As Catholics celebrated St. Maria Faustina’s feast day on Wednesday, Pope Francis tweeted about her.

“Today we remember #StFaustinaKowalska,” he said on Twitter. “Through her, God taught the world to seek salvation in his mercy. Let us remember this especially when thinking of the war in #Ukraine. Let us trust in God's mercy which can change hearts. #Peace” 

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska’s given name was “Helena.” She was born in Poland on Aug. 25, 1905 and died on Oct. 5, 1938. She joined Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy when she was 20 and took the name “Maria Faustina.”

In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus appeared to her wearing white with “red and pale rays emanating from his heart,” according to the National Catholic Register (NCR). 

One diary entry says Jesus told her: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in You’ [in Polish: “Jezu, ufam Tobie”]. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.” 

She talked about her vision of the Lord as a way to save souls, so they would come to repent and believe in Jesus’ Divine Mercy. Pope St. John Paul II canonized her in 2000. 

St. Faustina’s diary also describes her vision of hell. While on a retreat, an angel showed her “a place of ‘great torture’ and ‘fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it — a terrible suffering’” the NCR says. 

Her entries indicate that she was shown different levels of hell, similar to Dante’s writing. 

“There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another (and) there are special tortures destined for particular souls,” St. Faustina says in her journal. “These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.” 

She testified that her visions were true so that more might come to believe and repent. 

St. Faustina’s vision and diary helped the Church underscore its message of Divine Mercy, divinemercy.org says. Pope St. John Paul II described her as "the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time." 

A prayer to her says: “St. Faustina, you told us that your mission would continue after your death and that you would not forget us. Our Lord also granted you a great privilege, telling you to 'distribute graces as you will, to whom you will, and when you will.' Relying on this, we ask your intercession for the graces we need, especially for the intentions just mentioned. Help us, above all, to trust in Jesus as you did and thus to glorify His mercy every moment of our lives. Amen” 

A copy of St. Faustina’s “Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul” is available on Amazon. 

Philip Kosloski wrote an Aleteia article about St. Faustina’s devotion to the Rosary, which she would pray every Saturday. Saturday is a reminder of the day the Blessed Virgin Mary prayed for her Son after he was crucified. 

In her diary, she explains her commitment to that practice, saying she received a message from Jesus “to say five decades of the Rosary with outstretched arms” on Saturday. 

Her funeral was held on Oct. 7, the feast of the Rosary. 

Bishop Barron, of the Dioceses of Winona-Rochester, tweeted, “St. Faustina, pray for us!” to join in the celebration.