February 15 Blessed Michael Sopoćko, Priest PATRON OF THE AMERICAN PROVINCE Memorial – For the American Province Father Michael (Michał) Sopoćko was born November 1, 1888. He graduated from the Major Seminary in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he was ordained a priest in 1912. He fulfilled the duties of a vicar, military chaplain, spiritual director of seminarians, and university professor. In 1933, he met Sr. Faustina and became her confessor. Because he recognized the authenticity of the revelations granted to her, he promoted the Divine Mercy message and devotion until the end of his life. He told Sr. Faustina to write down her private revelations, and the book entitled “Diary” emerged out of these notes. He also made efforts for the Divine Mercy image to be painted. In 1941, Fr. Michael engaged the help of Fr. Joseph Jarzębowski, MIC, in bringing to the Western Hemisphere the Divine Mercy message and devotion. In 1942, Fr. Michael founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Merciful Jesus. After settling in Białystok, Poland, he continued to spread the Divine Mercy message by his preaching and his writing. He demonstrated profound faith, heroic patience, and love, especially for the poor. Under unfavorable circumstances, he was the example of a true priest, a confessor in difficult causes and a promoter of the Gospel to various peoples. Saint John Paul II crowned Fr. Sopoćko’s work by establishing Divine Mercy Sunday on the Second Sunday of Easter, by placing Sr. Faustina among the saints, and by explaining in his encyclical “Dives in Misericordia” the Mercy of God and how it relates to the world. Next to St. John Paul II and St. Faustina, Bl. Fr. Sopoćko became a part of the triptych of persons who energized devotion to God, Who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). Father Sopoćko died on February 15, 1975, in Białystok and was beatified there on September 28, 2008.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==