Divine Mercy image

The rays that stream out have symbolic meanings: red for the blood of Jesus, and pale for the water (which justifies souls).

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.

Kowalska stated that in her cell on the night of Sunday, 22 February 1931, Jesus appeared to her as the "King of Divine Mercy" and was robed in a white garment.

[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.

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.

[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.

"[19]Catholic devotions thus stress the importance of the image as a "conduit for grace" as part of the Divine Mercy message.

Kowalska gave Kazimirowski specific instructions about the appearance and the posture of the image, which she said she had received from Jesus Christ in a vision.

Sopocko himself posed as Jesus for the image as wearing an alb, and both he and Kowalska regularly visited the painter's workshop.

[25] 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 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.

Made with the co-operation of the Archdiocese of Vilnius, the film included interviews with Jim Gaffigan, Bishop Robert Barron, Harry Connick Jr., and Archbishop Gintaras Grusas, who also served as executive producer.

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.

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.

[11] 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.