After Saint Faustina and her spiritual director, Fr. Michal Sopoćko, had the now-famous masterpiece known as Divine Mercy painted by the artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in Vilnius in 1935, it remained in hiding for many years. Unable to bring it out for public viewing for reason we will discuss below, Fr. Sopoćko had to come up with creative ways to honor the will of Jesus who insisted to Faustina many times that He wanted the painted image of Himself venerated “throughout the whole world.” Sopoćko

Fr. Michael Sopoćko’s creative genius and tireless efforts that spread the devotion to Divine Mercy from Vilnius to Poland and then to the rest of the world. Here is the story of how Fr. Sopoćko single-handedly, by creating his “Seeds of Mercy,” small copies of a photograph of the Original Image of Divine Mercy, was able to preserve the message of Jesus’ unfathomable mercy.

During Faustina's time in Vilnius (1933-1936), the city had been forcibly annexed by Poland. After her death in 1936, Vilnius would be occupied by the Soviets, and then again by the Nazis, and yet again by the Soviets. It was in this embattled city that Fr. Michal Sopoćko found himself alone (without Faustina), and in possession of the miraculous painting which Jesus had insisted be venerated around the world. This must have seemed impossible since entering and leaving Vilnius was virtually impossible.

In fact, even walking the streets was not safe especially for priests, religious, professors, artists, or anyone with any influence with the people. You see, communist governments have no use for people with influence who do not lean communist, and especially those who understand the dignity of the human being and the unalienable freedoms humans posses. Rather, the survival of Communism is contingent on people thinking they are not self-sufficient and that only the government can give them what they need to survive.

So Fr. Sopoćko had a problem. In order for the Image of Divine Mercy to be venerated throughout the world, he first needed to get it beyond the walls of St. Michael's Church where it was silently hanging over a side altar. But how? In such a dangerous environment, you can imagine that leaving the house dressed in priest's clerics, let alone transporting a large image of Jesus through the streets was to take one's life into their own hands. So, to get the image from door to door, Fr. Michal Sopoćko asked a photographer named Michal Nowinsky to photograph the painting by Kazimiroski. Fr. Michal Sopoćko had 150,000 very small copies of that black-and-white photo printed. The copies were intentionally very small - about the size of a bottle-cap - so that they could be passed around to the faithful under the noses of the occupying forces. These images secretly made their way to thousands of people around the country. For many, it was a prized possession.

Most people fortunate enough to receive one of these little pictures didn't know they were looking at a photo of a painting of St. Faustian's mystical vision. In fact they assumed it was a depiction of the Sacred Heart.

Veneration goes viral.

Petras Mackela is the curator of the House of Saint Faustina in Vilnius - the very place where she was given the Chaplet of Divine Mercy by Jesus. — Petras Mackela is the curator of the *House of Saint Faustina* in Vilnius - the very place where she was given the Chaplet of Divine Mercy by Jesus.

Petras Mackela, curator of the House of Saint Faustina, was interviewed for the documentary about the Original Image of Divine Mercy. He shared from the archives several of these tiny original copies made by Sopoćko and Nowinski.

“Soon a particular use for these tiny pictures developed. Soldiers and vigilantes who were fighting against the occupying Russian and German forces would sew these little images into their uniforms as a sign of God's protection against the enemy.”

The devotion spread even further and eventually, people who found themselves leaving their homes for essential purposes would also sew these little images into their clothing as a memento of protection against the danger of being questioned, perhaps arrested, and worse: sent off to Siberia.

Anyone escaping from Vilnius between 1940 and 1947 very likely had one of these" seeds of mercy" with them when they embarked on their journey. There are even stories of people making it to Siberia with these little seeds of mercy sewn into their undergarments and socks. They were not uncommon among Catholics. And if someone knew that a loved one was heading to America (or anywhere else for that matter), one of these little images were often given as a memento of protection. There were also booklets in circulation with the Original Image of Divine Mercy printed on the cover, also based on the same photo by Nowinski. Lithuanian immigrants brought copies to America. Who was the first person to cross the Atlantic with an image in their possession is impossible for anyone to know.

In the end, Vilnius and the rest of Lithuania survived the occupation by these Communist regimes and is now a shining jewel among European capitals. The Original Image of Divine Mercy is still in Vilnius above the main altar of the Shrine of Divine Mercy, a church once named Holy Trinity ,and incidentally, the last church where Blessed Fr. Michael Sopoćko worked before escaping Vilnius in 1947.

Many of these little Seeds of Mercy remain in the possession of descendants of those who lived in “Soviet Times,” as they are called. No doubt they are more treasured now than the were even then.

Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko (Fr. Michał Sopoćko)

In our own lives, during times of struggle and peace, hardship and success, fear and courage, weakness and strength, even sickness and health, life and death, perhaps it might be a good idea to bring back this old Vilnitian tradition of keeping one of these Seeds of Mercy on our person at all times, thereby saying with our lives, "Jesus, I Trust In You!"

For information about our own version of Fr. Sopoćko’s “Seeds of Mercy” please click HERE..

Daniel diSilva is the director of the documentary about Faustina's epic painting, The Original Image of Divine Mercy (2016), and the founder of www.OriginalDivineMercy.com, the online headquarters of the most concerted effort to restore the Original Image of Divine Mercy to it's rightful pride of place. You can submit your questions about the Original Image of Divine Mercy by writing to originaldivinemercy@gmail.com

Fr. Sopoćko's Seeds of Mercy

Blessed Fr. Michael Sopoćko and some lofty genius is what brought the devotion to Divine Mercy from Vilnius to the whole world.

Veneration goes viral.