Saint Faustina Kowalska

October 5th is the Feast of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. She was born in 1905 in Glogowiec, Poland, to a devout peasant family, and possessed a great faith in Jesus from the age of 7. In 1925 St. Faustina had a vision of the Suffering Christ, after which she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, in Krakow. Jesus chose St. Faustina to help Him to spread the message of His trust and mercy. He appeared to her in 1937 as the King of Divine Mercy, and she worked with an artist to have the image painted. Her confessor had Faustina record her experiences with Jesus, creating the renowned publication: Divine Mercy in My Soul, The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina was blessed with many graces including visions of heaven, hell and purgatory, and was able to bi-locate and read souls. She had an extraordinary union with Jesus. St. Faustina died in Krakow at the age of 33 in 1938, consumed by tuberculosis.

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

In 1569, St. Pius V officially approved the Rosary in its present form, and in 1883, Pope Leo XIII proposed the Rosary as an effective spiritual weapon against the evils afflicting society. It is attributed to saving Austria, Brazil, Chile and Portugal from the wiles of communism and was largely responsible for the victory of The Holy League (Spain, Venice and the Papal States) against the Turks on October 13th in 1571 at Lepanto. In 1913, Saint Pius X set the date for this feast, as we know it today, on October 7.

In the words of St. John Paul II, “The Rosary is and exquisitely contemplative prayer”. Let us honour Our Lady by being obedient to her request at Fatima; “Pray the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world.”