The nun and mystic canonized by John Paul II, Faustyna Kowalska, lived in Lagiewniki. "In her visions, God mercy played a crucial role", recalled Schonborn. "The fact that John Paul II died on the eve of the "Mercy Sunday" is regarded as a special sign by lots of believers he added -; he himself had introduced that Sunday during Holy Year 2000". Since then, every year, the “Mercy Sunday" is celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. John Paul II said that the Divine Providence worked things in such a way that the life “of this humble daughter of Poland” was fully connected with the history of the 20th century: her message on mercy, delivered between the First and the Second World War, was a “special support and an inexhaustible source of hope”, not only for the people living in Cracow, but for "all the Polish people", and "today it is more necessary than ever, as daily news confirm", pointed out the cardinal. The new sanctuary of divine mercy, inaugurated by the Pope in 2002, is in Lagiewniki, and today is "a large place for pilgrimage": "in one year, one million pilgrims come here from Poland and from all continents, on the average"; just on the Mercy Sunday, there are "up to 150 thousand pilgrims". (To be continued)” “
