Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Bu t precisely when she was on th e sidelines as regards active propagation of th e devotion, God allowed h e r to tas te the f irs t fru its of the work she had been spreading. From this standpoint, th e y e a r 1937 was happy and blessed. I t was begun by th e hang ing of the image in a church. The picture was placed on the Epistle side of the main a l ta r in the church of S t Michael, where F a th e r Sopocko was still Rector. Before hang ing the image of the Merciful Je su s for public veneration, F a th e r Sopocko h ad previously prepared priestly opinion by articles published in theological magazines, in which he gave reasons, "intellectual and liturgical", for the need of a F ea s t of the Divine Mercy on the f ir s t Sunday a fte r Easter. S imultaneously with th e hang ing of the image in the church, he published in the Vilnius "Tygodnik Katolicki, Nasz Przyjaciel" (Catholic Weekly, Our Friend) on 4 April 1937, an article on the Divine Mercy, th is time intended for the wide spectrum of the faithful, i l lu s tra t­ ing i t with a photograph of th e image of the Merciful Jesus . T h a t edition of th e pape r was passed on to S is ter F au s tina by h e r superior, Mother Irene Krzyza- nowska, shortly a fte r it appeared. This was the f ir s t p rin ted word on the theme of the Divine Mercy (in the form revealed to h e r by th e Lord) t h a t she had seen, b u t i t was no t the f ir s t popular publication for the needs of the faithful. A pamph le t under the title "Divine Mercy", with a small picture of the Merciful Jesu s on the cover, had been published by F a th e r Sopocko already in Ju n e 1936, and one year la te r a second booklet came out in Poznan, Poland, with th e title "Divine Mercy in the Liturgy". Both these publications were, however, in small editions. The subject became widely known only when, a t th e end of August 1937, F a th e r Sopocko, v isiting Cracow, had the opportunity to ta lk for some time with S ister F au s tina and to look a t h e r Diary w ritten a fte r she had left Vilnius. Their meeting was fru itfu l, as F a th e r Sopocko h im se lf informs us: 298