The Message
Email this to a friend
Print this story
CommentsPhoto: Marian Archives
Saint Faustina, the non-conformist, during a visit she made to her family. On the right are her parents. To her left, her godparents.
The Person Behind the Saint
A Child, a Nun, A Visionary, a Saint, Our Intercessor.
By Felix Carroll (Apr 29, 2010)
On Friday, April 30, 2010, we marked the tenth anniversary of the canonization of St. Maria Faustina, the "Apostle of Divine Mercy." Behind the 'saint' is a person. Who was she?
Maybe you already know that, through her Diary, which records a series of Christ's revelation to her, St. Faustina has sparked what many call the greatest grassroots movement in the history of the Church — a movement defined by works of mercy, prayer, and trust in Jesus.
On this, the tenth anniversary of the canonization of St. Faustina, we share the following — some of the other things you may not know about St. Faustina, based on interviews with Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, who served as vice-postulator for the canonization cause of St. Faustina:
From an early age, her parents, Stanislaus and Marianna Kowalska, taught the future saint, Helen Kowalska, that closeness to God meant love of His creation and love for our neighbors.
Born on Aug. 25, 1905, in the Polish village of Glogowiec, Helen was pulled strongly in the direction of God. It was Stanislaus who gave the young Helen her first inkling of the lives of religious through the stories he read her about hermits and monks who were living on acorns and roots. She'd say, "When I grow up, I'm going to be one of those." Moved by these stories, she would repeat them to other children. And so infectious was her enthusiasm, the other children would say, "Yeah, we're going to go with you!"
Religious matters occupied her, said Fr. Seraphim. She often recounted how she dreamt that the Blessed Mother would take her to the Garden of Eden. Attending Mass was a big treat for Helen. Yet, because she and her sisters had but one "Sunday" dress to share, they had to take turns accompanying their father to church.
On the Sundays Helen was unable to attend church, she took matters into her own hands. Indeed, while she was supposed to help her mother with chores, she went out into the garden and prayed until the Mass was over. Then she returned to the house and asked her mother for forgiveness and explained how she had to fulfill her obligation to God first.
Helen cared deeply for the poor. When she was 12 and 13, she would make little paper trinkets and sell them. Though she hardly made any money, whatever she received she would give to the priest to give to the poor. Another way she would raise money for the poor was to dress up like an old lady and go from door to door asking for alms. She even knocked on her own door. One of her sisters said she put on such a show they didn't know it was her.
Helen had an early inclination to set people's hearts at ease. According to Fr. Seraphim, one time a family from the village was preparing to move to the city, and the woman of the house spent some time with Helen's family. At one point, one of the older sisters complained that the lady's chickens were digging up the yard. Referring to her own family's chickens, Helen replied, "Don't pay attention to that. Our chickens are setting a bad example."
Did you know that God lavishes His graces upon obedient souls like St. Faustina?
There she was, a lowly nun, a future saint, standing in a cabbage patch, being asked to follow orders that seemed ridiculous. What did she do? What would you do?
Said Fr. Seraphim, the nun in charge of the garden instructed her, Sr. Maria Faustina, along with a group of other nuns, to plant the cabbages a particular way. However, the other nuns thought they knew cabbages, and they were certain their superior's instructions were ill advised. So they planted them the way they thought it should be done. Sr. Faustina, on the other hand, true to her religious vow of obedience, planted her cabbages as the nun in charge instructed.
Come harvest time, what was the result? The cabbages planted by the other nuns proved worthless, and those planted by Sr. Faustina had grown into excellent specimens — large, hardy, and green.
Since the days of Adam and Eve, humans have rarely found obedience easy to embrace. Our egos get in the way. We think we alone know what is best. Yet, as her days as a nun in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy attest, St. Faustina found deep joy in her steadfast obedience to God and her religious superiors. By aligning her conscience to His command and her superiors, she gave her heart completely to God as a "living sacrifice" (Diary908).
That's not to say she didn't feel at certain points during her vocation that her obligation to God clashed with her duty to her superiors. She endured trying times, but the Lord assured her that by obeying her superiors, she was obeying God (see Diary, 535).
Upon entering the convent, Sr. Faustina (as a postulant, that is in the first stage of religious life) first worked in the kitchen. One day, probably due to her lack of cooking experience, she drew the ire of one of the other nuns who, as a result, ordered her to sit down on the table and not get off until given permission. Other nuns passed by and, not understanding why she was just sitting there while so much work needed to be done, assumed she was lazy and would amount to nothing. How humiliated most of us would be if we had been in her shoes. But Sr. Faustina bore it well because she knew our Lord would vindicate her obedience.
On another occasion, one hot August day, somebody donated a whole cow to the convent, Fr. Seraphim said. Because the nun in charge of the kitchen was sick and her substitute had other business matters to settle, Sr. Faustina was among the nuns who were ordered to take care of the carcass. None of them knew what they were doing. But rather than protest, Sr. Faustina suggested they go to the chapel and ask for the Lord's guidance. It paid off. Back in the kitchen, Sr. Faustina directed the work, and a couple days later, the head of the kitchen inspected the meat and declared that she couldn't have done it any better herself!
As a nun, Sr. Faustina wound up serving in many houses of her congregation — an uncommon practice. Once, a superior wondered why she was being moved so much and suspected that Sr. Faustina might not be getting along well with the other nuns. On the contrary, another superior who knew Sr. Faustina well explained that she was being moved so much because it was she, above all others, who was willing, without objection, to go where she was most needed.
Saint Faustina understood the responsibility we have as Christians to hear and respond to the Word of God. "God lavishes His graces most generously upon the soul, but it must be an obedient soul," she writes in her Diary (113). As the Gospels tell us, He wants our "yes" to mean yes and our "no" to mean no (Mt 5:37). Saint Faustina lived the Gospel life to the letter and the spirit.
Obedience was her daily bread. Through it, she glorified Him — and was nourished spiritually. A hardy harvest, indeed!
We Catholics know that Christ is alive in the Host — in all His fullness, bestowing all His grace and mercy. But did you know that for guidance on this great mystery of our faith, we need only turn to St. Faustina? You might even say it's a truth into which she was born.
According to Fr. Seraphim, an event two years before her birth may well have had an enormous impact on the young Helen Kowalska. During a celebration of 40 hours of devotion in her family's parish in rural Poland, two altar boys who were taking turns adoring the Blessed Sacrament reported a miracle. Gazing at the Host, they said they saw the face of Jesus with His head crowned with thorns. Word spread to the nearby villages, and crowds poured into the church inspired to adore Jesus in the Eucharist.
Whether what the altar boys saw represented a supernatural occurrence or a coincidental play of shadows was never resolved. Nonetheless, pilgrims continued to visit the church even during Helen's childhood. Witnesses who later spoke on behalf of her beatification speculated that St. Faustina must have been deeply affected by the story as a young girl. That could certainly explain how, without fail, without doubt, she seemed to intuitively conceive the Eucharist as the "source and summit of the Christian life," as Vatican II teaches. It may also explain the urgency with which she would later seek union with God through Holy Communion.
Of course, St. Faustina would be the first to admit that one need not quite literally see the face of Our Lord to experience His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Indeed, by taking Holy Communion, this Living Bread, we are summoned to welcome our Lord into our hearts and to become united to Him — quite literally — in the mystery of His love.
Throughout her life, St. Faustina teaches us how we can continually seek and find strength through the Holy Eucharist. She remarks in her Diary that receiving the Eucharist brings her "to a depth of union where my love and God's love are fused together as one" (1334). At another point she writes how "Jesus concealed in the Host is everything" to her (1037). As she became ill, she often remarks that were it not for Holy Communion, she would not be able to go on.
Saint Faustina writes in her Diary of witnessing at one point the rays of light — blood and water — piercing the Sacred Host and spreading out over the whole world (Diary, 441). The Eucharist is nothing less than the fount of God's grace.
After her death, one of the nuns with whom St. Faustina served recounted an incident that highlights how St. Faustina saw the Lord's abiding presence in the Holy Eucharist.
It was just before the Feast of Corpus Christi, during which a procession would make its way from a nearby parish. Along the way, four altars were set up from which particular Gospel passages concerning the Eucharist would be read. One of the altars was in the courtyard of the Sisters' convent, and so Sr. Faustina was given the task to help in decorating that altar upon which the monstrance was to stand.
Faustina didn't undertake the task lightly. Instead of merely decorating the altar, she took a broom and commenced sweeping the entire courtyard. When one of the nuns saw what she was doing, that nun chastised her, telling her she was engaging in nonsense. But Sr. Faustina responded, "The King of Kings is coming. The place has to be spic and span!"
That, too, is how we are called to view the Holy Eucharist — as something special, as something tangible, as Christ, Himself, alive in our midst. Through the Eucharist, the King of Kings comes, giving Himself completely to us so that we may completely dedicate ourselves to Him.
Did you know that many theologians and scholars are calling for St. Faustina — this lowly Polish nun who barely had three years of schooling — to join the ranks of St. Therese and only 32 other saints who have been declared Doctors of the Universal Church?
Sister Mary Ann Follmar, an author and expert on the Doctors of the Church, has read the Diary of St. Faustina many times and believes St. Faustina is a "shoe-in" for this distinguished ecclesiastical title.
"A Doctor of the Church is one who is recognized as a great teacher in the Church, and I think St. Faustina is a great teacher of the mystery of God's mercy," says Sr. Follmar, who teaches theology at Providence College.
Father Jan Machniak, chair of the Theology of Spirituality at the Papal Theological Academy in Krakow, Poland, agrees that St. Faustina is deserving of the title. He gave a talk on the topic in Krakow in August 2005, during the festivities marking the centennial of St. Faustina's birth.
"People started talking about it right after her canonization in 2000 because of the influence that the Diary has exerted all over the world," says Fr. Seraphim.
Only the Pope has the authority to declare someone a Doctor of the Church. It's not clear if Pope Benedict XVI has any plans to bestow St. Faustina with the title. Saint Therese was the last to be given the title, and that was in 1997, under Pope John Paul II.
What does it mean to be a Doctor of the Universal Church? Pope John Paul II described a Church Doctor as one whose writings not only conform with revealed truth, but that also shed "new light on the mysteries of the faith."
For instance, St. Therese sheds light upon the "little way" — of seeking holiness in the ordinary and the everyday.
Many say that St. Faustina, whose Diary sheds light on the progress of the mystical life of the soul and gives an unparalleled understanding into the mystery of Divine Mercy.
"Her Diary, written in simple language, helps us to comprehend how God proceeds with souls," says Fr. Seraphim. "And it gives us a richer understanding of the relationship between mercy and love and the notion of merciful love as the source and ultimate reason for the whole of salvation."
Sister Follmar and other theologians say there's no question that the Diary is having the sort of profound influence on the life and teaching of the Church as the doctrines of St. Therese and other Church Doctors had in earlier times.
Do you know why the message of Divine Mercy is important for the world today?
"The answer is simple," says Fr. Seraphim. "Through the message of Divine Mercy, our Lord is preparing us for His final coming."
Christ told St. Faustina: "Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My Mercy" (Diary, 300). The Lord also told her: "You will prepare the world for My final coming" (Diary, 429).
The revelations of The Divine Mercy are particularly tailored to our times, says Fr. Seraphim.
"It is quite evident that Pope John Paul II took these revelations very seriously. In 1981 he wrote an entire encyclical dedicated to The Divine Mercy entitled Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), illustrating that the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ was to reveal the merciful love of the Father," Fr. Seraphim notes.
Father Seraphim highlights some startling statements made by Pope John Paul II. Such as:
• In 1997, Pope John Paul II visited Faustina's tomb in Lagiewniki, Poland, and proclaimed: "There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy. ... From here went out the message of Mercy that Christ Himself chose to pass on to our generation through Blessed Faustina."
• In his homily on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2001, Pope John Paul II called the mercy message given to St. Faustina "The appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. ... Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium."
• In Lagiewniki in 2002, at the consecration of the new Shrine of The Divine Mercy, the Pope referred to a passage in the Diary in which the saint recorded: "As I was praying for Poland, I heard these words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming" (1732). The Holy Father said: "Today, therefore, in this Shrine, I wish solemnly to entrust the world to The Divine Mercy. I do so with the burning desire that the message of God's merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope. May this message radiate from this place to our beloved homeland and throughout the world." Then, with direct allusion to Our Lord's statement to St. Faustina, and quoting the last part of it, the Holy Father declared: "May the binding promise of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled: From here there must go forth 'the spark which will prepare the world for His final coming' (Diary, 1732). This spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God. This fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God; the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness!"
Why did Pope John Paul II so strongly recommend that we pay heed to the Divine Mercy message and devotion given to the world through St. Faustina?
"Clearly, he did so because he saw it as more than just a collection of 'private revelations,'" says Fr. Seraphim. "Rather, he saw them as prophetic revelations. In other words, revelations given to us by God to proclaim the heart of the Gospel in a way especially suited to meet the needs of our era."
Why should we turn to St. Faustina in prayer? Well, St. Faustina herself drops a big hint.
"Poor earth, I will not forget you," she wrote. "Although I feel that I will be immediately drowned in God as in an ocean of happiness, that will not be an obstacle to my returning to earth to encourage souls and incite them to trust in God's mercy. Indeed, this immersion in God will give me the possibility of boundless action" (Diary, 1582).
Be a part of the discussion. Add a comment now!
Brian — Apr 29, 2010 - 10:33 EDT
A great article, very well written.
Let us praise God's mercy forever!Thanks Felix.
Hector — May 11, 2010 - 20:45 EDT
God's love IS.