October 5

Saint Faustina Kowalska and USA: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Priest

Optional Memorial

Saint Faustina Kowalska was born in Poland on August 25, 1905. She was a nun and visionary known for her devotion to Divine Mercy. She left school after three years and worked to support her family. At age 20, after a vision of Christ, she decided to enter religious life. On August 10, 1925, she joined the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy in Warsaw, taking the name Sister Maria Faustina. She spent 13 years in various convents, humbly working as a cook, gardener, and porter. Despite her simple duties, she received numerous divine revelations and visions, including stigmata, which she recorded in her Diary. She died at age 33 on October 5, 1938, from tuberculosis.

The “secretary” of Divine Mercy
On February 22, 1931, St. Faustina noted in her Diary: “In my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus dressed in white: a hand raised to bless, while the other touched on his chest the slightly opened border of his robe, letting escape two great rays out: one red the other pale… After a while, Jesus said to me, ‘Paint an image according to the model you see, with these words written: Jesus, I trust in You. I wish this image to be venerated first in your chapel, and then in the whole world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish… because I myself will defend it as my own glory. (D.47-48)’”

The image was painted, and came to enjoy great diffusion, along with other new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy that Jesus himself asks Sister Faustina to spread: the feast of Divine Mercy on the first Sunday after Easter, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and Prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 pm).

To the humble Polish nun, whom Jesus liked to call secretary of my deepest mystery, Our Lord entrusted His message of love to every man. “In the Old Testament I sent the prophets with lightning to my people,” she records Him as having told her, “today I send you to the whole world, to all humanity with my mercy. I do not want to punish suffering humanity, but I want to heal and bind them fast to my merciful heart. (D.252)”

The devotion of Archbishop Wojtyla
After her death, devotion to Divine Mercy spread rapidly in Poland, and Archbishop Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) played a key role in promoting her life and message. He beatified Faustina in 1993, canonized her in 2000, and established the Sunday of Divine Mercy. Saint Faustina was also named a patron of the Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. [1]

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Füssen, Bavaria, in 1819. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology, he joined the Redemptorists, a congregation dedicated to serving the most abandoned, particularly German-speaking immigrants in the U.S. He arrived in New York in 1843 and was ordained a priest in 1844. Blessed Seelos worked in Pittsburgh for nine years, where he served with St. John Neumann and became known for his compassion and skill as a confessor and spiritual director.

Blessed Seelos’ pastoral work focused on preaching and teaching the faith, particularly to children. He also traveled extensively to preach missions and served in various cities, including Baltimore, Cumberland, Annapolis, and Detroit, while also training future Redemptorist missionaries. Despite being recommended for bishop of Pittsburgh, Blessed Seelos declined the position. During the Civil War, he successfully petitioned President Abraham Lincoln to exempt Redemptorist seminarians from military service.

In 1866, Blessed Seelos was assigned to New Orleans, where he ministered to the poor and abandoned. He died in 1867 at age 48 after contracting yellow fever while caring for victims of the epidemic. His prayers and ministry were highly regarded, and many attributed favors to his intercession.[2]

Written by Sarah Ciotti
[1] Saint Faustina Kowalska – Information on the saint of the Day – Vatican News
[2] www.vatican.va