THE MESSAGE OF MERCY

On February 22, 1931, a young Polish nun, Sr. Faustina Kowalska, saw a vision of Jesus with rays of mercy streaming from the area of his heart. He told her to have an image painted to represent this vision and to sign it, "Jesus, I trust in You!"

Calling her the Apostle and Secretary of His mercy, He ordered to her to begin writing a diary so others would learn the trust of Him.

 In a series  of revelations, He taught her that His mercy is unlimited and available even to the greatest sinners and He revealed special ways for people to respond to His mercy.

By the time of Sr. Faustina's death in 1938, devotion to The Divine Mercy had already begun to spread throughout Eastern Europe.

In July of 1940, Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski, a Polish Marian priest fleeing from war-torn Poland, prayed to the Merciful Savior to help him escape, vowing to spend his life spreading the Divine Mercy message. He arrived safely on American soil in May 1941; and Marians in Detroit, MI, and Washington, D.C., were soon distributing Mercy of God leaflets, prayer-cards, and other materials.

In 1944, a group of Marians opened a new house and apostolate on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

By 1953, the apostolate had become the international center for the Divine Mercy devotion, and in 1960 the Marians of Eden Hill completed construction of a shrine to the Mercy of God.

The shrine has now become the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, and the apostolate has become the Marian Helpers Center, a modern religious publishing house spreading devotion to the mercy of God and to Mary Immaculate. 

On the Sunday after Easter, April 30, 2000 (Mercy Sunday), Sister Faustina was solemnly canonized in Rome by Pope John Paul II. The Pope also established Mercy Sunday worldwide.