A Polish nun who will be canonized next month is the inspiration for a conference in Winter Haven next weekend. “I prayed to her constantly,” said the Rev. Ron Pytel of Holy Rosary Church in Baltimore. He was referring to Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who died in 1938 and is about to become canonized. Pytel’s experience in the throes of heart failure is one reason the Roman Catholic Church is elevating her to sainthood.
Pytel asked her for intercessory prayers after being diagnosed with severe congestive heart failure in 1995.
Pytel had surgery and was sent home from the hospital, but he returned several weeks later with complications and pleurisy. While he was on medication and restricted activity, Pytel spent a full day in prayer with members of his congregation and then attended a healing service for more prayer.
“I felt warmth going through me,” he said. He went back to his cardiologist, who confirmed Pytel’s healing. After that, the church took an official interest.
“A full canonical inquiry was held in Baltimore with all the doctors giving sworn depositions,” Pytel said.
A panel of doctors declared the healing scientifically unexplainable in November 1999. After the Catholic Church officially called the healing a miracle, Pope John Paul II approved the healing as a miracle on Dec. 20, 1999.
Pytel’s healing and that of a woman from Massachusetts are the primary cause for the upcoming sainthood of Sister Faustina, who will be canonized April 30 in Rome.
PYTEL WILL BE one of the speakers at the Divine Mercy Conference in Winter Haven on April 1-2. The conference will focus on the writings and messages of Sister Faustina.
Before her death at age 33, Sister Faustina recorded her visions and revelations from Jesus Christ in a diary known as “Divine Mercy in My Soul.”
Her first recorded vision of Jesus came on Feb. 22, 1931, with a message that people were to trust in God’s mercy. Sister Faustina, a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, wrote that she was to be an apostle and secretary of God’s mercy.
She was given a bill of mental health following a psychiatric assessment. The spiritual mentor assigned to her arranged for an artist to paint her vision of Jesus.
Sister Faustina said that as part of her revelation, Jesus asked her to keep a journal of the mystical experiences. Only a few of her superiors knew of her visions.
Pytel said one of the basic messages of her diary was that the times we live in are a time of mercy.
Winter Haven resident Paul Wells, vice president of the Florida Divine Mercy Mission, the ministry organizing the conference, said the testimonies of Pytel and Maureen Digan, of Stockbridge, Mass., would be an important part of the weekend’s activities. Digan suffered for years with Milroy’s Disease, an illness of the lymph vessels.
“These two cases had a strong impact and were the two principal causes for canonization,” Wells said.
The devotions of Sister Faustina also inspired Digan. In 1981, Digan and her husband, Robert, traveled to Sister Faustina’s tomb at the Shrine of The Divine Mercy outside Krakow, Poland. After prayer at the tomb, she believed she was cured.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH declared Digan’s healing a miracle through Sister Faustina’s intercession following an extensive examination by medical professionals.
Digan served as the inspiration for the conference, Wells said, after another organizer, Bill Andrew of Winter Haven, sought help from her for his wife, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Bishop Norbert M. Dorsey of the Orlando Diocese encouraged Wells and Andrew to hold the conference in Winter Haven.
The Rev. George Beaune, an expert on Sister Faustina’s diary, said the nun’s writings were shelved for 20 years by the Vatican because translation was difficult. The nun had a limited education.
Pytel said when the Vatican proclaims Sister Faustina a saint, “she can’t be lying and the whole diary is true.”
(CHART) At a glance
What: Divine Mercy Conference.
When: April 1-2.
Where: April 1 – Nora Mayo Hall, 500 Third St. N.W., Winter Haven; April 2 – St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 538 Avenue M, Winter Haven.
Cost: $15 for both days; lunch included April 1.
Information: Call Bill Andrew, (863) 299-4767; Charles Langbein, (863) 324-6403; or Paul Wells (863) 324-5251.
April 1 schedule: 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; speakers include the Rev. George Beaune, retired; Maureen and Robert Digan of National Shrine of the Divine Mercy; the Rev. Ronald Pytel, Baltimore; the Rev. Lawrence Gesy, Brunswick, Md.; Eucharist at 4 with celebrant the Most Rev. Norbert M. Dorsey, bishop of Orlando Diocese.
April 2 schedule: panel discussion on “The Role of The Divine Mercy In Our Lives As We Enter the Third Millennium.”
Speaking of a saint
by Donna Renfroe
Tampa Tribune – Tampa, Fla.
March 25, 2000
