St Faustina

Mystic. Foundress of the Divine Mercy movement. St Faustina was born Helen Kowalska in the village of Glogowiec, Lodz Province in Poland on August 25, 1905. After hearing the Lord's calling from the age of seven she was accepted into the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy as Sister Mary Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament, in Warsaw on 1 August, 1925.

In 1928, she took her vows as a nun, and died just ten years later. She was beatified in 1993 and canonised on April 30, 2000 - the first saint of the New Millennium.

St Faustina experienced a vision in 1931, in which she saw Jesus clad in a white garment with His right hand raised in blessing. His left hand was touching his garment in the area of his heart, from where two large rays came forth, one red and one white. Jesus said: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature:- 'Jesus, I trust in You.' - I Promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.'

After this experience St Faustina devised the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, based on the prayer she recalled from her vision:

Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for my sins and for those of the entire world. For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

There are now many paintings of this vision and the daily devotion to Divine Mercy takes place in churches around the world at 3pm

Saint Faustina's congregation, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy look after the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland. In the United States, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy opened their first house outside Poland in Boston in 1988. There is also the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Eden Hill, Massachusetts, run by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception.

Watch a documentary on St Faustina here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB7TiFJWd34

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree on Monday, 18 May 2020 inscribing the celebration of Saint Maria Faustina (Helena) Kowalska, virgin, in the General Roman Calendar.

Below please find the official English-language translation of the decree:

"His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation" (Lk 1: 50). What the Virgin Mary sang in the Magnificat, contemplating the salvific work of God in favour of every human generation, found an echo in the spiritual encounters of Saint Faustina Kowalska who, through a heavenly gift, saw in the Lord Jesus Christ the merciful face of the Father and became its herald.

Born in the village of Głogowiec, near Łódź, in Poland in 1905, and dying in Krakow in 1938, Saint Faustina spent her short life amongst the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, generously conforming herself to the vocation she received from God and developing an intense spiritual life, rich in spiritual gifts and in faithful harmony with them. In the Diary of her soul, the sanctuary of her encounter with the Lord Jesus, she herself recounts what the Lord worked in her for the benefit of all: listening to Him who is Love and Mercy she understood that no human wretchedness could measure itself against the mercy which ceaselessly pours from the heart of Christ. Thus she became the inspiration for a movement dedicated to proclaiming and imploring Divine Mercy throughout the whole world. Canonized in the year 2000 by Saint John Paul II, the name of Faustina quickly became known around the world, thereby promoting in all the parts of the People of God, Pastors and lay faithful alike, the invocation of Divine Mercy and its credible witness in the conduct of the lives of believers.

Therefore the Supreme Pontiff Francis, accepting the petitions and wishes of Pastors, religious women and men, as well as associations of the faithful and having considered the influence exercised by the spirituality of Saint Faustina in different parts of the world, has decreed that the name of Saint Maria Faustina (Helena) Kowalska, virgin, be inscribed in the General Roman Calendar and that her optional memorial be celebrated by all on 5 October.

This new memorial shall be inserted into all the Calendars and liturgical books for the celebration of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, adopting the liturgical texts attached to this decree which must be translated, approved and, after confirmation by this Dicastery, published by the Episcopal Conferences.

Anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

From the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 18 May 2020.

Robert Card. Sarah

Prefect

X Arthur Roche

Archbishop Secretary