Annie Karto: A Woman of "Divine Mercy"

Annie Karto and the Mercedarians

The Mercedarian Religious Order in the St. Petersburg, Florida area has a good friend named Annie Karto. Annie is a woman of deep faith and of "Divine Mercy". By this, I mean that Annie has a deep devotion to our Lord's mercy and specifically to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and it's message.

The message of Divine Mercy comes from a very special saint, St. Faustina Kolalska. St. Faustina was a Polish Roman Catholic nun and mystic around the time of World War II. She had a deep devotion to our Lord and His Divine Mercy. Pope St. John Paul II also had a devoted prayer life and included the "Chaplet of Divine Mercy" as a large part of his prayer life, and he helped spread the message of mercy throughout the world. Check out the website for the National Shrine of Divine Mercy to learn more about this message.

Annie's Life

Annie Karto is a woman of inspired faith, and she has quite a story to tell. Annie came from a large Catholic family and was the fourth of eight children. At the young age of 17, she left home to marry her high school sweetheart. After six years, she found herself divorced with two small boys She had gotten re-married "outside of the Church" and she felt that her parents were disappointed with this decision. She felt condemned by her decision as well, and she prayed hard during this time of her life to do the right thing.

She decided to go to Confession and discuss the situation with a priest. While at Confession, she saw the "Divine Mercy Image" of Jesus hanging on the wall and felt God speaking closely to her heart. The "penance" she received from the priest that day was to "spread the message of Divine Mercy for the rest of her life".

She has in turn done just that. She has spent her whole life spreading this message to others.

Through her beautiful songs, writings and her life, she spreads this message of love. This is her own gift back to Jesus for all he has done for her.

An additional blessing to all of this was that her marriage was blessed by the Church which gave her a great deal of consolation from God's heart.

Also, her father was able to see her before his death as a bride walking down the aisle as she married within the Catholic faith to her husband. Many more blessings were to come.

Anne's Ministry

Annie Karto is a gifted singer and songwriter, writer and witness to the faith.

As Mercedarians we are blessed to be associated with such an awesome woman of faith and love. Annie has written beautiful songs and created music devoted to the Lord in addition to inspired writings. I hope you will check out her CD's and her website. She also has an awesome radio show called "Vigilant Heart" on Radio Maria.. You can learn more about our great friend Annie on her website at www.anniekarto.com.

Also, coming soon, I will be on her radio program on Memorial Day 2018 at 7 p.m. Hope you can tune in! Go to Radio Maria to listen in!

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