Saints Under the Dome: St. Faustina
Born August 25,1905,
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska was the third of 10 children of a religious family in Glogowiec, Poland. Accepted into the convent at the age of 20, she joined the Congregation of the Sister of our Lady of Mercy in 1925 and received the name Sr. Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It was here where her interior life grew in the simplicity of her day-to-day tasks and the ordinariness of religious life. Constantly contemplating the mysteriousness behind God’s mercy, Sister Faustina developed a child-like trust in the Lord that was accompanied by a deep mercy and love towards her neighbor.
On February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina clothed in white with rays of white and red light streaming from His heart. As her soul filled with awe, Jesus said to her:
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. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death.
Three years later, the first artistic rendering of the image was completed under her direction, and in 1937 the first holy cards with the Divine Mercy image were printed.
Known for her Diary,
Saint Faustina recorded the revelations and visions that she would receive from the Lord among other graces she would receive from Him. Her mission of spreading the mission of Divine Mercy was furthered through her Diary, which reminded the world of the truth of our faith, established the devotion of the Divine Mercy image, and promoted the Divine Mercy movement as a whole.
On April 30th, 2000, St. Faustina was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II. The patron saint of Mercy, St. Faustina reminds us to trust in the mercy of Jesus and to live a life mercifully towards others.
Written by: Jocelyn Vasquez
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