The Apostle of Divine Mercy

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

Born: August 25, 1905

Died: October 5, 1938

St. Faustina - pray for us.
Help us to trust in the Lord and live every moment for Him.

"I am to write down the encounters of my soul with You, O God, at the moments of Your special visitations. I am to write about You, O Incomprehensible in mercy towards my poor soul. Your holy will is the life of my soul. I have received this order through him who is for me Your representative here on earth, who interprets Your holy Will to me. Jesus, You see how difficult it is for me to write, how unable I am to put down clearly what I experience in my soul. O God, can a pen write down that for which many a time there are no words? But You give the order to write, O God; that is enough for me." (Diary, 6).

"[April] 26. On Friday, when I was at Ostra Brama to attend the ceremony during which the image was displayed, I heard a sermon given by my confessor [Father Sopocko]. This sermon about Divine Mercy was the first of the things that Jesus had asked for so very long ago. When he began to speak about the great mercy of the Lord, the image came alive and the rays pierced the hearts of the people gathered there, but not all to the same degree. Some received more, some less. Great joy filled my soul to see the grace of God.

Then I heard the words, You are a witness of My mercy. You shall stand before My throne forever as a living witness to My mercy." (Diary, 417)

When St. Faustina left this earth for her heavenly home in 1938, she left behind an incomprehensible gift to mankind - her diary. In this, we can read about God's gift of Mercy to an individual soul and to the whole world. St. Faustina's struggles were like our own and on the outside her life was ordinary. But, on the inside her soul was transformed daily through prayer and God's mercy. Through St. Faustina, Jesus commissioned a painting that would portray His mercy; it is now known as the Divine Mercy image. Jesus also taught her to pray the chaplet - for sinners, for the world. Throughout her short life, the Lord Jesus assigned her three basic tasks:

1. To pray for souls, entrusting them to God's Incomprehensible Mercy;
2. To tell the world about God's Generous Mercy;
3. To start a new movement in the Church focusing on God's Mercy.

She struggled to follow God's Will in these requests, and at times found it very difficult. But, she trusted her own soul to God's Mercy and she trusted His requests would be fulfilled even through an instrument as weak as herself. She died in great sanctity at the convent of Our Lady of Mercy in Krakow, Poland.

Click here for a more indepth biography.

Click here to read about the miracle that led to Saint Faustina's canonization!

*In the diary excerpts, the blue, italicized text are the words of Our Lord to St. Faustina. The normal text are St. Faustina's words.*

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©2005 Oblates of Divine Mercy

Diary, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy In My Soul (c) Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA 01263. Used with permission.