1931-1938 · Krakow, Poland
Divine Mercy Revelations to St. Faustina
A young Polish nun recorded private visions in which Jesus asked the Church to emphasize his mercy above all else. Her diary was banned, then rehabilitated, and eventually inspired a worldwide devotion.
Helena Kowalska entered the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw in 1925, taking the name Sister Maria Faustina. She was uneducated, in poor health, and assigned to menial tasks — cooking, gardening, and working the gate. Starting in 1931, she began recording in a diary a series of visions and interior conversations with Jesus, who she said appeared to her with rays of red and white light streaming from his heart. The central message was simple: God's mercy is greater than any sin, and the Church needed to proclaim this more urgently. Jesus asked her to have an image painted according to what she saw, with the inscription 'Jesus, I trust in You.' He also requested a Feast of Divine Mercy on the Sunday after Easter, a specific chaplet prayer, and an hour of prayer at 3 p.m., the hour of his death. Faustina's diary, eventually published as Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, is over six hundred pages of mystical experience, personal struggle, and theological reflection. Her confessor and spiritual director, Blessed Michael Sopocko, helped her record and organize the revelations. Faustina died of tuberculosis in 1938, at age thirty-three. After her death, the diary was translated into various languages, but a flawed Italian translation caused concerns in Rome. In 1959, the Vatican issued a notification prohibiting the spread of the Divine Mercy devotion in the forms proposed by Faustina. The ban lasted twenty years. It was lifted in 1978, shortly after the election of Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, knew the devotion well, and had personally studied Faustina's writings as a young priest. He beatified her in 1993, canonized her in 2000, and on the same day established the Feast of Divine Mercy for the universal Church. The devotion has since become one of the most popular in the Catholic world.
Why it matters
Produced one of the most influential mystical texts of the twentieth century and led to the establishment of Divine Mercy Sunday, now celebrated by the universal Church.
What Happened
Beginning in 1931, Sister Faustina Kowalska recorded visions of Jesus emphasizing God's mercy, requesting a devotional image, a feast day, and specific prayers. She kept a detailed diary until her death from tuberculosis in 1938. The devotion spread but was temporarily banned by Rome from 1959 to 1978 due to concerns about a faulty translation. Pope John Paul II rehabilitated the devotion, canonized Faustina in 2000, and established Divine Mercy Sunday for the whole Church.
Why It Still Matters
The Divine Mercy devotion has become one of the defining spiritual movements of contemporary Catholicism. The image of the merciful Christ, the Divine Mercy chaplet, and the 3 o'clock prayer are practiced by millions worldwide. Faustina's diary is one of the most widely read spiritual texts in the Church today. The devotion's emphasis on God's mercy as unlimited and available to everyone, including the worst sinners, has shaped the pastoral tone of recent papacies, especially those of John Paul II and Francis.