Trailer for “The Original Image of Divine Mercy: The Untold Story of an Unknown Masterpiece”
Millions of Catholics across the globe pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy every day at 3:00pm. Most know the events that led to the devotion: the appearance of Our Lord to Polish Sister Faustina Kowalska throughout the 1930’s, and the message conveyed to her that we are to ask for our Lord’s divine mercy and to extend it through deed, word, and prayer to those around us. However, not many Catholics know the image’s origin.
Director Daniel DiSilva’s recent film “The Original Image of Divine Mercy: The Untold Story of an Unknown Masterpiece” uncovers the details about the little-known first painting of Divine Mercy. In an April 24 interview in the National Catholic Register, DiSilva explains that “the painting that most of us know as Divine Mercy is not anything like the original.”
According to the film, “at the request of Jesus himself, Saint Faustina and her confessor, Blessed Father Michal Sopocko, secretly began working with a relatively unknown artist to duplicate on a canvas her mystical vision of the Merciful Jesus. With Father Michal modeling as Christ for many hours, the three unlikely friends came up with the only Image of Divine Mercy that Saint Faustina ever saw. But after all the corrections and touch-ups at the insistence of Saint Faustina, the violently anti-Catholic Soviet Occupation of Lithuania forced the painting into hiding.”
“The Original Image of the Divine Mercy” includes appearances by Bishop Robert Barron, George Weigel, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna, Stanisław Cardinal Dziwisz of Kraków, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Harry Connick Jr., Jim Gaffigan, Immaculee Ilibagiza, Archbishop Fisichella, and many others including footage with Pope Francis.
DiSilva, who will be on tour with the film, describes himself as one who was born Catholic but had drifted from the faith. As he told Catholic World Report, “he lived the life of a secular musician.” A friend gave him an image of the Divine Mercy, but he didn’t pay any attention to it at at the time. Later, he met Christopher West who introduced him to St. Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, and he “came to realize the beauty of Church teaching.” Mr. DiSilva told Catholic World Report “I grabbed that Divine Mercy picture and began to pray. I had a major turnaround in my life based on the devotion to the Divine Mercy.”
On May 9, “The Original Image of the Divine Mercy” will be shown at the AMC Ontario Mills 3 Theater at 4549 Mills Circle in Ontario, CA. You can learn more here:
https://www.holyyearofmercy.com/event/the-original-image-of-divine-mercy-2/
On May 22, “The Original Image of the Divine Mercy” will be shown at Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco, and Daniel DiSilva, the director, will be there to discuss the film. You can learn more here:
https://starparish.com/event/screening-of-the-original-image-of-the-divine-mercy-director-talk/
I hosted this in Peoria, over 525 people. The film and the director will not disappoint. A must see for this Year of Mercy.
Marsha thank you for posting your comment about the Divine Mercy film. The Divine Mercy Diary by St. Maria Faustina Kowalska is the second most important book ever written next of course to the Holy Bible. I encourage people to go out and buy the diary. It is very exciting to know that there is a Divine Mercy film in this the year of Mercy. Once the world knows the Divine Mercy message the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would occur. Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.