Chaplet of the Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, also called the Divine Mercy Chaplet, is a Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy, based on the Christological apparitions of Jesus Christ reported by Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), known as "the Apostle of Mercy". She was a Polish religious sister of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and was canonized as a Catholic saint in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Kowalska stated that she received this rosary-based prayer directly from Jesus through visions and conversations, who also made specific promises regarding the recitation of the prayer. Her Vatican biography quotes some of these conversations.

This chaplet is prayed with the same set of rosary beads used for reciting the Marian Rosary. As an Anglican devotion, the Divine Mercy Society of the Anglican Church states that the chaplet can also be recited on Anglican prayer beads. The chaplet may also be said without beads, by counting prayers on the fingertips, and can be accompanied by the veneration of the Divine Mercy image.

Kowalska wrote about the revelations of Jesus regarding the chaplet in her diary (Diary 474-476) during her stay in Vilnius on 13 and 14 September 1935. Kowalska recounted a vision in which she saw an angel of divine wrath sent to punish the earth for its sins. In response, Kowalska began praying for the angel to delay its punishment and for the world to repent. While she was praying for this, she suddenly had a vision of the Holy Trinity and was taken before the Throne of God. Overwhelmed by its majesty, she did not dare to repeat her prayers. However, she felt a power from Jesus in her soul and heard internally two new prayers: "The Eternal Father" and "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion". As she was moved to pray these prayers, the angel became powerless and unable to perform the punishment. The next day, on 14 September 1935, as she entered a chapel, she again heard Jesus dictating the same prayers to her and the structure of a new chaplet based on them.

Kowalska stated that Jesus asked her to pray this chaplet and instruct others to do so. She learned that the prayers were to be taught to all the people of the world. Although the chaplet is said on beads like the Rosary, it is about a third of the length of the Rosary, and unlike the Rosary that has evolved over the years, the form and structure of the chaplet has remained unchanged since Kowalska attributed it to a message from Jesus. According to Kowalska's visions, written in her diary, the chaplet's prayers for mercy are threefold: to obtain mercy, to trust in Christ's mercy, and to show mercy to others.

On November 19, 1958, and reaffirmed in 1959, the Vatican banned the Chaplet and its promulgation. Some Polish bishops questioned Kowalska's claims and were uncomfortable with the image's similarity to the red-and-white Polish flag. Polish priests were reported to be interpreting the rays as a symbol of the flag.

The ban on devotion was lifted on 15 April 1978, due to pressure from future Polish pope Karol Wojtyła, who had great interest in Kowalska. After assuming the throne of Peter, John Paul II was instrumental in the formal establishment of the Divine Mercy devotion and acknowledged the efforts of the Marian Fathers in its promotion in a Papal Blessing in 2001, on the 70th anniversary of the revelation of the Divine Mercy Message and Devotion.

Although the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Chaplet of Holy Wounds share similarities, these are distinct chaplets and were introduced over 20 years apart, one in Poland, the other in France.