Sister Helena Majewska – Vilnius continuator of Sister Faustina’s mission

The story of revelations of Divine Mercy in Vilnius is famous thanks to St. Faustina and her confessor blessed priest Michał Sopoćko. However, St. Faustina was not the only one to leave a diary behind. After almost 70 years, another mystic’s writings were published –the ones of Helena Majewska.

Even though Helena Majewska was one of the closest coworkers of a blessed priest Michał Sopoćko, she has been remaining completely unknown for many years. How did it happen that her writings got published? “During a carol in Toruń, I visitied 80 year old lady – the initiator of publishing the writings, priest Michał Damazyn tells the “Wilnoteka’’.-She was Polish coming from Samogitia. It was very nice to talk to her, I was amazed by her accent’’.

The lady turned out to be a member of the God’s Mercy Institute. Inside her apartment, there was an Institute’s archive. Priest Michał had a chance to get to know this organization very well – his PhD thesis was devoted to its history. During the researches, he came across an information about a so far unknown mystic. ‘’It’s a very interesting text. I was looking for sources and I managed to get to the handwriting of the ‘’Daily”. I compared described there events with information from other, published memories and it turned out that all of them are compatible what only confirmed the truthfulness of her records’’- priest Damazyn stresses.

Among a little number of writings left by Helena Majewska, the ‘‘ Daily” written in 1940-42 deserves a special attention. There, she wrote down her mystic experiences, visions and reflections. The ’’Daily’’ starts on the 14th of April, 1940. That day, in Vilnius St. Casimir Church, at the St. Andrzej Bobola altar, Helena Majewska decided to start her novena for a Divine Mercy for Poland, the congregation and for herself:

During her novena, she experienced something she couldn’t have explained. ‘’On the seventh day of novena, which was the 21st of April, to my great surprise, during the sacrifice, I saw a big ball floating in the air on the right side from the alter. It was filled with a lot of crystals of a various sizes and shapes. While going up, some invisible hand broke its part and made a hole leading to its interior and the crystals started to fall from the hole at the altar, on the ground and somewhere in the further space that was unavailable for my sight. During a Communion, St. Andrzej Bobola was smiling and his face was shining with a weird glow. (…) The ball meant a great Divine Mercy which Jesus Christ, as a Redeemer of the world, by sacrificing himself to God Father during the Holy Mass for a sinful world, sends down to the earth. The crystals are the God’s mercies coming from the Source of Mercy during dying, when the God’s Heart was pierced on the cross. A very thin surface of this ball meant a close space time that left to a conciliation of God’s Mercy in current times and the invisible hand that fastened the pouring of the numerous graces in a shape of crystals – it was St. Andrzej Bobola, who as a patron of Polish nation, is interceding on our behalf to God.

Sister Helena got scared of the vision and told her supervisor about it. Her supervisor sent her to priest Sopoćko. Then, the priest became her confessor and at his command ( just like in the case of Faustina’s before), Helena Majewska started to write her „Daily”

During the war, priest Michał Sopoćko recommended Sister Helena to form candidates for an emerging religious congregation spreading the cult of God’s Mercy. It was surprising because Helena Majewska never served similar functions in her congregation and she was a person with a short religious training. However, her understanding of a secret of Mercy decided so.

Vilnius played a significant role in S. Helena’s writing and life. Even after war, she continued to stay there, even though most sister from the congregation decided to leave and go back to the Polish People’s Republic. She paid for her decision with years of prison. In 1950, Sisters from the Congregations of Angels got unmasked and the sisters ended in camps. Until 1956, Sister Helena was being held in a heavy penal camp in Dolinka, Karaganda in Kazachstan. After returning from the exile, she could have left to Poland. However, she decided to stay in Vilnius, where she continued to preach the cult of God’s Mercy. She died in 1967.

Presentation of a book called „Writings of Sister Helena Majewska’’ took place in Saint Ghost Church and Finding of the Holy Cross Church, both located in Vilnius, and in Saint George Church in Buivydžiai. The history of the cult of God’s Mercy and the publication was presented by priest doctor Michał Damazyn, a priest of academic youth in Bydgoszcz and a lecturer at Adam Mickiwicz University in Poznań.