Sister Faustina, "Apostle of Mercy"

Maria Faustina Kowalska, commonly known as Saint Faustina, born Helenka Kowalska (August 25, 1905, near Lodz, Poland then in the Russian Empire – Died October 5, 1938, Kraków, Poland)  was a Polish nun, mystic and visionary. She is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as a saint, and is known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy.

Throughout her life, she reported a number of visions of Jesus and conversations with him, which she wrote about in her diary, later published as the book Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Her Vatican biography quotes some of these conversations regarding the Divine Mercy devotion.

At age 20 she joined a convent in Warsaw and was later transferred to Plock, and then to Vilnius, where she met her confessor Michael Sopocko who supported her devotion to Divine Mercy. Faustina and Sopocko directed an artist to paint the first Divine Mercy image, based on Faustina's reported vision of Jesus. Sopocko used the image to celebrate the first Mass on the first Sunday after Easter - which later became known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

In her diary Faustina predicted that her work would be suppressed for some time, then accepted again. Two decades after her death the Divine Mercy devotion was banned by the Vatican, but was approved again in 1978 and she was declared the first saint of the 21st century in April 2000. The Divine Mercy devotion is now followed by over 100 million Catholics.

In late May 1933 Faustina was transferred to Vilnius as the gardener - her job also included growing vegetables.  She remained in Vilnius for about 3 years, until March 1936. The convent in Vilnius had only 18 sisters at the time and consisted of a few scattered small houses, rather than a large building.

Shortly after arriving in Vilnius, Faustina met Father Michael Sopocko, the newly appointed confessor to the nuns.  Faustina went to Sopocko for her first confession, she told him that she had been conversing with Jesus, who had a plan for her. After some time, in fall 1933 Father Sopocko insisted on a complete psychiatric evaluation of Faustina by Dr. Helena Maciejewska, a psychiatrist and a physician associated with the convent. Faustina passed the required tests and was declared of sound mind.

Sopocko began to have confidence in Faustina and supported her efforts. Sopocko also advised Faustina to begin writing a diary and to record the conversations and messages from Jesus which she was reporting.  Faustina told Sopocko about the Divine Mercy image and in January 1934 Sopocko introduced her to the artist Eugene Kazimierowski, who was also a professor at the university.

By June 1934, Kazimierowski had finished painting the image based on the direction of Faustina and Father Sopocko.  That was the only Divine Mercy painting Faustina saw.  After Faustina's death, a number of other artists painted the image, with the depiction by  Adolf Hyla being among the most reproduced.

While she was in Vilnius, Faustina predicted that her message of Divine Mercy would be suppressed for some time, and appear to be "utterly undone" but that it would be accepted again.  On February 8, 1935, she wrote in her diary (Notebook I, item 378):

There will come a time when this work, which God is demanding so very much, will be as though utterly undone. And then God will act with great power, which will give evidence of its authenticity. It will be a new splendor for the Church, although it has been dormant in it from long ago.

Over twenty years later, in 1959, her messages were suppressed by the Vatican, but were accepted again in 1978.

Faustina wrote in her diary (Notebook I item 414) that on Good Friday April 19, 1935 Jesus told her that he wanted the Divine Mercy image publicly honored. On Friday April 26, 1935 Father Sopocko delivered the first sermon ever on the Divine Mercy - and Faustina attended the sermon.

The first Mass during which the Divine Mercy image was displayed was on April 28, 1935, the second Sunday after Easter and was attended by Faustina.  April 28 1935. was also the celebration of the end of the Jubilee of the Redemption by Pope Pius XI. However, Father Michael Sopocko (Faustina's confessor) managed to obtained Archbishop Jałbrzykowski's permission to place the Divine Mercy image within the  Gate of Dawn church in Vilnius during the Mass that Sunday and celebrated the Mass himself.

On September 13, 1935, while still in Vilnius, Faustina wrote of a vision about the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in her diary (Notebook I item 476).  The chaplet is about a third of the length of the Rosary.  Faustina wrote that the purpose for chaplet's prayers for mercy are threefold: to obtain mercy, to trust in Christ's mercy, and to show mercy to others.

In November 1935 Faustina wrote the rules for a new contemplative religious congregation devoted to Divine Mercy, and in December she visited a house in Vilnius which she said she had seen in a vision as the first convent for the congregation.

In January 1936 Faustina went to see Archbishop Jałbrzykowski to discuss a new congregation for Divine Mercy. But he reminded her that she was perpetually vowed to her current order.  In March 1936 Faustina told her superiors that she was thinking of leaving the order to start a new order specifically devoted to Divine Mercy, but she was transferred to Walendow, southwest of Warsaw.

In the summer of 1936 Father Sopocko wrote the first brochure on the Divine Mercy devotion and Archbishop Jalbrzykowski provided his imprimatur for it. The brochure carried the Divine Mercy image on the cover. Sopocko sent copies of the brochure to Faustina in Warsaw.

Later in 1936, Faustina became ill, since speculated to be tuberculosis. She was moved to the sanatorium in Pradnik, Kraków. She continued to spend much time in prayer, reciting the chaplet and praying for the conversion of sinners. The last two years of her life were spent praying and keeping her diary.

On March 23, 1937, Faustina wrote in her diary (Notebook III, item 1044) that she had a vision that the feast of Divine Mercy would be celebrated in her local chapel, and would be attended by large crowds, and that the same celebration would be held in Rome attended by the Pope.

In July 1937 the first holy cards with the Divine Mercy image were printed and in August Father Sopocko asked Faustina to write the instructions for the Novena of Divine Mercy which she had reported as a message from Jesus on Good Friday 1937

Throughout 1937 progress was made in promoting the messages of Divine Mercy and in November 1937 a pamphlet was published with the title Christ, King of Mercy.  The pamphlet included the chaplet, novena and the litany of Divine Mercy and the Divine Mercy image appeared on the cover, with the signature, "Jesus I Trust in You".  On November 10, 1937 Mother Irene, Faustina's superior, showed her the booklets while Faustina rested in her bed

As her health deteriorated at the end of 1937, her reported visions intensified, and she was said to be looking forward to an end to her life.  In April 1938 Faustina's illness had progressed and she was sent to rest in the sanatorium in Pradnick, for what was to be her final stay there.  By June 1938, Faustina was so ill that she could no longer write.

In September 1938 Father Sopocko visited her at sanatorium and found her very ill, but in ecstasy as she was praying.  Later in September 1938 she was taken back home to Krakow, to await her death there.  Father Sopocko visited her at the convent for a last time on September 26, 1938.

On October 5, 1938 Faustina made her final confession and died in Krakow, 13 years after entering the convent.  She was buried on October 7th and now rests at the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland.

Before her death Faustina predicted that "there will be a war, a terrible, terrible war" and asked the nuns to pray for Poland.  In 1939, a year after Faustina's death when Archbishop Jałbrzykowski noticed that her predictions about the war had taken place, he allowed public access to the Divine Mercy image which resulted in large crowds that led to the spread of the Divine Mercy devotion. The Divine Mercy devotion became a source of strength and inspiration for many people in Poland.  By 1941 the devotion had reached the United States and millions of copies of Divine Mercy prayer cards were printed and distributed worldwide.

In 1942 Jałbrzykowski was arrested by the Nazis, but Father Sopocko and other professors went into hiding near Vilnius for about two years. During that period Sopocko used his time to establish a new religious congregation based on the Divine Mercy messages reported by Faustina.  After the War, Sopocko wrote the constitution for the congregation and helped the formation of what is now the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Mercy.  By 1951, thirteen years after Faustina's death there were 150 Divine Mercy centers in Poland.

After the death of St. Faustina, the nuns at her convent sent her writings to the Vatican. Prior to 1966, any reported visions of Jesus and Mary required approval from the Holy See before they could be released to the public.  After a failed attempt to persuade Pope Pius XII to sign a condemnation, Cardinal Alfredo Ottavianiat the Holy Office included her works on a list he submitted to the newly elected Pope John XXIII in 1959. The Pope signed the decree that placed her work on the Index of Forbidden Books and they remained on the Index until it was abolished on 14 June 1966 by Pope Paul VI. In 1959, as the Vatican forbade the Divine Mercy devotion, it also severely reprimanded Sopocko, and all his work was suppressed. However, Eugeniusz Baziak, the archbishop of Kraków, permitted the nuns to leave the original picture hanging in their chapel so that those who wished to continue to pray before it could do so.

In 1965 Karol Wojtyla, then Archbishop of Krakow and later Pope John Paul II opened a new investigation, interviewed witnesses and in 1967 submitted a number of documents about Faustina to the Vatican, requesting the start of the process of her beatification. The case was accepted for review in 1968.

In 1977, over a year before he was elected as John Paul II, Archbishop Wojtyla asked the Vatican to review and lift the ban on the Divine Mercy devotion, and the ban ended in 1978.  In April 1978, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that the Notification ban was no longer binding, and stated that misunderstandings were created by a faulty Italian translation of Kowalska's Diary. Afterward, the questionable material could not be correlated with the original because of difficulties in communication throughout World War II and the subsequent Communist era.

The formal beatification of Faustina involved the case of Maureen Digan of Massachusetts. In March 1981 Digan reported a healing, while praying at the tomb of Faustina. Digan had suffered from Lymphedema (a disease which causes significant swelling due to fluid retention) for decades, and had undergone 10 operations, including a leg amputation.  Digan reported that while praying at Faustina's tomb, she heard a voice saying "ask for my help and I will help you" and her constant pain stopped. After 2 days Digan reported that her shoe became too large for her because her body stopped undue liquid retention.  

Faustina was beatified on April 18, 1993 and canonized on April 30, 2000 - the first saint in the 21st century.Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated the Second Sunday of Easter (which is the first Sunday after Easter).

Why are they called "Evangelists?

The Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are called evangelists because they proclaim and preach the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence. Convention has traditionally held the authors to have been two of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, John and Matthew, and two "apostolic men," Mark and Luke.

1.  Matthew – a former tax collector who was called by Jesus to be one of the Twelve Apostles.

      2. Mark – a follower of Peter and so an "apostolic man".

   

3. Luke – a doctor who wrote what is now the book of Luke to a friend Theophilus. Also believed to have written the book of Acts (or Acts of the Apostles) and a close friend of Paul of Tarsus.

     4. John – a disciple of Jesus and possibly the youngest of his Twelve Apostles.

In iconography the evangelists often appear in Evangelist portraits derived from classical tradition, and are also frequently represented by the following symbols, which originate from the four "living creatures" that draw the throne-chariot of God, the Merkabah, in the vision in the Book of Ezekiel (Chapter 1) reflected in the Book of Revelation (4.6-9ff), though neither source links the creatures to the Evangelists. They are normally, but not invariably, all shown with wings like angels. The meanings accruing to the symbols grew over centuries, and were fully expressed by Rabanus Maurus, who set out three layers of meaning for the beasts, as representing firstly the Evangelists, secondly the nature of Christ, and thirdly the virtues required of a Christian for salvation:

§  Matthew the Evangelist, the author of the first gospel account is symbolized by a winged man, or angel. Matthew's gospel starts with Jesus' genealogy from Abraham; it represents Jesus' Incarnation, and so Christ's human nature. This signifies that Christians should use their reason for salvation.

§  Mark the Evangelist, the author of the second gospel account is symbolized by a winged lion – a figure of courage and monarchy. Mark has John the Baptist preaching "like a lion roaring" at the beginning of his Gospel. It also represents Jesus' Resurrection (because lions were believed to sleep with open eyes, a comparison with Christ in the tomb), and Christ as king. This signifies that Christians should be courageous on the path of salvation.

§  Luke the Evangelist, the author of the third gospel account (and the Acts of the Apostles) is symbolized by a winged ox or bull – a figure of sacrifice, service and strength. Luke's account begins with the duties of Zacharias in the temple; it represents Jesus' sacrifice in His Passion and Crucifixion, as well as Christ being High priest (this also represents Mary's obedience). The ox signifies that Christians should be prepared to sacrifice themselves in following Christ.

§  John the Evangelist, the author of the fourth gospel account is symbolized by an eagle – a figure of the sky, and believed to be able to look straight into the sun. John starts with an eternal overview of Jesus the Logos and goes on to describe many things with a "higher" level than the other three (synoptic) gospels; it represents Jesus' Ascension, and Christ's divine nature. This represents that Christians should look on eternity without flinching as they journey towards their goal of union with God.

Each of the symbols is depicted with wings following the biblical sources first in Ezekiel 1-2, and in Revelation. The symbols are shown with, or in place of, the Evangelists in early medieval Gospel Books, and are the usual accompaniment to Christ in Majesty when portrayed during the same period, reflecting the vision in Revelations. They were presented as one of the most common motifs found on church portals and apses, as well as many other locations. When surrounding Christ, the figure of the man is usually at top left – above Christ's right hand, with the lion above Christ's left arm. Underneath the man is the ox and underneath the lion is the eagle. This both reflects the medieval idea of the order of "nobility" of nature of the beasts (man, lion, ox, eagle) and the text of Ezekiel 1.10. From the thirteenth century their use began to decline, as a new conception of Christ in Majesty, showing the wounds of the Passion, began to be used. 

Whilst Matthew is often cited as the "first Gospel account," not only owing to its place in the canon but also in view of the patristic witness to this effect. Most biblical scholars see the gospel account of Mark as having been written first and John's gospel account as having been written last.

It has become customary to speak of "the Gospel of Matthew"  "the Gospel of John", not least because it is shorter and rolls much more smoothly off the tongue; but it is worth noting that the ancient titles do not use the genitive of possession, but the preposition "according to", signifying that each evangelist sets forth the one "Gospel of God" according to his own capacity, but not in the sense of creating his own story.

Images of tetramorphs, unions of different elements into one symbol, were originally used by the Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Greeks. The image of the sphinx, found in Egypt and Babylon, depicted the body of a lion and the head of a human, while the harpies of Greek mythology showed bird-like human women. The Egyptians and Assyrians in particular were the first to attach wings to their divine images (insert citation). The tetramorphs of the Evangelists can be traced back to the winged animals of Assyrians art and sculpture. Ezekiel’s vision, from which the images of the tetramorphs are derived, are believed to have been influenced by the ancient art of Assyria.

The animals associated with the tetramorphs of the Evangelists originate from the Babylonian symbols of the four fixed signs of the zodiac: the ox, representing Taurus; the lion, representing Leo; the eagle, representing Scorpio; the man, representing Aquarius.  The four symbols also represented the four pagan elements earth, air, fire, and water. These animals were also common in Egyptian, Greek, and Assyrian mythology. The early Christians adopted this symbolism and adapted it for the four Evangelists   as the tetramorphs, which first appear in Christian art in the 5th century.

The images of the tetramorphs in Christian theology first appear in the vision of Ezekiel, who describes the four creatures as they appear to him in his book:

“As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”

They are described later in the Apocalypse of the Revelation of John: 

”And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.”

Though there are several inconsistencies between the records of St. Augustine, Irenaeus, and St Jerome, St Jerome is generally credited with assigning the tetramorphs to each of the Evangelists. The tetramorphs, just as the four gospels of the Evangelists, represent four facets of Christ. 

§  Matthew the Evangelist is represented as the winged man, or an angel. He is represented in human form because his gospel centres on the human nature and life of Christ. St Jerome writes -”The first face of a man signifies Matthew, who began his narrative as though about a man: ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Chris the son of David, the son of Abraham’”.

§  Mark the Evangelist is represented as a lion. He is represented in the form of a lion because he proclaims the royal dignity of Christ, the lion being the king of beasts. ”The second [face signifies] Mark in whom the voice of a lion roaring in the wilderness is heard: 'A voice of one shouting in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

§  Luke the Evangelist is represented as an ox, or a calf. He is represented in the form of an ox as his gospel dwells on the atonement and the sacrifice of Christ, the ox being an ancient symbol of sacrifice. ”The third [is the face] of the calf which prefigures that the evangelist Like began with Zachariah the priest.”

§  John the Evangelist is represented as an eagle. He is represented as an eagle as his gospel describes Christ’s Ascension and the incarnation of the divine Logos, the eagle itself a symbol of ascension and flight.”The fourth [face signifies] John the evangelist who, having taken up eagle’s wings and hastening toward higher matters, discusses the Word of God.”

The tetramorphs as they appear in their animal forms are predominantly shown as winged figures. The wings, an ancient symbol of divinity, represent the divinity of the Evangelists, the divine nature of Christ, and the virtues required for Christian salvation In regards to the depiction of St Mark in particular, the use of wings distinguish him from images of St Jerome, who is also associated with the image of a lion.

The perfect human body of Christ was originally represented as a winged man, and was later adapted for St Matthew in order to symbolize Christ’s humanity. In the context of the tetramorphs, the winged man indicates Christ’s humanity and reason, as well as Matthew’s account of the Incarnation of Christ.  The lion of St Mark represents courage, resurrection, and royalty, coinciding with the theme of Christ as king in Mark’s gospel. It is also interpreted as the Lion of Judah as a reference to Christ’s royal lineage.  The ox, or bull, is an ancient Christian symbol of redemption and life through sacrifice,  signifying Luke’s records of Christ as a priest and his ultimate sacrifice for the future of humanity. The eagle represents the sky, heavens, and the human spirit, paralleling the divine nature of Christ.

In their earliest appearances, the Evangelists were depicted in their human forms each with a scroll or a book to represent the Gospels. By the 5th century, images of the Evangelists evolved into their respective tetramorphs.  By the later middle ages, the tetramorphs were used less frequently and the Evangelists were often shown in their human forms accompanied by their symbolic creatures, or as human men with the heads of animals.

In images where the creatures surround Christ, the winged man and the eagle are often depicted at Christ’s sides, with the lion and the ox positioned lower by his feet, with the man on Christ's right, taking precedence over the eagle, and the lion to the left of the ox. This position reflects the medieval great chain of being.

The four Gospels originally circulated anonymously; none of them bear the name of their authors. The names that are presently attached to our canonical Gospels are the product of second-century speculation, and they are intended to stress the apostolic credentials of the Gospels. Most of us assume that the Gospels are the direct products of either Jesus' apostles (John and Matthew) or their loyal lieutenants (Mark and Luke); however, this is not the overwhelming view of the majority of biblical scholars.

Is it really important to be more certain who the real authors of the Gospels are?  Isn’t it enough that our faith tells us that these were written by the apostles of Jesus Christ and are therefore divinely inspired?

The more I read those articles of different Scholars and Critics of the Catholic or Christian faith the more it gets complex and confusing.

I believe that man will be saved by his own faith…That is Faith in One and Only true God – The Son Of God the Father, who became Man – To deliver mankind from sins. Amen!