Places Linked with St Faustina and Bl Michael Sopočka
Pilgrims who are drawn to Vilnius by the message of Divine Mercy and the Merciful Jesus image are also generally eager to see other places connected with St Faustina’s life and visions, and with the activities of Blessed Michael Sopocko. Sister Faustina, while living in Vilnius in 1929 and from 1933 to 1936, resided and received revelations from Jesus at the Convent of the Sisters of the Mercy of the Mother of God, at Grybo Street 29a in Antakalnis. The wooden building of the former convent remained standing, as if by miracle, amid ruins from World War II and later Soviet-built apartment blocks. Restoration work in 2008 recreated Sister Faustina’s cell and added premises where pilgrims can stop briefly to rest and reflect.
The building of the Visitandine Convent and the Church of the Sacred Heart, on Rasų Street, which the Soviet regime turned into a prison, has also recovered its religious function. Blessed M. Sopocko lived here for a time, and the workshop of artist E. Kazimirovskis was on the first floor. In 2005, the Sisters of the Merciful Jesus took up residence in the building and installed a chapel in the place of the former workshop. The Church of St Michael, where Blessed M. Sopocko served as rector and where the Merciful Jesus image was first displayed for public devotion, is no longer used as a church. Pilgrims can, however, visit the edifice, which will become the nucleus of an ecclesiastical heritage museum.
