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Sister Faustina
Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, OLM (born Helena Kowalska; 25 August 1905 – 5 October 1938) was a Polish Catholic religious sister and mystic. Faustyna, popularly spelled "Faustina", had apparitions of Jesus Christ which inspired the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy, therefore she is sometimes called the "secretary" of Divine Mercy. Throughout her life, Kowalska reported having visions of Jesus and conversations with him, which she noted in her diary, later published as '' The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul''. Her biography, submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, quoted some of the conversations with Jesus regarding the Divine Mercy devotion. At the age of 20 years, she joined a convent in Warsaw. She was later transferred to Płock and then to Vilnius, where she met Father Michał Sopoćko, who was to be her confessor and spiritual director, and who supported her devotion to the Divine Mercy. With ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of saints, or authorized list of that communion's recognized saints. Catholic Church Canonization is a Pope, papal declaration that the Catholic Church, Catholic faithful may Veneration, venerate a particular deceased member of the church. Popes began making such decrees in the tenth century. Up to that point, the local bishops governed the veneration of holy men and women within their own dioceses; and there may have been, for any particular saint, no formal decree at all. In subsequent centuries, the procedures became increasingly regularized and the Popes began restricting to themselves the right to declare someone a Catholic saint. In contemporary usage, the term is understood to refer to the act by which any Christianity, Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catholic Devotions
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church, described as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a ''Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy''. Catholic devotions have various forms, ranging from formalized, multi-day prayers such as novenas to activities, such as processions or the Eucharistic adoration, the wearing of scapulars,Thurston, Herbert. "Popular Devotions." The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divine Mercy Sunday
Divine Mercy Sunday (also known as the Feast of the Divine Mercy) is a feast day that is observed in the Roman Rite calendar, as well as some Anglo-Catholics of the Church of England (it is not an official Anglican feast). It is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter, which concludes the Octave of Easter. It is originally based on the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy that Faustina Kowalska reported as part of her visions of Jesus, and is associated with special promises from Jesus and indulgences issued by the Catholic Church. According to the diary of Kowalska, the feast of Divine Mercy receives the biggest promises of grace from Jesus in the Divine Mercy devotion. A person who goes to sacramental confession (the confession may take place some days before) and receives holy communion on that Sunday, shall obtain the total forgiveness of sins and punishments. This grace is similar to the grace received at baptism and greater than a plenary indulgence. Additionally, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an All-boys school, all-boys high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent to a Forced labour under German rule during World War II, German forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish language, Polish at university. Encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha, he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divine Mercy Image
The image of the Divine Mercy is a depiction of Jesus Christ that is based on the Divine Mercy (Catholic devotion), Divine Mercy devotion initiated by Faustina Kowalska. According to Kowalska's diary, Jesus told her "I promise that the soul that will veneration, venerate this image will not hell, perish. I also promise victory over enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory." (''Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary'' 48) Jesus is shown, in most versions, as raising his right hand in benediction, blessing and pointing with his left hand on the Sacred Heart from which flow forth two rays: one red and one pale. The depiction contains the message "Jesus I trust in you" (). The rays that stream out have symbolic meanings: red for the Blood of Christ, blood of Jesus, and pale for the water (which justification (theology), justifies souls). The whole image is a symbol of Charity (virtue), charity, forgiveness and love of God, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiritual Director
Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divinity, divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the divine, or how they are cultivating a life attuned to spiritual things. The director listens and asks questions to assist the directee in his or her process of Introspection, reflection and spiritual growth. Advocates of Spiritual direction claim that it develops a deeper awareness with the spiritual aspect of being human, and that it is neither psychotherapy nor counseling nor financial planning. Historians of philosophy like Ilsetraut Hadot, Ilsetraut and Pierre Hadot have argued that spiritual direction was already practiced and recommended by the main schools of philosophy, as well as by physicians like Galen, as part of spiritual practices in Ancient Greece and Rome. Roman Catholic forms While there is some degree of variab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confessor
In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecution, a number of Christians had, under torture or threat thereof, weakened in their profession of the faith. When persecutions ceased under Constantine the Great, they wanted to be reunited with the church. It became the practice of the penitents to go to the Confessors, who had willingly suffered for the faith and survived, to plead their case and effect their restoration to communion. Over time, the word came to denote any priest who had been granted the authority to hear confessions. Historically, priests were sometimes tested by officers of the church called examiners, before being granted this authority. As spiritual advisor An individual may have a regular confessor, sometimes called a "spiritual advisor" or "spiritual fathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michał Sopoćko
Michael Sopoćko ( ; 1 November 1888 – 15 February 1975) was a Polish Catholic priest and professor at Vilnius University. He is best known as the spiritual director of Faustina Kowalska. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. Life Sopoćko was born to Polish parents in 1888 in Juszewszczyzna (also known as Nowosady) near Valozhyn within the Russian Empire, now Belarus. He entered Vilnius Priest Seminary in 1910 and was ordained in 1914. He was a priest in Vilnius (1914–1918) and then a chaplain in the army in Warsaw and Vilnius during World War I. After obtaining his doctorate in theology in 1926, he became the spiritual director at the seminary in Vilnius and, in 1928, professor of pastoral theology at Stefan Batory University, in Vilnius. Divine Mercy Sopoćko was very supportive of the Divine Mercy devotion of Faustina Kowalska and in her diary (Notebook V, item 1238) she stated: "This priest is a great soul, entirely filled with God." Since 1931 Kowalska ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population was 607,667, and the Vilnius urban area (which extends beyond the city limits) has an estimated population of 747,864. Vilnius is notable for the architecture of its Vilnius Old Town, Old Town, considered one of Europe's largest and best-preserved old towns. The city was declared a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The architectural style known as Vilnian Baroque is named after the city, which is farthest to the east among Baroque architecture, Baroque cities and the largest such city north of the Alps. The city was noted for its #Demographics, multicultural population during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with contemporary sources comparing it to Babylon. Before World War II and The Holocaust in Lithuania, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Płock
Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Płock is a seat of the county (''powiat'') in the west of the Masovian Voivodeship. From 1079 to 1138 it was the List of former national capitals, capital of Poland. The Cathedral Hill (''Wzgórze Tumskie''), along with Płock Castle and the Płock Cathedral, Catholic Cathedral containing the sarcophagi of some Polish monarchs, is listed as a List of Historic Monuments (Poland), Historic Monument of Poland. It was the main city and administrative center of Mazovia in the Middle Ages before the rise of Warsaw, and later it remained a royal city in Poland, royal city of Poland.Adolf Pawiński, ''Mazowsze'', Warszawa 1895, p. 37 (in Polish) It is the cultural, academic, scientific, administrative and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a Warsaw metropolitan area, greater metropolitan area of 3.27 million residents, which makes Warsaw the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 6th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures and comprises List of districts and neighbourhoods of Warsaw, 18 districts, while the metropolitan area covers . Warsaw is classified as an Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Alpha 2, alpha global city, a major political, economic and cultural hub, and the country's seat of government. It is also the capital of the Masovian Voivodeship. Warsaw traces its origins to a small fishing town in Masovia. The city rose to prominence in the late 16th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convent
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Communion. Etymology and usage The term ''convent'' derives via Old French from Latin ''conventus'', perfect participle of the verb ''convenio'', meaning "to convene, to come together". It was first used in this sense when the eremitical life began to be combined with the cenobitical. The original reference was to the gathering of mendicants who spent much of their time travelling. Technically, a monastery is a secluded community of monastics, whereas a friary or convent is a community of mendicants (which, by contrast, might be located in a city), and a canonry is a community of canons regular. The terms abbey and priory can be applied to both monasteries and canonries; an abbey is headed by an abbot, and a priory is a lesser depend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
