On our pilgrimage, we will have the honour of visiting the convent where St. Faustina lived while she stayed in Vilnius during the 1930s. St. Faustina referred to Vilnius as “my beloved Vilnius” and it was, without doubt, one of the happiest periods of her life, in spite of her debilitating illness. This convent was beautifully restored in 2005 and it is truly inspiring to walk around the rooms where we know that St. Faustina lived, prayed and worked. We can also take some time to walk in the garden where St. Faustina also worked as a gardener and spent some important moments in prayer.
It was in this convent that St. Faustina received the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in 1934. It was also the monastery where she did the bulk of her writing in her diaries and where she was often visited by her spiritual director, Bl. Fr. Sopocko.
The room where she lived has been beautifully restored and you can even see a piece of the original wallpaper which would have hung there while St. Faustina was alive. We always pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in this convent and everyone is blessed with a relic of St. Faustina. It is spine-tingling to stand in the spot where St. Faustina received the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and to reflect on all the other amazing events which took place during St. Faustina’s time in this convent.
Naturally, everyone will have some time to pray and reflect on the importance of this convent in the history of the devotion to Divine Mercy. In Vilnius, our Lord arranged that St. Faustina would meet Fr. Sopocko, who was to be the priest who would protect and guide her through this difficult journey to fulfil, to the best of her ability, the will of Jesus in regards to this new devotion. Spending some time in prayer in this exceptionally holy convent is life changing. It brings the devotion to life and helps you imagine St. Faustina as she undertook the spiritual challenges she faced daily. Everyone who travels with us on this pilgrimage is deeply moved and inspired by the time they spend in St. Faustina’s convent.
