Catholics around the world marked the feast of St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish woman who had a vision of Jesus describing His Divine Mercy, on Wednesday.

“Today we remember #StFaustinaKowalska,” Pope Francis tweeted. “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, named “Helena” at birth, was born Aug. 25, 1905, in Poland. At 20, she became a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, and she took the name “Maria Faustina.” She died on Oct. 5, 1938.

St. Faustina is known for keeping a diary, in which she wrote that Jesus appeared to her wearing white with “red and pale rays emanating from his heart” the National Catholic Register reports. 

At one point, she describes a vision of Jesus, where he 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.”

Her narrative about her vision of the Lord was intended to save souls, helping them decide to repent and believe in Jesus’ Divine Mercy. Pope St. John Paul II canonized St. Faustina in 2000.

St. Faustina’s journaling also includes a description of hell, which came to her in a vision. While she was on a retreat, an angel appeared to her and showed her “a place of ‘great torture’ and ‘fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it — a terrible suffering,’” according to the NCR’s excerpts from her diary.

She was shown different levels of hell, similar to how Dante described it.

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

Divinemercy.org says St. Faustina’s accounts of her visions helped the Church convey its message of Divine Mercy. Pope St. John Paul II called her "the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time."

A prayer to St. Faustina reads: “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”

In an Aleteia article, Philip Kosloski writes about St. Faustina’s devotion to the Rosary. He asserts that she would pray the Rosary every Saturday, in memory of the day the Blessed Virgin Mary prayed for her Son after he was crucified. A diary entry says she received a message from Jesus: “on Saturdays, to say five decades of the Rosary with outstretched arms,” which reinforced her commitment to praying it weekly.

Her funeral was held on Oct. 7, which, coincidentally, is the Feast of the Rosary.

Blessed is She, a Catholic organization for women based in Tempe, recently posted “Read + Watches for October Saints” which lists the October saints feast days with facts about them.

For St. Faustina’s feast, Blessed is She recommends purchasing “Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul,” which is available on Amazon; watching the documentary “The Face of Mercy;” or reading “The Second Greatest Story Ever Told” by Fr. Michael Gaitley. Each of these resources dives into St. Faustina’s life and devotion to the Divine Mercy.