Divine Mercy image
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The image of the Divine Mercy is a depiction of
According to Kowalska's diary, Jesus told her "I promise that the
Jesus is shown, in most versions, as raising his right hand in
Kowalska directed the painting of the first image in Vilnius by the artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski. Since then, numerous versions of the image have been painted by other artists, including a popular rendition by Adolf Hyła in Kraków. They are widely venerated worldwide and are used in the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, observed in Roman Catholic as well as some Anglican churches.[2]
Background
Kowalska was a Polish nun who joined the convent of
In 1930, Kowalska was assigned to the convent in
Kowalska wrote that Jesus' right hand was raised in a sign of blessing, the other was touching the garment near his breast, and that from beneath the garment slightly down, aside his breast, emanated two large rays, one red, the other white.[5][6][7]
In her diary (Notebook 1, items 47 and 48), she wrote that Jesus told her:[3]
Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You". 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.[3][5]
Another nun, Sister Christine, later stated that rays of light from the window were visible that night and attracted the attention of people standing on the other side of the street, implying that it was a "physical" appearance, rather than an interior vision.[5][8]
Not knowing how to paint, Kowalska approached some other nuns at her convent for help but received no assistance. She attempted to sketch the image with charcoal on canvas but had little success.[4][9] In her diary (Notebook 1, item 53), she wrote that Jesus told her that she would receive "visible help" with the task. In November 1932, Kowalska left Płock and returned to Warsaw, and in May 1933, she was sent to the convent in Vilnius to work as the gardener.[10]
In Vilnius, Kowalska met the priest Michał Sopoćko, the newly-appointed confessor to the nuns.[10] Sopocko supported Kowalska's efforts and arranged for the first painting of the image by the artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski,[4][5][10] which was the only rendition that Kowalska saw.[5] After Kowalska's death, a number of other artists painted their own versions of the image, with the depiction by Adolf Hyła being among the most reproduced ones.[11]
Devotional significance
Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace.
— Words attributed to Jesus by Kowalska in her diary.[10][12][13]
After the
Kowalska's diary relates the rays of light within the image to life and salvation, stating (Notebook 1, item 299) that she was told by Jesus:
"The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls.... These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross."[17][18]
Kowalska also wrote that Jesus stressed the importance of the image as part of the Divine Mercy devotion, and in Notebook 1, item 327, she attributed these words to Jesus:
"I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature; 'Jesus, I trust in You."[19]
Catholic devotions thus stress the importance of the image as a "conduit for grace" as part of the Divine Mercy message.[13]
Kowalska's diary also relates the image to Divine Mercy Sunday. Kowalska wrote (Notebook 1, item 49) that Jesus told her that he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be "solemnly blessed" on the first Sunday after Easter; and that Sunday was to be the Feast of Mercy.[3][20]
Pope
The veneration of the Divine Mercy image also takes place in conjunction with the
Artistic renditions
First painting
The first painting was made by
After its completion in 1934, the Kazimirowski painting first hung in the Bernardine Sisters' convent near the church of St. Michael, where Sopoćko was a rector. In her diary, Kowalska wrote that Jesus told her to inform her confessor that the proper place for the painting was in a church, not in the hallway of a convent. The first public exposition of the Kazimirowski painting was on 26–28 April 1935, at the Church of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius.[7] In 1937, on the Sunday after Easter, later instituted as Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope John Paul II, the painting was put on display beside the main altar in St. Michael's Church in Vilnius.[26] The image, including small reproductions of it on various devotional materials, was used by Sopoćko in promoting devotion to the Divine Mercy.[25][27]
In 1948, the Soviet authorities, who then occupied Lithuania, closed St. Michael's Church. The painting remained in the disused church building until 1951, when two pious women from Vilnius, Bronė Miniotaitė and Janina Rodzevič, bought the canvas from a guard and concealed it in an attic for several years. Later, they gave it to the parish priest at the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit for safekeeping, but he chose not to display it in the church. Sopocko, who had relocated to Poland but was unable to take the painting with him, expressed concern about it to his friend Józef Grasewicz, who obtained the painting and moved it to his own parish church in Nova Ruda, Belarus. There, it was displayed and venerated by the local parishioners. In 1970, the Soviets closed that church and used it as a storage warehouse but left the painting hanging in the disused church, where parishioners continued to venerate it in secret. In 1986, Grasewicz arranged for the painting to be replaced by a copy and the original to be secretly transported back to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, where it underwent a restoration that significantly changed its appearance, and it was then displayed and venerated in the church. In 2003, the painting, which had deteriorated because of exposure, attempts at cleaning, and the previous restoration, was professionally restored to its original look. In 2005, it was moved to its current location, above the main altar in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Vilnius.[25][27]
In 2016, a documentary film, The Original Image of Divine Mercy, was released and told the story of the original Divine Mercy painting and its survival over the decades. Made with the co-operation of the
Hyła painting
Another painting of the Divine Mercy was made by Adolf Hyła as a votive offering. In painting the picture, Hyła expressed his gratitude for the survival of his family during World War II.
Hyła was given the descriptions from Kowalska's diary by the nuns at the convent and a small copy of the first painting. Hyła's image is somewhat different from Kazimirowski's, as the former figured Jesus as a "Divine Physician" who walks the earth and heals people. He has Jesus approaching the viewer, instead of merely standing. Christ's right hand is lifted up high in benediction, and He is looking into the eyes of the viewer. The original version of the painting had a country landscape in the background, which was removed in a later replica, as it was deemed "non-liturgical".
The Hyła rendition is also called the "Kraków Divine Mercy Image" because it is kept in the sanctuary at Kraków-Łagiewniki at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, Kraków. Many artistic renditions of this image were created such as The Divine Mercy Parish in Mandaluyong, Philippines which was constructed in 1992 due to vast devotion of itself since 1985.
Other versions
Before Hyła offered his votive painting, the sisters had commissioned
Another popular image was created in 1982 by American artist Robert Skemp, an illustrator of pop fiction paintings and posters during the baby boomer era.[29]
The Divine Mercy Shrine, Misamis Oriental, in El Salvador, Philippines, was built in 2008, and has a 15.24 m (50 ft) statue of the Divine Mercy towering above the shrine.[30][31]
Banning
In 1959, the Vatican banned the image and its devotion for a number of factors. Some Polish bishops questioned Kowalska's claims and were uncomfortable with the image's similarity to the red-and-white
See also
- Hour of Mercy
- O Blood and Water
- Divine Mercy Sanctuary (Kraków)
- Divine Mercy Sanctuary (Płock)
- Works of Mercy
References
- ^ "Divine Mercy in My Soul - The Diary of Sister Faustina". Our Home with God. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ISBN 9781598846546. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4033-1009-5pages 89-90
- ^ ISBN 0-87973-910-Xpages 174-175
- ^ ISBN 1-4502-3236-1"The Image of Divine Mercy" pages 84-107
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87973-923-2pages 63-64
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4033-1009-5pages 85-95
- ISBN 0-948202-43-2page 116
- ISBN 978-0-87973-923-2pages 65-75
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87973-923-2, pp. 85-95
- ^ ISBN 978-0-86012-383-5page 252
- on 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ ISBN 1-56548-350-2p. 47-48
- ^ ISBN 1-56854-871-0page 195
- ISBN 1-56548-350-2page 22
- ^ ISBN 978-1-58617-257-2page 548
- ISBN 1-56548-350-2page 51
- ISBN 978-0-87973-923-2page 165
- ISBN 978-1-4343-2765-9page 39
- ISBN 0-87973-923-1page 66
- ^ Vatican website: Canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, April 30, 2000 Archived May 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 1-56854-617-3page 195
- ^ Vatican biography of Faustina Kowalska Archived March 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary on Divine Mercy Indulgences at the Vatican web site Archived February 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d DiSilva, Daniel (Director) (2016-03-23). The Original Image of Divine Mercy (Motion picture). USA: Springtime Productions.
- ^ "Jono Pauliaus II piligrimų kelias. Divine Mercy Image".
- ^ a b Grzegorczyk, Urszula; Sister Maria Kalinowska. "History of the First Image of Merciful Jesus". The Message of Divine Mercy. Translated by Ewa Olszowa. The Congregation of the Sisters of Merciful Jesus. Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
- ISBN 1-4502-3236-1page 88
- ^ "ENID". Archived from the original on 2006-08-16. Retrieved 2006-12-31.
- ^ BusinessWeek Mindanao 26 August 2011: "DIVINE MERCY SHRINE in Misamis Oriental celebrates Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary" [1] Archived 2018-03-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ CBCP News (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) March 28, 2008: "Divine Mercy Sunday in Mindanao" [2][usurped]
- ^ a b National Catholic Reporter
- ^ [Development of the Worship of Divine Mercy in Poland and Abroad, Bishop Pawel Socha, Peregrinis Cracoviensis 11, 2001]
Sources
- ISBN 1-59614-110-7 (online version)
- Gaskell, Ivan (2009), "Jesus Christ as the divine mercy by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski: the most influential Polish painting of the Twentieth Century?", Ars: časopis Ústavu dejín umenia Slovenskej akadémie vied / Journal of the Institute of Art History of Slovak Academy of Sciences, 42 (1): 81–91