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| Virgin, Religious, Christian Mystic, "Apostle of Divine Mercy" |
The 5th of October is the feast day of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska lived between 1905 till 1938. She was baptised Helena, the third of 10 children. Her father was a carpenter and her family was poor but religious and lived in Poland. She lived during the years leading up to and after World War I and received little formal education. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Krakow at 20 years old, working as a handmaid prior to the entrance to save money and pay for her religious habit. She had mystical visions and revelations from Jesus, her Guardian Angel and certain saints. Jesus gave her the task to spread devotion to His divine mercy, especially to those at the hour of their death and hardened sinners. She wrote a 700 page diary of the visions and messages she received. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 33.
