St. Faustina Kowalska

St. Faustina Kowalska, born Helena Kowalska on August 25, 1905, in Głogowiec, Poland, was the third of ten children in a poor but devout Catholic family. At the age of seven, she felt a calling to religious life while attending the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. However, her family's financial struggles delayed her entry into the convent. In 1924, at a dance, she had a vision of a suffering Jesus, which led her to leave for Warsaw and eventually join the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. She took the name Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament and spent her religious life working as a cook, gardener, and porter. Her mystical experiences, documented in her diary, *Divine Mercy in My Soul*, became the foundation for the Divine Mercy devotion. She died of tuberculosis on October 5, 1938, in Kraków, Poland. The path to her sainthood began in 1965 when Archbishop Karol Wojtyła initiated investigations into her life. She was beatified on April 18, 1993, and canonized on April 30, 2000, by Pope John Paul II, who also established Divine Mercy Sunday. Her legacy as the "Apostle of Divine Mercy" continues to inspire millions worldwide.