Maria Faustyna Kowalska

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Saint Maria Faustyna Kowalska

Maria Faustyna Kowalska ; Order name Maria Faustyna of the Most Holy Sacrament , born as Helena Kowalska , (born August 25, 1905 in Głogowiec in the Powiat Łęczycki near Łódź ; †  October 5, 1938 in Krakow ) was a Polish sister and mystic . She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Helena Kowalska wanted to enter a monastery at the age of 18, but did not receive her parents' permission to do so. After a vision in 1924 in which she was called directly to join the Order, she moved to Warsaw and on August 1, 1925, joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy . On April 30, 1926, Helena Kowalska was dressed and received the religious name Maria Faustyna of the Most Holy Sacrament . In 1928 she made her first temporary vows and in 1933 she made perpetual profession.

Image of mercy from Jesus , painted in 1934 based on the visions of St. Maria Faustyna Kowalska

According to her statements, Jesus Christ appeared to her repeatedly (sometimes in the form of the baby Jesus , sometimes as an adult), Mary , angels and other saints. In these visions, according to her statements, she received the commission from Jesus to be the herald of God's mercy . She had also been asked to have a picture of Jesus painted from whose Sacred Heart two rays emanate. The image of the Merciful Jesus , which was then painted, bears the signature: "Jesus, I trust in you."

According to the visions, she was also asked to work for the introduction of “Sunday of Divine Mercy” into the church year . The creation of the Rosary of Mercy is also based on their visions . In addition, she was instructed to honor the hour of Jesus' death in a special way with a devotional, and finally to found a new religious community. Sr. Maria Faustyna laid down the constitutions for this new community during her lifetime, but it was not until after the death of Sr. Maria Faustyna in 1947 that the Sisters of Merciful Jesus were founded by the Blessed Michał Sopoćko . The Congregation has its headquarters in the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Myślibórz .

She wrote down her visions in her diaries on the recommendation of her confessor and spiritual guide Pastor Michał Sopoćko.

John Paul II took up the issue of the creation of a Sunday of Mercy in his second encyclical, Dives in Misericordia , which appeared on November 30, 1980 and begins with the words “God who is full of mercy”. On April 30, 2000, on the occasion of the canonization of the religious, he stipulated that the second Sunday of Easter should also be observed as the Sunday of Mercy in the entire Roman Catholic Church .

Soon after joining the order, Maria Faustyna Kowalska fell ill with tuberculosis . Several stays in hospital did not bring any healing. Sr. Maria Faustyna died on October 5, 1938 in the Josefów Monastery in Kraków. On November 25, 1966, her relics were reburied in the monastery church. In the immediate vicinity of the monastery church is the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy , which was built in 1999 .

In addition to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Merciful Jesus founded by the work of Sr. Maria Faustina, an apostolic movement of divine mercy developed, to which religious communities as well as priests , consecrated persons and lay people are counted. One of these communities is the Faustinum Association, which is affiliated with the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy.

Canonization and devotion

On April 18, 1993, John Paul II. Sr. Maria Faustyna Kowalska beatified and on April 30, 2000, holy . The feast day of St. Maria Faustyna is October 5th . On May 18, 2020, the 100th birthday of Pope John Paul II, it was added to the general calendar of Rome as a non-mandatory day of remembrance .

At the second Congress on Divine Mercy from October 1st to 5th, 2011 in Kraków-Łagiewniki, numerous bishops and cardinals proposed that the holy mystic should be promoted to Doctor of the Church . A corresponding request was sent to Pope Benedict XVI. sent.

In his Bull Misericordiae vultus of April 11, 2015, with which he proclaimed an extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy , Pope Francis remembered “the great Apostle of Mercy” and called on her as advocate to obtain grace for us “always in the Forgiveness of God and to live and walk in the unbreakable trust in his love ”.

Fonts

  • Diary of Sister Maria Faustyna Kowalska, from the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy . Parvis, Hauteville / Switzerland 1990, ISBN 3-907523-17-2 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This is how to pray the Rosary of Mercy! - Jesus to Sister Faustina , accessed April 9, 2015.
  2. ^ Addresses of the religious houses
  3. ↑ Biography of Maria Faustyna Kowalska on the website of the Holy See.
  4. ↑ John Paul II: Sermon for the canonization of Maria Faustyna Kowalska. In: vatican.va. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, April 30, 2000, accessed April 26, 2019 .
  5. ^ Congregazione del Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti: Decreto della Congregazione del Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti sull'iscrizione della celebrazione di Santa Faustina Kowalska, vergine, nel Calendario Romano Generale. press.vatican.va, May 18, 2020, accessed May 18, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Saint Faustina proposed as Doctor of the Church. In: erzdioezese-wien.at. Archdiocese of Vienna, October 7, 2011, accessed on April 26, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Misericordiae vultus, No. 24

Web links

Commons : Faustyna Kowalska  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kowalska, Maria Faustyna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maria Faustyna of the Most Holy Sacrament (religious name); Kowalska, Helena (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish sister, mystic and saint
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Głogowiec near Łódź , Poland
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1938
Place of death Krakow , Poland