Divine Mercy

The devotion to the Divine Mercy proclaims the boundless mercy of God poured out upon sinners through Jesus Christ, and calls the faithful to trust in that mercy and to show mercy to others. It arose from the revelations granted to a humble Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, in the 1930s, which she recorded in her spiritual Diary. In these visions the Lord appeared to her clothed in white, with rays of red and pale light streaming from His Heart, and asked that an image be painted with the inscription "Jesus, I trust in You."

Through St. Faustina the Lord asked for the establishment of a Feast of Divine Mercy on the Sunday after Easter, the praying of a chaplet of Divine Mercy, and devotion to the hour of His death at three o'clock, promising great graces to those who would trust in His mercy and turn to Him. Though the writings were for a time misunderstood and even restricted, the devotion was later fully approved. St. Faustina was canonized by her countryman Pope St. John Paul II in 2000, who at the same time established Divine Mercy Sunday for the universal Church.