Saint Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Mercy

Saint Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Mercy

On 5 October, the liturgical memorial of Saint Faustina Kowalska, mystic and devotee of the Divine Mercy devotion, is celebrated

Saint Faustina Kowalska is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of the modern Church. Also known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy, she was a great Mystic, Prophetess and an example of spirituality and faith, to the point of being counted among the most beloved saints of all time. Her great merit was the spread of devotion to the Divine Mercy throughout the world.

Saint Faustina Kowalska had a strong influence on John Paul II, who canonised her in 2000 and established Divine Mercy Sunday, which takes its name precisely from the Polish Saint and in the liturgical year coincides with Dominica in Albis, the Sunday following Easter Sunday.

The extraordinary life and commitment of Saint Faustina to spreading the message of Divine Mercy have inspired millions of people to learn about and experience the mercy of God in their lives. Her legacy continues to live on through devotion to the Divine Mercy, bringing comfort and hope to those who seek divine grace and redemption.

Sunday-in-Albis

Read more:

Sunday in Albis: what is commemorated and what is the religious significance of this day
The celebration of Sunday in Albis combines

The life of Sister Faustina

Saint Faustina Kowalska was born on 25 August 1905 in a small village in Poland. As a young woman, she showed a profound religious devotion and a strong desire to serve God, but she had to put her vocation aside in order to work and help her family. The call to the spiritual life, however, became increasingly difficult to ignore. Jesus is said to have appeared to her on more than one occasion, reproaching her for her hesitation and calling her back to her duties. Finally, at the age of 20 and after having been rejected by several religious institutes, she entered the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw. She took the name Sister Maria Faustina and from the very beginning shaped her religious life around great austerity, undermining her already frail health with frequent fasts, and working tirelessly. Finally free to serve Christ, she became bound to Him by a profound union, nourished by prayer and contemplation. During her dialogues with Jesus, the nun received from Him the task of spreading the cult of Divine Mercy.

Saint Faustina’s main mission was to spread awareness of God’s mercy and encourage frequent confession and communion. Jesus taught her the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a powerful prayer that asks for God’s mercy for the whole world.

Why the Apostle of Mercy

In 1931 Sister Faustina had the vision that led her to establish the cult of Divine Mercy. While the nun was praying in her cell, Jesus appeared to her wrapped in a white robe, with one hand raised in blessing and the other resting on His chest. Two radiant rays emerged from this hand: one white and the other red. Jesus told her that the first represented the Water that purifies souls, the second the Blood, the vehicle of salvation and life. He also told her that she should have Him depicted with that appearance, and that His image should be venerated throughout the world. Jesus would name her “Secretary of Divine Mercy“.

Despite the difficulties and illnesses she faced throughout her life, Sister Faustina worked tirelessly to spread the message of Divine Mercy. She travelled to promote the devotion, spoke with priests and bishops, and wrote letters to share her message. Numerous churches, chapels and sanctuaries have been dedicated to Divine Mercy throughout the world and the devotion is still very active and widespread today. Devotion to the cult of Divine Mercy and, in particular, the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy that Jesus dictated to Saint Faustina, guarantees comfort and special graces, in particular the promise of a serene and peaceful death. Every person, even the most terrible of sinners, can find in the cult of Divine Mercy forgiveness for all sins and the hope of salvation, trusting in God, the Merciful Father, always ready to welcome back even His lost and strayed children.

The Diary of Saint Faustina

Throughout her life, Saint Faustina kept a Diary, published after her death and translated into many languages. In it, in addition to the events of her daily life, she transcribed, on the advice of her spiritual fathers and confessors, the visions and revelations she received. Also known as the Diary of Saint Faustina: Divine Mercy in My Soul, the diary is a unique testimony to her mystical experiences and to the direct communications she claimed to have had with Jesus Christ.

In her diary, Saint Faustina documented in detail the visions, divine revelations and spiritual inspirations she received during her religious life. These experiences included visions of Jesus, Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, as well as the detailed instructions that Jesus gave her regarding the promotion of devotion to Divine Mercy.

The Diary of Saint Faustina gained greater attention and importance after her canonisation and today it is considered a valuable reading for Christians.

 

Saint Faustina: prayers

The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska can also be drawn upon for special prayers, to be recited as part of the devotion to Divine Mercy. Sometimes these prayers are addressed to Jesus, at other times to the Virgin, but there are also prayers in which the intercession of Saint Faustina herself is requested as a messenger of mercy before God.

This is how the Novena to Saint Faustina Kowalska, to be recited in preparation for her feast on 5 October, begins:

Jesus: “The soul that trusts in My Mercy is the happiest, because I Myself take care of her (Diary 1273). I repay her trust and give her everything she asks for”.

Sister Faustina: “I cannot understand how one can fail to have trust in Him who can do everything. With Him, everything; without Him, nothing. He, the Lord, will neither permit nor allow those who have placed all their trust in Him to be confounded.”

Saint Faustina, obtain for me the grace of the trust of a child in God who can do everything, who is only Love and who loves with infinite love.

This, instead, is the prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy:

O Mary, my Mother and Lady, I entrust to You my soul and my body, my life and my death and what will come afterwards. I place everything in Your hands. O my Mother, cover my soul with Your virginal mantle and grant me the grace of purity of heart, soul and body and defend me with Your power from all enemies and above all from those who hide their wickedness beneath the mask of virtue. O splendid Lily, You are my mirror, O my Mother..

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin,

Pure crystal for my heart,

You are my strength, O powerful anchor,

You are the shield and defence of weak hearts.

O Mary, You are pure and incomparable,

Virgin and Mother together.

You are beautiful like the sun, without any stain,

Nothing is comparable to the image of Your soul.

Your beauty has captivated the Thrice-Holy One,

Who descended from heaven, abandoning the throne of His eternal abode, 

And took flesh and blood from Your heart,

Hiding for nine months within the heart of the Virgin.

O Mother, O Virgin, no one can comprehend

That the immense God becomes man,

Only out of love and for His unfathomable Mercy.

Through Your merit, O Mother, we shall live with Him for eternity.

O Mary, Virgin Mother and Gate of heaven,

Through You salvation has come to us,

Every grace flows to us from Your hands

And only Your faithful imitation will make me holy. 

O Mary, O Virgin, O most beautiful Lily,

Your Heart was the first tabernacle for Jesus on earth,

Because Your humility was the deepest

And for this reason You were raised above the choirs of angels and the saints.

O Mary, my sweet Mother,

I entrust to You my soul, my body and my poor heart.

Be the Guardian of my life

And above all at the hour of death, in the final battle.

O MARY, MY MOTHER

O Mary, my Mother, I humbly pray to You, cover my soul with Your virginal mantle at this very important moment of my life, so that I may be more pleasing to Your Son and may worthily exalt His Mercy before the whole world and for all eternity.

O MARY, IMMACULATE VIRGIN

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin, take me under Your very special protection and preserve the purity of my soul, my heart and my body. You are the model and star of my life.

O MOTHER OF GOD

O Mother of God, Your soul was immersed in a sea of bitterness: look upon Your little daughter and teach her to suffer and to love in suffering. Strengthen my soul, so that pain may not break it. O Mother of grace, teach me to live with God.

O SWEET MOTHER OF THE LORD

O sweet Mother of the Lord, I model my life upon You, You are for me a radiant dawn, Enraptured, I immerse myself entirely in You. O Mother, O Immaculate Virgin, In You the ray of God is reflected for me. You teach me to love the Lord in the storms, You are my shield and my defence against enemies.

O SWEET MOTHER

O sweet Mother, unite my soul to Jesus, because only then will I be able to overcome all trials and experiences and only in union with Jesus will my small sacrifices be pleasing to God. Most sweet Mother, instruct me in the interior life. May the sword of suffering never break me. O pure Virgin, infuse fortitude into my heart and guard it.

O RADIANT VIRGIN

O Radiant Virgin, pure as crystal, wholly immersed in God, I entrust my interior life to You. Arrange everything so that it may be pleasing to Your Son.

O MOTHER OF GOD

O Mother of God, Most Holy Mary, my Mother, You are now my Mother in a very special way and this is because Your beloved Son is my Spouse and therefore we are both Your children. For the sake of Your Son, You must love me. O Mary, my most beloved Mother, guide my interior life, so that it may be pleasing to Your Son.