St. Faustina Kowalska: Patron of Mercy
February 7th, 2010 | Published in Catholic Prayers, Patron Saints
Feast Day: October 5
Sr. Faustina was born Helen Kowalska on August 25, 1905 in Glogowiec, Poland to a poor, religious family. She had only three years of very simple education and her tasks in the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Cracow, Poland were the humblest in the convent (usually in the kitchen or the vegetable garden or as porter).
Her years in the convent were filled with extraordinary gifts, such as revelations, hidden stigmata, visions, participation in the Passion of the Lord, bilocation, the reading of human souls, prophecy, and the rare gift of mystical espousal and marriage. The Lord chose Sr. Faustina as the Apostle and Secretay of His mercy, so she would share the urgent message of Divine Mercy with our troubled world. Her mission consisted in three main tasks:
1 – Reminding the world and the Church of the truth of God’s mercy for every human being, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures;
2 – Entreating Divine Mercy for the whole world, especially for poor sinners, through the practice of new forms of devotion to The Divine Mercy.
3 – Initiating the apostolic movement of Divine Mercy, the followers of which proclaim and entreat Divine Mercy for the world and strive to practice the works of mercy following her example.
Sister Faustina recorded the various aspects of her mission in a diary, including all of the Lord’s wishes, and described the encounters between her soul and Him. She was consumed by tuberculosis and many sufferings which she offered for poor sinners. She died in Cracow on October 5, 1938 at the age of 33 and her mortal remains rest at the Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki (near Cracow).
PRAYER FOR THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT FAUSTINA
Saint Faustina, you told us that your mission would continue after your death and that you would not forget us.
Our Lord also granted you a great privilege, telling you to “distribute graces as you will, to whom you will, and when you will”.
Relying on this, I ask your intercession for the graces I need, especially (here mention your special intentions).
Help me, above all, to trust in Jesus as you did and thus to glorify His mercy every moment of my life.
Amen.
