St. Faustina Kowalska
Feast day: October 5
Born in Poland in 1905, Faustina was the third child of a devout peasant family and was baptized Helena. At 16, she began working as a housekeeper to help her family. In 1925, she entered the Convent of the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy and took the name of Sister Maria Faustina. She experienced a vision instructing her to paint an image of the Divine Mercy, and she did so with the help of an artist. Faustina recorded her visions in a diary. She died from tuberculosis at age 33 and was canonized in 2000.
Collect
O God, who called your handmaid blessed Faustina
to seek you before all else,
grant that, serving you, through her example and intercession,
with a pure and humble heart,
we may come at last to your eternal glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
