The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
A short prayer on rosary beads that entrusts ourselves and the whole world to the mercy of God.
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy comes from the spiritual diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), a Polish religious sister. She recorded receiving the prayer in 1935, in Vilnius. Saint John Paul II canonized her in 2000 and, on the same day, established the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday for the whole Church.
The heart of the chaplet is simple. We offer to the Father the Passion of his Son, and we ask for mercy, for ourselves and for everyone.
How it is prayed
The chaplet uses ordinary rosary beads and takes about ten minutes.
- Begin with the Sign of the Cross, then one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Apostles’ Creed.
- On the large bead before each decade, pray the offering to the Eternal Father.
- On the ten small beads of each decade, pray the invocation asking mercy for the sake of Christ’s sorrowful Passion.
- After five decades, conclude with the “Holy God” acclamation three times.
A note on the words
The prayers of the chaplet come from Saint Faustina’s diary. We describe the structure here and do not reprint the full text; it is widely available in parish prayer books and from the congregation that promotes the devotion.
When Catholics pray it
- At three o’clock in the afternoon, remembering the hour of Christ’s death.
- As a novena from Good Friday to the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday.
- At the bedside of the sick and the dying.
- Whenever the news of the world makes mercy the only thing left to ask for.