to this Sister of theirs, who had always been so
cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart, God's gospel
command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as
her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone
who came in contact with her would go away joyful. The message of mercy that
Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her
diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the
Divine Mercy.
04/07/2013
- Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938 - Apostle and Secretary of God's
Mercy) -A
poor, uneducated, nun who lived a life of suffering for the Lord Jesus, and was
visited by our Lord Jesus Christ, bringing with Him His message of Divine Mercy
for all mankind. In one vision the Lord Jesus instructed her to paint a pattern
showing what she saw (the image of Jesus, one hand held up in blessing, and the
other over His heart with a red ray of ligth and a pale ray of light emanating
from His heart). She wrote down her experiences, revelations from Jesus, and
the messages he gave her. Her notebooks filled with these messages and
experiences were collected and made into a book: "Divine Mercy in My Soul:
Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska".
Saint
Maria Faustina Kowalska
The Humble Instrument
Sister Faustina was a young,
uneducated, nun in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy in Cracow, Poland during the 1930's. She came from a very poor family
that struggled on their little farm during the years of World War I. She had
only three years of very simple education, so hers were the humblest tasks
in the convent, usually in the kitchen or garden. However, she received
extraordinary revelations or messages from Our Lord Jesus. Jesus asked Sr.
Faustina to record these experiences, which she compiled in notebooks. These
notebooks are known today as the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska and
the words contained within are God's loving message of Divine Mercy.
Though the Divine Mercy message is not new to the teachings of the Church,
Sr. Faustina's Diary sparked a great movement, and a strong and significant
focus on the mercy of Christ. 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
call her "the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time."
Today, we continue to rely of Saint Faustina as a constant reminder of the
message to trust in Jesus' endless mercy, and to live life mercifully toward
others. We also turn to her in prayer and request her intercession to our
merciful Savior on our behalf. At the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy,
we include the following in our 3 o'clock prayers:
Saint Faustina,
You told us that your mission would continue after your death and that you
would not forget us. Our Lord also granted you a great privilege, telling
you to "distribute graces as you will, to who you will, and when you will."
Relying on this, we ask your intercession for the graces we need, especially
for the intentions just mentioned. Help us, above all, to trust in Jesus as
you did and thus to glorify His mercy every moment of our lives. Amen
On
October 5, 1938, a young religious by the name Sister Faustina (Helen
Kowalska) died in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy in Cracow, Poland. She came from a very poor family that had struggled
hard on their little farm during the terrible years of WWI. Sister had had
only three years of very simple education. Hers were the humblest of tasks
in the convent, usually in the kitchen or the vegetable garden, or as a
porter.
On February 22, 1931, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to this
simple nun, bringing with Him a wonderful message of Mercy for all mankind.
Saint Faustina tells us in her diary under this date:
"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.'"
Some time later, Our Lord again spoke to her:
"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, Saint Maria Faustina
Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul (c) 1987 Congregation of Marians of the
Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA 01263. All rights reserved. Used with
permission.
Feastday: October 5
1905 - 1938
Beatified By: Pope John Paul II
Canonized By: Pope John Paul II
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 personal 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. Her special devotion to Mary Immaculate and to
the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation gave her the strength to bear
all her sufferings as an offering to God on behalf of the Church and those
in special need, especially great sinners and the dying.
She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director and some
of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life.
After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were
amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical
experiences had been given to this Sister of theirs, who had always been so
cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart, God's gospel
command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as
her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone
who came in contact with her would go away joyful. The message of mercy that
Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her
diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the
Divine Mercy.
St.
Faustina Kowalska
Saint
Maria Faustina Kowalska
On
October 5, 1938, a young religious by the name Sister Faustina (Helen
Kowalska) died in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy in Cracow, Poland. She came from a very poor family that had struggled
hard on their little farm during the terrible years of WWI. Sister had had
only three years of very simple education. Hers were the humblest of tasks
in the convent, usually in the kitchen or the vegetable garden, or as a
porter.
"In
the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord
