Grażyna Starzak
"Many communities are coming and even whole dioceses. There are also jubilee pilgrimage programmes for children, young people, firemen, railway workers, blood donors and so on," says Francis Ślusarczyk, custodian of the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Łagiewniki.
He continues: "We must add that in the shrine every day is a day of mercy. You can see that in the number of confessions, the perpetual prayer in the Adoration Chapel, conferences, retreats ... and especially the opportunity to meet Jesus in the Mass. A special gift of Divine Mercy will be the arrival of Pope Francis and a multitude of young people who will enjoy the special privilege of living World Youth Day in the light of Divine Mercy and in the shadow of St Faustina and St John Paul II, the Apostles of Divine Mercy. They not only announced this mystery, but they lived it every day, becoming a 'living Gospel' for the whole world."
Devotion to the Divine Mercy, of which Sr Faustina Kowalska was the spokesperson, developed slowly and spontaneously. During World War II prayer booklets passed from hand to hand with the message of Divine Mercy and holy pictures with the image of the Merciful Jesus as revealed to Sister Faustina.
The first pilgrimages began shortly after the war. Then came the time of the so-called "notification" which forbade prayers to the Divine Mercy as transmitted by Sister Faustina. The "notification" lasted 19 years and turned out to be good for the devotion, which spread independently and in spite of all prohibitions. Lagiewniki, where Sister Faustina spent most of her life, and where she was buried, became the world centre of the Devotion of Divine Mercy.
Lagiewniki was the location of the monastery of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, founded in 1891 by Prince Adam Lubomirski. In 1943 the picture of the Merciful Jesus painted by Adolf Hyla in thanksgiving for his family surviving the dangers of war was hung in the monastery. The picture became famous for graces received and every year saw a growing number of pilgrims, who also visited the tomb of Sister Faustina who died in the odour of sanctity.
