Saint Faustina Kowalska
| Saint Maria Faustyna (Kowalska) of the Blessed Sacrament, OLM | |
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| Virgin, Religious, Christian Mystic, "32 Mercy" |
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| Born | 25 August 1905 Głogowiec, Łęczyca County, Congress Poland |
| Died | October 5, 1938 (aged 33) Kraków, Poland |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 18 April 1993, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 30 April 2000, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Major shrine | Basilica of Divine Mercy, Kraków, Poland |
| Feast | 5 October |
Saint Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, OLM, popularly spelled Faustina (born as Helena Kowalska; 25 August 1905 in Głogowiec – 5 October 1938 in Kraków, Poland), was a Polish Roman Catholic nun and mystic. Her claims of receiving apparitions of Jesus Christ inspired the Roman Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy and earned her the title of "Apostle of Divine Mercy".
Throughout her life, Faustina reported having visions of Jesus and conversations with him, of which she wrote in her diary, later published as The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Her biography submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints quoted some of these conversations with Jesus regarding the Divine Mercy devotion.
At the age of 20 years she joined a convent in Warsaw, Poland, was later transferred to Płock, and then to Vilnius where she met her confessor Father Michał Sopoćko, who supported her devotion to the Divine Mercy. Faustina and Sopoćko directed an artist to paint the first Divine Mercy image, based on Faustina's vision of Jesus. Sopoćko used the image in celebrating the first Mass on the first Sunday after Easter. Subsequently, Pope John Paul II established the Feast of Divine Mercy on that Sunday of each liturgical year.
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