The Magisterium in the face of the apparitions to Saint Faustina Kowalska

In 1959, the Holy Office issued a decree forbidding the dissemination of the images and writings of Sister Faustina Kowalska and of the devotion to the Divine Mercy. Thirty years later, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who as archbishop of Kraków had been the chief promoter of the revision of that decree, canonized Faustina Kowalska in Rome and instituted the Feast of the Divine Mercy. The figure of Hélène Kowalska (1905-1938), with more than twenty Marian visions recorded in her Diary, is an exemplary case of how the Magisterium assesses, suspends, and finally receives private revelations.

Hélène Kowalska (1905-1938): life, vocation, and entrance into religious life in Warsaw

She was born in Głogowiec, between Lodz and Włocławek, in the district of Swinica, into a poor family of ten children, her father a farmer and carpenter.

In her Diary she reports more than twenty apparitions of the Virgin and more than thirty visions of Christ, of angels, and of the dead. From 1910 on, Hélène recounts that she saw the Virgin in a dream. She took her by the hand and led her into a vision of heaven.

In 1912, she heard God calling her by name. From 1919 on, the desire to enter a convent grew in her. Her parents opposed it. She went to work in Lodz. On August 1, 1923, during a dance, she had this experience:

“when I began to dance, suddenly I saw Jesus near me. Stripped, tortured, covered with wounds”

(Diary 37).

She then ran to the cathedral of Saint Stanislaus Kostka and heard, prostrate before the tabernacle:

“Go to Warsaw; there you will enter a convent”.

Hélène returned home and greeted her sister. She asked the Virgin for help. Suddenly she felt in the depths of her soul:

“Go to that village, near the city; you will spend the night there in complete safety”.

The first Marian visions in the convent: the testimonies of the Diary (1924-1931)

On August 1, 1924, Hélène was admitted to the convent of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw as a postulant. She became Sister Faustina. At the end of the novitiate, on a night in April 1927, she recounts:

“The Holy Virgin visited me, holding Jesus in her arms. Joy filled my soul and I said: ‘Mary, my Mother, you know what terrible sufferings I endure’? And the Mother of God answered: ‘I know how much you suffer, but do not be afraid; I have compassion on you and always will have’. She smiled affectionately and disappeared”

(Diary 43).

Shortly afterward:

“on the seventh day of the novena, I saw the Most Holy Virgin clothed in a light dress, between heaven and earth. She prayed with her hands crossed over her breast, her eyes raised to heaven. From her heart there came forth rays of fire, some of which went toward heaven, others covered our earth”

(Diary 46).

The vision of the merciful Christ (February 22, 1931): the mandate for the image and the Feast of Mercy

It was on February 22, 1931, that she had her famous vision of Christ, who asked her:

“Paint a picture of what you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You!”

(Diary 51).

In the same message, Christ declared to her that He desired a Feast of Mercy. In May 1933, Sister Faustina made a pilgrimage to Czestochowa. There, the Mother of God spoke much with me, and further:

“I renewed my perpetual vows; I felt myself to be her daughter and that She was my Mother. She did not refuse anything that I asked”

(Diary 134).

Her mystical closeness to the Virgin grew stronger as time went on, as in the spring of 1934:

“one day, Our Lady visited me. She was sad and kept her eyes lowered. She made me understand that she had something to tell me and, on the other hand, it seemed that she did not want to tell me. When I understood this, I began to beg her to tell me and to look at me. A moment later, Mary looked at me with an affectionate smile and said to me: ‘You are about to experience certain sufferings connected with illness and with the doctors. You will have much suffering because of this image [of the “Merciful Christ”], but do not be afraid of anything’. The next day, I fell ill”

(Diary 149).

On August 15, 1934, the Virgin appeared to her again while she was praying in her cell:

“I saw the Holy Virgin, of unutterable beauty. She said to me: ‘My daughter, I demand prayers of you, prayers and still more prayers for the world and in particular for your country. For nine days, celebrate the holy sacrifice of the Mass and receive holy communion in expiation. During these nine days, you will be with God, as an offering, everywhere, always, in all places and at every moment, night and day”

(Diary 152).

At the end of this novena, Sister Faustina saw the Virgin covering her confessor with her mantle (Diary 153).

The Marian apparitions of 1935-1936: messages on mercy and the mediation of Our Lady

On October 26 following, Christ and the Virgin appeared together again (Diary 66). During Holy Week of 1935, the icon of the “Christ of Mercy” was painted in Vilnius (Lithuania) according to Sister Faustina’s indications, and then exposed at Ostra Brama.

On August 5, 1935, she saw the Virgin:

“indescribably beautiful, coming from the altar toward her kneeler. She embraced me and said to me: ‘I am your Mother; thanks to the unfathomable Mercy of God, the soul pleases me all the more, the more it fulfills the divine will […]. Be courageous, do not be afraid of illusory obstacles, but fix your eyes on the passion of my Son. Thus you will conquer”

(Diary 194-195).

On August 15 following:

“I heard the rustling of a dress and saw the Holy Virgin in a beautiful light, clothed in a white dress and a blue sash, who said to me: You bring me great joy when you adore the Holy Trinity for the graces and the privileges that He granted me”

(Diary 229).

Other visions followed: November 15 and then at the end of December 1935. On March 25, 1936:

“Suddenly I saw the Mother of God, who said to me: I gave the Savior to the world. And you, you are to speak to the world of His mercy and to prepare the world for the second coming of Him who will come not as the Merciful Savior, but as the Just Judge […]. Do not be afraid of anything; be faithful to the end”.

(Diary 251).

On August 15 following, during the community Mass:

“I then saw the Most Holy Virgin with the Child Jesus holding His Mother by the hand. The apparition is clothed in a white, translucent dress, with a blue mantle, the head uncovered, the hair loose, indescribably beautiful”

(Diary 263).

On November 29, 1936, a new apparition with these words:

“You are a house pleasing to the living God”

(Diary 291).

The following month:

“I saw her so beautiful that words failed me to describe this beauty. She was all in white, girded with a blue sash, her mantle was also blue, a crown on her head. An inconceivable light radiated from her whole person. I am the Queen of Heaven and of Earth, but above all your Mother. She pressed me to her heart and said: I have compassion on you”

(Diary 295).

The ecclesial reception: from the decree of the Holy Office (1959) to Cardinal Wojtyla and the canonization of 2000

Sister Faustina frequently suffered the Passion of Christ, but her stigmata remained invisible (in September 1936, Diary 270. In February 1937, Diary 331, 334. On March 5, 1937, Diary 355. In July 1937, Diary 394).

Following Sister Faustina’s experiences, many representations of the merciful Christ were disseminated. In 1937, the archbishop of Wilno authorized the faithful to venerate the image that he had placed in a chapel.

On October 5, 1954, the Polish episcopate admitted only one representation, that of the painter Ludomir Slezinski, faithful to the image created in 1935, subject to not putting it into circulation together with the revelations of Sister Faustina until the day of their approval by the Holy See.

In 1960, the Holy Office suspended the cause of beatification.

Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the young archbishop of Kraków, became the promoter of the cause. He then consulted Cardinal Ottaviani. Elected Pope in 1978, he beatified Sister Faustina on April 18, 1993, and canonized her in the year 2000.

The requested feast of Divine Mercy was instituted on the same day as the canonization, April 30 of the year 2000: from now on, in the whole Church it will take the name of Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast to be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter.

The criterion of the Magisterium for evaluating revelations and apparitions is explored more deeply in the encyclical Redemptoris Mater of John Paul II, which illuminates the path of faith and of spiritual discernment that the Church travels in receiving the messages of private revelations.

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See the complete list of Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.