St. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish religious sister and mystic, canonized by St. John Paul II on April 30, 2000. Through the revelations she received from Jesus, she became known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy and reminded the world of the Gospel’s call to trust in God’s mercy, turn away from sin, and practice mercy toward others.
Begin PrayingMore about St. Faustina
St. Mary Faustina Kowalska was born on August 25, 1905, in Głogowiec, Poland, the third of ten children in a poor and devout farming family. Baptized Helena, she showed from childhood a love of prayer, obedience, work, and care for the poor. She received First Holy Communion at nine, attended school for less than three years, and at sixteen began working as a housekeeper to support herself and help her family. After a vision of the suffering Christ strengthened her religious vocation, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy on August 1, 1925, and received the religious name Sister Mary Faustina. She faithfully carried out ordinary duties while living an intense interior life marked by trust in God and mercy toward others.
On February 22, 1931, St. Faustina recorded that Jesus appeared to her and instructed her to have an image painted with two rays, one red and one pale, shining from His Heart. The Divine Mercy Image bears the inscription "Jesus, I trust in You." Jesus explained that the rays represent the blood and water that flowed from His pierced side. St. John Paul II later taught that the blood recalls the sacrifice of the Cross and the Eucharist, while the water points to Baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. St. Faustina also recorded Jesus’ instruction to write and pray a Novena to Divine Mercy before the Feast of Mercy, beginning on Good Friday and bringing a different group of souls to His Heart on each of the nine days. The ninth day is offered for souls who have become lukewarm. This Divine Mercy Novena is distinct from the novena on this page, which asks for St. Faustina’s intercession. Her religious life also included extraordinary mystical gifts reported in Church biographies, including visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Lord’s Passion, bilocation, insight into human souls, and prophecy. She died on October 5, 1938, and St. John Paul II canonized her on April 30, 2000.
