Divine Mercy
How did the Marians Become Involved?
"Be Apostles of The Divine Mercy under the maternal and loving guidance of Mary …"
— Pope John Paul II, in a Papal Blessing to the Marians on Oct. 5, 2001.
By Fr. Joseph, MIC
How is it that, since 1941, the Marians of the Immaculate Conception have been official promoters of the authentic Divine Mercy message? What's the Marians' connection with the Polish nun, Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska, who was chosen by our Lord to be His secretary of Divine Mercy?
Allow me to share with you an amazing story that begins in war-torn Europe with a priest. His name was Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski, MIC. He was a member of the Marians' Polish Province. Forced to flee Poland during the Nazi occupation in 1939, Fr. Jarzebowski ended up at a Marian house in Lithuania hoping to get a visa to the safe-haven of the United States where he could join his fellow Marians in Washington, D.C. He succeeded in getting the visa, but before he was able to leave Lithuania, the exit routes closed because of the war. The visa expired. To complicate matters, the Soviets started to require an exit permit also.
In his travels in Lithuania, he encountered a camp for evacuated Polish police and soldiers. There he met two priests who had been students of Fr. Michael Sopocko, the spiritual director of Sr. Maria Faustina. Who was Sr. Faustina? Only a few years before, the Lord, through a series of revelations, gave this uneducated nun the message of Divine Mercy that she was to share with our troubled modern world. Her mission consisted of three main tasks:
- reminding the world and the Church of the truth of God's mercy for every human being, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures;
- entreating Divine Mercy for the whole world, especially for poor sinners, through the practice of new forms of devotion to The Divine Mercy; and
- initiating the apostolic movement of Divine Mercy, the followers of which proclaim and entreat Divine Mercy for the world and strive to practice the works of mercy.
In 1940, Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski, MIC (1897-1964), embarked on a perilous journey from Poland to the United States. The fate of the Divine Mercy message in America was in his hands.
The two priests were making the novena to the Divine Mercy and explained it to Fr. Jarzebowski. He read it, but he was skeptical. He heard of people receiving graces in impossible situations through devotion to The Divine Mercy, but he was not convinced of the value of the devotion. The two priests pointed out that Fr. Sopocko was careful in his judgments concerning such matters.
On June 15, 1940, the Soviet armies took over all of Lithuania. Father Jarzebowski's chances of getting to the United States were growing slimmer. He stayed with the Marians in Mariampole for a while, but he had to leave there when Russian soldiers took over the house on July 14.
Father Jarzebowski moved about. During this time, at the advice of a Polish seminarian, he started to pray to Jesus, The Divine Mercy, for protection. This seminarian and others helped Father to get the necessary permit to travel. Some of these seminarians were later sent to labor camps in Siberia.
In the fall of 1940, Fr. Jarzebowski tried unsuccessfully to get his American visa renewed. By this time he had a Novena to The Divine Mercy and a copy of the image of The Divine Mercy with him. He went ahead and tried to get an exit permit from the Soviets, despite the fact that his visa to America had expired. Miraculously, he received the permit. Travel across Siberia to Japan was arranged. Just before he left, he went to visit Fr. Sopocko in Vilnius. Father Sopocko told Fr. Jarzebowski to take a memorandum that he had written concerning the devotion to Divine Mercy. The next day, Fr. Jarzebowski celebrated a Holy Mass before the original Divine Mercy image, which our Lord had asked St. Faustina to have painted and spread throughout the world. Father Jarzebowski entrusted the journey ahead to The Divine Mercy, promising to promote it for the rest of his life if he were able to get to his Marian brothers in Washington, D.C.
He journeyed to Kaunas, in Lithuania, overnight and was able to leave on a train on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1941, at 3 p.m. — the Hour of Great Mercy. Every coach had two members of the NKVD (the old KGB), and they bothered Fr. Jarzebowski about not having a Japanese transit visa. He told them it was waiting for him in Vladivostok. He continued on. In Vladivostok, there was still the need to get a Japanese visa, and he would have to show them his expired American visa. Although the Japanese Consulate closed at 3 p.m., and they arrived after 3, a Jewish lawyer named Bialogorski argued for them to stay open. Father Jarzebowski prayed to the Merciful Jesus. The consulate decided to give the visa. They inspected his expired visa (he didn't give them the part with the expiration date), and found it in order. The stamp was pressed for the Japanese visa.
When he was boarding the ship, he heard that customs was confiscating crosses and books. He prayed to Jesus to save his Divine Mercy materials. It was yet another tense moment. The officer took his breviary out of a bag and looked through it. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but found the prayercards charming and decided to let it all go. He marked that bag with chalk, and then marked a second bag containing Divine Mercy materials. He did not even bother to look inside!
The ship to Japan was greatly overcrowded. There were 500 people onboard and accommodations for only 80. It took two days and two nights to reach Japan. While in Japan, Fr. Jarzebowski gave a retreat to the Franciscans in Nagasaki. He arrived in Seattle in May 1941, seven months before Pearl Harbor, and from there made his way to Washington, D.C, firmly convinced that the Merciful Savior had brought him safely across the thousands of miles to his brothers in the U.S.
Before leaving Lithuania, Fr. Jarzebowski had vowed that if he were able to safely reach his fellow Marians in America, he would spend the rest of his life spreading the Divine Mercy message and devotion. But how would he do so?
Promotion Grows in the U.S.
The Marians in the U.S., including a third-year seminarian named Ladislaus ("Walter") Pelczynski, became convinced that they should promote the devotion. By Oct. 8, 1942, the Marians had received an Imprimatur from Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore, to print a Polish edition of the Chaplet, Novena, image, and an article by Fr. Jarzebowski. An English translation, called "Novena to the Mercy of God," was published in 50,000 copies in 1943. With the help of the Felician Sisters in Michigan and Connecticut, the Marians began to spread the message!
After several years of this activity, Fr. Walter established in 1944 the "Mercy of God Apostolate" on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Mass. — now home of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy and the Marian Helpers Center, a modern, religious publishing house. Eden Hill has become the international center for the Divine Mercy message and devotion. By 1953, some 25 million pieces of Divine Mercy literature had been distributed around the world!
Then, in 1958 and 1959, Sr. Faustina's prophecy about the apparent destruction of the Divine Mercy work (see Diary of St. Faustina, 378) began to be fulfilled. The Holy See, having received erroneous and confusing translations of Diary entries, which it was unable to verify due to existing political conditions, forbade the spreading of the Divine Mercy message and devotion in the forms proposed by Sr. Faustina's writings.
During the period of the ban, the Marians continued to spread devotion to God's mercy, but, in obedience to Rome, they based the message and devotion regarding Divine Mercy on Sacred Scripture, the Liturgy, the teachings of the Church, and Our Lady's revelations at Fatima.
The Lifting of the Ban
Twenty years later (in 1978), the ban was completely lifted, thanks to the intervention of the Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Through his efforts, an Informative Process relating to the life and virtues of Sr. Faustina had already begun in 1965. Its successful outcome led to the inauguration of her Beatification Cause in 1968.
In a new "Notification" on April 15, 1978, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, having reviewed many original documents that were not made available to it in 1959, reversed its earlier decision and declared the 1959 prohibition "no longer binding."
Six months later, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II.
Prompted by the pastoral concern of His Excellency, Joseph F. Maguire, Bishop of Springfield, Mass., with regard to the resuming of efforts to make the Divine Mercy message and devotion known, the Congregation of Marians asked for an authoritative explanation of the Notification of 1978. On July 12, 1979, they received a reply from the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation, stating that "there no longer exists, on the part of this Sacred Congregation, any impediment to the spreading of the devotion to The Divine Mercy in the authentic forms proposed by the Religious Sister mentioned above [Sr. Faustina Kowalska]."
Thus, in 1979 — with the local bishop's permission — the Marians resumed their work of spreading the Divine Mercy message and devotion in the forms proposed by Sr. Faustina. The response from laity, priests, and bishops all over the world has been overwhelming, and the devotion has grown faster than anyone ever expected.
Pope John Paul II
One of the reasons for this was certainly the continued support of Pope John Paul II. In 1981, he published an encyclical letter entitled Rich in Mercy, in which he speaks of Christ as the "incarnation of mercy ... the inexhaustible source of mercy" (8). He goes on to emphasize that "Christ's messianic program, the program of mercy" must become "the program of His people, the program of the Church" (8).
Throughout the encyclical, John Paul stresses that the Church — especially in our modern times — has the "right and the duty" to "profess and proclaim God's mercy," to "introduce it and make it incarnate" in the lives of all people, and "to call upon the mercy of God," imploring it for the whole world. (See Rich in Mercy, 12-15.)
A year after publishing Rich in Mercy, Pope John Paul II visited the Shrine of Merciful Love in Collevalenza, Italy, during his first pilgrimage outside Rome after the attempt on his life. There he emphasized that spreading the message of mercy was his "special task."
Beatification
On April 18, 1993, Pope John Paul II beatified Sr. Faustina at St. Peter's Square in Rome. It was the first Sunday after Easter — the very day that is to be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday, according to the Merciful Savior's revelations to Sr. Faustina. It was John Paul II who beatified her.
In his homily, John Paul said: "I salute you, Sr. Faustina. Beginning today the Church calls you Blessed ... . O Faustina, how extraordinary your life is! Precisely you, the poor and simple daughter of Mazovia, of the Polish people, were chosen by Christ to remind people of this great mystery of Divine Mercy! You bore this mystery within yourself, leaving this world after a short life, filled with suffering. However, at the same time, this mystery has become a prophetic reminder to the world ... .
" 'I feel certain that my mission will not come to an end upon my death, but will begin ... ,' Sr. Faustina wrote in her diary (Diary, 281). And it truly did! Her mission continues and is yielding astonishing fruit. It is truly marvelous how her devotion to the merciful Jesus is spreading in our contemporary world and gaining so many human hearts! This is undoubtedly a sign of the times — a sign of our 20th century. The balance of this century which is now ending, in addition to the advances which have often surpassed those of preceding eras, presents a deep restlessness and fear of the future. Where, if not in The Divine Mercy, can the world find refuge and the light of hope? Believers understand that perfectly."
Canonization
Then, on April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Sr. Faustina as the first saint of the Great Jubilee Year. And again, it was on Divine Mercy Sunday. In fact, the Holy Father also announced during his homily that the Second Sunday of Easter would now be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday throughout the universal Church.
In his homily, John Paul said: "Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. By Divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century we have just left behind. ...
"In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted His message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy.
"Jesus told Sr. Faustina: Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy (Diary, 300). Through the work of the Polish religious, this message has become linked forever to the 20th century, the last of the second millennium and the bridge to the third. It is not a new message but can be considered a gift of special enlightenment that helps us to relive the Gospel of Easter more intensely, to offer it as a ray of light to the men and women of our time.
"What will the years ahead bring us? ... We are not given to know. ... But the light of Divine Mercy, which the Lord in a way wished to return to the world through Sr. Faustina's charism, will illumine the way for the men and women of the third millennium. ... Sr. Faustina's canonization has a particular eloquence: by this act I intend today to pass this message on to the new millennium. ..."
Now, inspired by the legacy of the Mercy Pope, it is our Marian Congregation's task to spread the message of Divine Mercy in the third millennium.
Think about it: Extraordinary visions and revelations, miraculous answers to prayer, a dramatic escape from war-torn Poland, a temporary ban by the Church, and strong support from Pope John Paul II, who has gone down in history as the "Mercy Pope." It could all make for a great thriller. But it's better than that. It has all lead to untold millions turning to trust to His Divine Mercy.
You're probably wondering what happened with Fr. Jarzebowski. He stayed in the U.S. for a couple years. Then, he worked among Polish exiles in Mexico and then in England where he organized schools and cultural programs in Hereford and Fawley Court. He was only 66 years old when he died in 1964. His body was laid to rest in the Marian Cemetery at Fawley Court. He is remembered today in a special way as the man who exported the Divine Mercy Devotion from Poland to the rest of the world — the man who helped make Divine Mercy the greatest grassroots movement in the history of the Church.
