Divine Mercy (painting)

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The Image of the Divine Mercy is a painting of Jesus.

The painting shows Jesus raising his right hand in a gesture of blessing and pointing with his left hand on His chest from which gush forth two rays: one red and one white (translucent). The picture contains the message "Jesus, I trust in You!" (Jezu ufam Tobie) shown underneath to emphasise the meaning of the figure. The rays streaming out have symbolic meaning: red for the blood of Jesus (which is the life of souls) and pale for the water (which justify souls) (from Diary - 299). The whole image is symbolic of the mercy, forgiveness and love of God.

According to the Diary of Saint Faustyna, Jesus will grant special protection and mercy to any city that venerates the Image and any home that displays it.

Contents

[edit] The First Painting

Divine Mercy
Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, 1934

The first painting was painted by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, under the supervision of Sister and Saint Faustyna Kowalska and her confessor, Michal Sopocko, in Wilno in 1934. She claimed that the command to commission painting of the Image came from Jesus Christ Himself. Her diary entries show, that actually Jesus told her to paint Him, the way she saw Him in her cell in Płock. So the sister went to her mother superior and told her about that. The mother superior, unsure whether to believe Faustyna‘s story gave her a paintbrush and told her: "Then paint [him], sister!". Sister Faustyna even tried to paint Jesus herself, but eventually had to resign because she did not have the necessary abilities. So her confessor and fatherly friend, Michal Sopocko, found a painter in Wilno, where Faustyna was living then. Kazimirowski had painted religious images before, but this task was very difficult to him. Father Sopocko posed himself as Jesus for the image, wearing an alb, and both he and Faustyna regularly visited the painter‘s workshop. The final painting didn‘t satisfy Father Sopocko, nor did Faustyna like it. But in her diary she wrote that Jesus told her that it is not that important if the picture be beautiful. The true beauty would be the blessing, he, Jesus, would bestow to the people by the means of this painting. The Image of the Divine Mercy visualizes an event recorded in the gospel according to St. John. Jesus enters the cenacle, where the apostles have gathered in prayer. He raises his hand in blessing and institutes what Roman Catholics call the sacrament of reconciliation. Father Sopocko was especially disappointed that the Kazimirowski image had a dark background, giving no hint that the event takes place in the cenacle. Other people criticized the Kazimirowski Jesus for bearing to much resemblance to Sopocko himself. The way Jesus' feet are standing on the ground, and the way Jesus gives the blessing are clearly those of Father Sopocko.

[edit] The Second Painting

Divine Mercy
Adolf Hyla

The second painting of the Divine Mercy was made by Adolf Hylla, as an ex-voto. Through painting this picture, Hylla expressed his gratitude for the survival of his family during World War II. Hylla's image is much different from Kazimirowskis. Sopocko had sent copies of the original image to Hylla, together with annotations and descriptions, but Hylla basically disregarded them, which made Sopocko mad. Hylla figured Jesus as a "divine physician", walking on earth and healing people. His Jesus of the Divine Mercy doesn't stand, he's approaching the viewer. His right hand is lifted up very high and he is looking into the eyes of the viewer. The original Hylla painting pictured Jesus in front of a country landscape which was later obliterated because it was "non-liturgical". The Hylla painting is also called the "Cracow Divine Mercy Image" because it is kept in Cracow-Lagiewniki.

[edit] The Third Painting

A third image that has achieved popularity is the image created in the 1970's by the American artist Robert Skemp [1]. The editors of this article currently know nothing else about it.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.enid.uib.no/pictures/devinemercy.htm

[edit] External links

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