VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The city of Rome is bracing for a huge influx of pilgrims who are expected to arrive-- particularly from Poland-- for the April 30 canonization of Blessed Faustina Kowalska, the Polish nun who popularized the Divine Mercy devotion.

    Blessed Faustina, who died in Krakow in 1938, was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 18, 1993. She became famous first in Poland, then around the world, for receiving a request from Jesus that the first Sunday after Easter should be observed as Divine Mercy Sunday. Her canonization will take place on that feast this year.

    Born on August 25, 1905, as the third of six children born into a poor family in Glogowiec, Faustina Kowalska entered religious life at the age of 20. As a member of the congregation of Our Lady of Mercy, she worked in several different convents as a cook, gardener, or porter. On February 22, 1931, while she was stationed at a convent in Plock, she received a vision in which Jesus Christ appeared to her, asking for the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. The picture of Christ as Blessed Faustina saw him-- clothed in white, with one hand raised in blessing and the other touching his heart-- has also become famous throughout the world.

    In subsequent revelations, Blessed Faustina reported that Jesus had called for the recitation of the Divine Mercy rosary, including prayers for those guilty of grave sins, and other prayers that are specific to the feast. At 3 in the afternoon, observers are asked to prayer for sinners, contemplating the death of Jesus, which occurred at that time of the day.

    Blessed Faustina died on October 5, 1938, several months after receiving a final revelation regarding the Divine Mercy observance. Her body remains at the Krakow convent where she died, along with the picture of Jesus as she saw him, as objects of veneration.