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MEMORIES

Bialystok, 27 January 1948 The original signed:
/-/ Frather Michal Sopocko
Sr. Faustina's confessor
MY MEMORIES OF THE LATE SISTER FAUSTINA

There are some truths of the Holy Faith, that we apparently know and we often recall them,
but we do not understand them well, neither do we live them. It was like that with me in respect to the Truth of the Divine Mercy. I thought about this Truth so many times in my meditations, particularly during retreats, I talked about it so many times in my sermons and repeated
it in my liturgical prayers, but I did not examine its contents and its significance for spiritual life; in particular I did not understand, and for the time being I could not agree that the Divine Mercy is the highest attribute of the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. What was needed was
a simple, holy soul, closely united with God, who - as I believe - on God's inspiration told me about it and stimulated me to study, research and reflect on the subject. Such a soul was
the late s. Faustina (Helena Kowalska) from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed
Virgin Mary of Mercy, who has achieved gradually that, today, I regard the devotion
of the Divine Mercy, and in particular establishing the feast of the Divine Mercy
on the first Sunday after Easter, to be one of the main aims of my life.

met s. Faustina in the summer (June or July 1933) as a penitent in the Congregation
of the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy in Vilnus, Lithuania (25 Senatorska St.),
in which I was, then, an ordinary confessor. She attracted my attention with an unusual subtlety of her soul and a close union with God; there was mostly no matter for absolution and she never offended God with a deadly sin. Already at the beginning she stated that she had known me for a long time from a vision, that I was to be her spiritual leader and I had to carry out some God's plans that were to be presented to me through her. I ignored her story and I put her to some test which made s. Faustina start looking for another confessor, with the permission of the Mother Superior. After some time she returned to me and she said that she was prepared to bear everything and she would never leave me again. I cannot reiterate here all the details
of our conversation, which is partly included in her diary, written by her on my recommendation, since later I forbade her to discuss her confession experiences.

On getting to know s. Faustina better I concluded that the Gifts of Holy Spirit worked
in her in a concealed state, but quite often they appeared more openly, partly overwhelming her soul in a lively manner, arousing surges of love, solemn heroic acts of sacrifice
and self-denial. Particularly frequently, I could see the work of the Gifts of Understanding, Knowledge and Wisdom thanks to which s. Faustina clearly saw the nothingness of worldly things, and the importance of suffering and humiliations. In a simple way she got to know
the attributes of God, and most of all His Infinite Mercy.

On another occasion, she, in turn, kept her gaze fixed at the beatific, joyful light for some time, out of which a figure of Christ emerged in a walking position, blessing the world with His right hand, and with His left one opening His robe in the vicinity of His heart, two rays gushed out of the opened robe - a red and a white one. S. Faustina had already had such and other sensual and mental visions for several years and she heard supernatural words, captured by the sense of hearing, imagination and the mind.

Being cautious of s. Faustina's illusion, hallucination and delusion, I turned to the Mother Superior, Irene, to inform me who s. Faustina was, what opinion she enjoyed among her
Sisters and Superiors in the Congregation. I also requested that her mental and physical health be examined. Having received an opinion favorable for her in every respect, still for some time
I took an expectant position. I partly did not believe, I was thinking, praying and examining,
I also asked some enlightened priests for advice on what to do, without revealing what
and whom it concerned.

All it concerned carrying out alleged definite demands of Our Lord Jesus to paint the picture, which s. Faustina used to see and to establish the feast of the Divine Mercy on the first Sunday after Easter. Finally, motivated by curiosity of what the picture would look like rather than
the belief in the authenticity of s. Faustina's visions, I decided to set about painting the picture.
I contacted an artist painter, Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, who lived in the same house as I did
and who undertook the task to paint a picture for a certain sum of money. I contacted other Superior as well, who allowed s. Faustina to go to the painter twice a week in order to show what the picture should look like.

The work took several months and finally in June/July 1934 the picture was completed.
S. Faustina complained that the picture was not as beautiful as she saw it, but the Lord Jesus comforted her and said it was enough the way it was and He added: "I am offering people
a vessel with which they are to keep on coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel
is this image with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You" (see Image).

For the time being Sr. Faustina was unable to explain what the rays in the picture meant.
After a few days she said that the Lord Jesus had explained it to her in a prayer: "… rays
in the image denote blood and water. The pale ray stands for the water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the blood that is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth
from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance
on the Cross. Happy be the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall
not lay hold of him…, I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.
I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death.
I Myself will defend it as My own glory…, I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast
of Mercy…, that whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete remission of sins and punishment. Mankind will not have peace until it turns with to My mercy…, Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy, so that no one can seek excuses on the Judgment Day, the Day which is not far away".

The picture was slightly novel in its contents so I could not place it in the church without
the Archbishop's permission, whom I was ashamed to ask for, let alone tell him of the origin
of the picture. Therefore, I put it in a dark corridor next to St. Michael's church (in the convent
of the Observant Sisters) At that time I was just appointed the rector of St. Michael's church.
S. Faustina had foretold the difficulties of my stay at this church and in fact unusual events developed quite quickly. S. Faustina demanded that I should place the picture in the church
at all costs, but I was in no hurry; finally during the Holy Week of 1935 she said to me that
the Lord Jesus demanded that I place the picture in the Sharp Gate for three days where
the triduum at the end of the jubilee of Redemption was to be held. The triduum was planned on White Sunday. Soon I learnt that the said triduum was going to be held indeed and the parish priest of the Sharp Gate, canon Stanislaw Zawadzki, asked me to say the sermon.
I agreed, on condition that the picture would be placed as a decoration in the window
of the cloister where the picture looked impressive and attracted more attention than
the picture of Our Lady.

After the service the picture was put in its previous, hidden place and it remained there
for another two years. Only on April 1, 1937 I asked His Excellency, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Vilnus for permission to hang the picture in St. Michael's church, the rector of which I was still at that time. His Excellency the Metropolitan Archbishop answered that he did not want to decide on that himself. He ordered that the picture should be seen by a commission gathered
by the canon Adam Sawicki, the chancellor of the Metropolitan Curia. The chancellor ordered that the picture be displayed in the sacristy of St. Michael's church on April 2nd since he did not know what time it would be seen. Because I was busy working at the Seminary
and at University I was not present when they came to see the picture and I do not know
who was on the commission.

On April 3rd, 1937 His Excellency the Metropolitan Archbishop of Vilnus informed me that
he had already detailed information on the picture and he gave permission for the picture
to be consecrated and displayed in the church, provided that it should not be hung in the altar and nobody should be told of its origin.

On that day the picture was consecrated and hung next to the great altar on the readings side, from where it was taken several times to St. Francis's parish (post-Observantine) for a Corpus Christi procession to the altars set up. On December 12th, the Observants moved it to a different place and then the picture was a little damaged, and in the year 1942, when they were arrested by the German authorities, the picture returned to its former place next to the great altar, where it has remained up to this day, held in great reverence by the faithful and decorated
with numerous votive offerings.

Several days after the triduum in the Sharp Gate s. Faustina told me of her experiences
during the celebration, which are described in detail in her diary. Then, on May 12th,
she saw in her spirit the dying Marshal J. Pilsudski and she told me about his terrible sufferings. The Lord Jesus was to show it to her and say: "Look what the greatness of this world ends in." Next she saw his judgement and when I asked how it finished she answered: " The Divine Mercy seems to have prevailed with the intercession of the Virgin Mary."

Soon, the foretold by s. Faustina great difficulties, in regard to my stay at St. Michael's church began. They kept intensifying until they reached a climax in January 1936.
I told almost nobody about those difficulties, until the critical day when I asked s. Faustina
for prayer. To my great surprise, on that very day all the difficulties evaporated like a soap bubble, while s. Faustina told me that she took my sufferings on herself and on that day
she experienced as much of them as never before in her life. When she then asked
Our Lord Jesus for help, she heard the words: "You have decided to suffer for him and now you want to shrug it off. I have allowed only some part of his sufferings for you to carry on".

Here she told me in great detail the cause of my sufferings which had allegedly been communicated to her in a supernatural way. The accuracy was extremely striking, the more
so that in no way could she have known about the details herself. There were several similar cases.

In mid-April 1936, ordered by the Superior General, s. Faustina left for Walendow, and then
for Cracow, while I reflected in earnest on the idea of the Divine Mercy and I started to look for a confirmation at the Fathers of the Church that it was God's greatest attribute, as s. Faustina said, since I found nothing on the subject at the newer theologians. With great joy I encountered similar expressions at St. Fulgentius and St. Ildefons, and the most of them at St. Thomas
and St. Augustine, who while commenting on the Psalms, spoke in great length on the Divine Mercy, calling it God's highest attribute. I had then no serious doubts as to the supernatural character of s. Faustina's apparitions and from time to time I started to place articles on the Divine Mercy in theological journals, justifying rationally and liturgically the need for the feast
of the Divine Mercy on the first Sunday after Easter.

In June 1939 I published the first brochure "The Divine Mercy" with the picture of the Most Merciful Christ on the cover in Vilnus. I sent this first publication first of all to Their Excellencies the Bishops gathered at the Episcopal Conference in Czestochowa, but I did not receive any response from them. The next year, 1937, in Poznañ I published another brochure entitled
"The Divine Mercy in the Liturgy", the reviews of which I found in several theological journals, generally very favourable. I also placed several articles in Vilnus dailies, but I did not reveal anywhere that s. Faustina was the "causa movens."

In August 1937 I visited s.Faustina in Cracow-Lagiewniki and I found in her diary a novena
to the Divine Mercy, which I liked very much. In response to the question where she got it
from she said that Our Lord Jesus had dictated it to her Himself. The Lord Jesus had supposedly earlier taught her the chaplet to the Divine Mercy and other prayers that I decided to publish.
On the basis of some of the expressions included in the prayers I created the Litany of the Divine Mercy which, together with the chaplet and the litany, I gave to Mr. Cebulski (Cracow,
22 Szewska St.) with the purpose of obtaining the Imprimatur in the Cracow Curia and printing
it with the picture of the Divine Mercy on the cover. The Cracow Curia granted the Imprimatur with No 671, and in October the novena appeared on bookshop shelves together with the chaplet and the litany.

In 1939 I brought a certain number of these pictures and novenas to Vilnus, and after
the outbreak of the war and the entrance of the USSR troops (19.09.39) I asked His Excellency the Metropolitan Bishop of Vilnus for permission to distribute them together with the information of the origin of the picture presented on the chaplets, for which I obtained consent.
Then I started to spread out a private cult of the picture (for which I obtained oral permission) and the prayers created by s.. Faustina and approved in Cracow.

After the Cracow edition had been sold out I had to copy the prayers on a copy machine,
and when I could not manage it in a face of great demand, I asked the Metropolitan Curia
of Vilnus for permission for a reprint with an explanation concerning the content of the picture added on the first page. I obtained the permission with a signature of the censor f.. Prelate Zebrowski Leon, of 06.02.1940 and of His Excellency the Bishop Suffragan Kazimierz Micha³kiewicz and the notary of the Curia Fr. J. Ostrewka of 07.02. 1940 with No 36. I would like to emphasise that I did not know whether and who would sign the Imprimatur and on this issue
I did not communicate with His Excellency the Bishop Suffragan, who died several weeks later.

Frather Prelate Zebrowski made some stylistic corrections as a censor in the text of the Cracow edition, but the faithful in general preferred to leave the text without any alternation.
Thus, with the censor's permission, I turned to the Curia again (already after the death
of His Excellency the Bishop Suffragan) with a request to have the prayers approved without
the corrections. Fr. Notary J. Ostrewko took an application to the Metropolitan Bishop, who, through the said notary, told me to use the approval signed by the late Bishop Suffragan,
which I accordingly did. I present here detailed circumstances of obtaining the permission because it was said later (in the official spheres) that I had acquired it by some trick.

Already in Vilnus, s. Faustina told me that she had an urge to step out of the Congregation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy with the aim of founding a new religious Congregation.
I considered the urge to be a temptation and I did not advise her to treat it seriously.
Later, in her letters from Cracow, she still wrote about this urge and finally she obtained permission to leave the Congregation from her new Confessor and the Superior General
on condition that I would agree on that. I was afraid to take the responsibility on myself
so I responded that I would agree only if the Cracow Confessor and the Superior General
not only allowed, but ordered her to step out. Sister Faustina did not receive such an order
and that is why she calmed down and stayed in her congregation until her death.

I used to visit her during the week and I talked, among others, about this Congregation which she wanted to found, and now, when she was dying, she was stressing that this might have only been an illusion, like perhaps also all the other things she talked about. Sister Faustina promised to talk about it to Our Lord Jesus in a prayer. On the next day I held a mass for s. Faustina, during which it occurred to me that just like she had not been able to paint the picture
but she had only gave directions, she would not be able to found the new congregation,
but only gave general indications; the urges in turn, meant that the new Congregation
was a necessity in the coming terrible times.

Next, when I came to the hospital and asked if she had anything to say on the issue,
she answered that she had no need to speak since Our Lord Jesus had already enlightened
me during the mass. Then she added that I was mainly to strive to establish the feast
of the Divine Mercy on the first Sunday after Easter - that I was not to worry too much about
the new Congregation, that I would learn from certain signs what was to be done on the issue and by whom. She said that in the sermon which I had said on the radio that day the intention was not completely pure (in fact it was like that) and that I was to strive mainly for that in the whole problem. She said that she saw me to take vows from the first six candidates to this Congregation in a little wooden chapel at night, that she would die soon, that she was already done with everything she was supposed to say and write. Before that she described to me what the little church and the house of the first Congregation would look like and she bemoaned
the fate of Poland, which she loved so much and which she frequently prayed for.

Following the teachings of St. John of the Cross, I almost always treated s. Faustina's stories
in an indifferent manner and did not ask for details. In this case too, I did not ask what fate would meet Poland that she bemoaned so much. She herself did not tell me that, only sighed and hid her face in her hands from the terror of the image that she probably saw then.

Almost everything she foretold concerning the Congregation came true in the minute details. When in Vilnus, on 10th November, 1944 I took private vows from the first six candidates
in the wooden chapel of the Carmelite Nuns (see Congregation), or when three years later I came to the first house of the Congregation in Myslibórz (see Shrine), I was amazed at the striking similarity to what the late s. Faustina had said. She also foretold in some detail the difficulties and even persecutions t hat I encountered because of spreading the cult of Divine Mercy and my attempts to establish the Feast of this name on Low Sunday. (it was easier to bear all that with the conviction that it was the will of God concerning the issue from the beginning).
She foretold me her death on 26th September, that she would die in ten days time
and she died on 5th October. Due to the lack of time I was unable to attend her funeral.

WHAT TO THINK OF SR. FAUSTINA AND HER APPARITIONS

With respect to her natural disposition she was an even-tempered person, without a trace
of psychoneurosis or hysteria. Her contacts both with sisters in the congregation and with strangers were characterized by genuineness and simplicity. There was nothing artificial
or theatrical about her, no affectation or desire to attract attention to herself. Quite the contrary, she tried not to distinguish herself from others in anything, and she told nobody about her inner experiences, except for her confessor and the Superiors. Her spirituality was normal, restrained by her will, not manifesting itself in different moods and emotions. She gave no way to any physical depression or irritation in face of failures which she bore quietly, with submission
to the will of God.

Mentally, she was sensible and she was characterized by a clear judgement on things,
even though she had almost no education: she could barely write with mistakes and read.
She gave apt advice to her companions, when they turned to her, and in order to check her
out several times I presented some doubts to her, which she resolved aptly. Her imagination
was rich, but not exalted. She often could not distinguish between the work of her imagination and the supernatural one, especially when it concerned memories of the past. However,
when I pointed it out to her and told her to underline in her diary only what she could swear was not a product of her imagination - she left out quite a few of her old memories.

Morally, she was completely sincere without the slightest exaggeration and a trace of lie:
she always told the truth, although it sometimes distressed her. In the summer of 1934 I was absent for several weeks, and s. Faustina did not confide her experiences to other confessors. On return, I learnt that she had burned her diary in the following circumstances. An angel supposedly appeared to her and told her to throw it into a stove saying: "You are writing nonsense and you only expose yourself and others to great distress. What do you get out
of this mercy? Why are you wasting your time writing some delusions?! Burn it all and you
will be quieter and happier!" S. Faustina had nobody to consult and when the vision repeated, she carried out the order of the alleged angel. Then she realised that she had done a wrong thing and she told me all about it and complied with my order to write it all again.

With respect to supernatural virtues she was making considerable progress. Indeed, from the beginning I saw in her well established and tested virtues of chastity, humility, zeal, obedience, poverty and the love for God and neighbour, but still it was possible to perceive steady growth of these virtues, especially at the end of her life with an intensification of the love of God, which she revealed in her poems. Today I do not remember exactly their contents, but I generally recall my admiration as to the contents (not the form) when I read them in 1938.

I once saw s. Faustina in rapture. It was on September 2nd, 1938 when I visited her in the Pr¹dnik hospital and said good bye before leaving for Vilnus. Having walked away a few dozen meters it came to me that I had brought with me for her several dozen copies of the prayers
on the Divine Mercy created by her and published in Cracow (the novena, litany and chaplet) and I forgot to give it to her. So I immediately walked back to hand them out. When I opened the door to s. Faustina's private room I saw her immersed in prayer in the sitting position,
but almost hovering over the bed. Her gaze was fixed at some invisible object, her pupils slightly widened, she did not pay attention to my arrival, so I did not want to disturb her
and I was going to withdraw; soon, however, she recovered, noticed me and said sorry
for not hearing me knock on the door and my enter.

I handed out the prayers, said good bye and she said: "See you in Heaven!" When I visited
her next on September 26th for the last time in Cracow-Lagiewniki, she did not want to talk
to me, or rather she could not, saying: "I'm busy communing with Our Heavenly Father",
and she really made the impression of a supernatural creature. Then I did not have the slightest doubt that what the diary contained about the Holy Communion administered to her by an Angel in the hospital corresponded with the reality.

As to the subject of Sr. Faustina's apparitions, there is nothing in it that would defy faith or good manners, or that would concern controversial opinions among theologians. Quite the contrary, everything aims at a greater knowledge and love for God. "The picture is painted artistically
and constitutes a precious output of modern religious art." (The Report of the Commission for Assessment and Conservation of the picture of the Most Merciful Saviour at St. Michael's church in Vilnus, from May 27th, 1944 signed by the experts Prof. of the History of Art M. Morelowski, Dogmatics Prof. Fr. L. Puchata and a conservator Fr. P. Sledziewski, Phd.).

The cult of Divine Mercy (private in the form of the novena, chaplet and litany) not only does
not defy the dogmas in any way, but aims at elucidating the truths of the Holy Faith and a visual presentation of what had previously been in the liturgy only in connection, - at highlighting
and presenting to the whole world what the Fathers of the Church wrote about, what the author of the liturgy had in mind, and for what great human misery calls today.

The intuition of an ordinary nun, barely knowing the catechism, in things so subtle, so apt
and suiting the psychology of today's society, cannot be explained otherwise than by
a supernatural work and enlightenment. Many a theologian after long studies would not
be able to solve even approximately these difficulties so aptly and easily, as s. Faustina did.

Admittedly, the supernatural work in s. Faustina's soul was often accompanied by the work
of her quite vivid human imagination, as a result of which certain things were unconsciously slightly misrepresented by her. But it happens to all people of that kind as their lives show,
e.g.: St. Brigida, Catherine Emmerlich, Mary of Zgreda, Joan of Arc, etc. That can explain
the inconsistencies of s. Faustina's description of her entering the convent with the testimony
of the Most Venerable Mother General Michaela Moraczewska and perhaps also some other expressions in the diary. Anyway, these are old things that both the sides could have forgotten, or have slightly altered, things which do not belong to the heart of the matter.

The effects of s. Faustina's apparitions both in her soul and in the souls of other people,
went beyond all expectations. As s. Faustina was a bit frightened at the beginning, was afraid
of the possibility of carrying out orders and shrank from them, later on she was gradually calming down and arrived at a state of complete security, certainty and a profound inner joy: she was becoming increasingly humble and obedient, increasingly united with God and patient, absolutely complying in everything with His will. There is probably no need to go on about
the effects of the apparitions in the souls of other people who learnt about the apparition since facts speak best for themselves. Numerous votive offerings (about 150) at the picture of the Most Merciful Saviour in Vilnus and many other cities are a sufficient proof of the graces granted
to the worshippers of the Divine Mercy both in the country and abroad. The information
of the prayers granted by Divine Mercy, sometimes clearly miraculously, is coming from
all sides.

Summing up the above, we could easily reach a conclusion; but since the final decision
on the issue depends on the infallible institution in the Church, that is why we give to it
with all submissiveness and we are most peacefully awaiting a verdict.

/-/ Frather Michal Sopocko - Sister Faustina's confessor

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