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The saints

St Faustina Kowalska

A humble Polish nun, a vision of rays of light, and a five-word prayer the world now knows.

Feast: 5 October · 1905 to 1938 · Kraków, Poland

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A black and white photograph of Sr Faustina Kowalska in 1931, in the habit of her congregation.

Unknown author, 1931. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St Faustina Kowalska

A convent in Kraków, the 1930s

Hidden in a convent in Kraków, a young nun writes down what Jesus has told her.1

She sees two rays of light shining from his heart, and he explains that they represent blood and water.1

Sixty years later a pope would put her prayer on the lips of the whole Church.

01St Faustina Kowalska

Jesus, I trust in you

“Jesus, I trust in you”

The prayer St John Paul II said Providence intimated through Sr Faustina1

St John Paul II canonized her on 30 April 2000 and declared that the Second Sunday of Easter would be called Divine Mercy Sunday throughout the Church.1

02St Faustina Kowalska

On the calendar

In 2020 her memorial on 5 October was added to the General Roman Calendar.2

A black and white photograph of Sr Faustina Kowalska in 1931, in the habit of her congregation.
Sr Faustina Kowalska, photographed at Płock in 1931. Unknown author, 1931. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Notes

  1. Pope St John Paul II, Homily for the canonization of Faustina Kowalska, 30 April 2000. Holy See, official English text. vatican.va
  2. Congregation for Divine Worship, Decree on the inscription of St Faustina Kowalska in the General Roman Calendar, 18 May 2020. Holy See, official English text. vatican.va

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.