Maria Faustina Kowalska,
commonly known as Sister Faustina, was the Polish nun who promoted
the Divine Mercy devotion, which is now followed by over 100 million
Catholics. In her diary, Faustina predicted that her work would be
suppressed for some time, and then accepted again. Two decades after
her death in 1938, the Divine Mercy devotion was banned by the
Vatican, but was approved again in 1978 and she was declared the
first saint of the 21st century in April 2000 by Pope John
Paul II.
At the height of the SARS
epidemic in 2003, Fr. Slawek KALISZ, brought the first relic
of St. Faustina to Notre Dame Parish, the first in China. For ten
years Slawek, worked on translating Sr. Faustina’s writings from
Polish into Cantonese. After years of work and meetings with the
diocese of Hong Kong and other collaborators, the book was publicly
introduced at Notre Dame Parish on October 5, the anniversary of St.
Faustina’s death. The book will also be published in Mandarin for
distribution in the Chinese mainland. (China Oblate
Delegation Newsletter, October
2011)
