In 1843, Sister Marie de St. Pierre (1816-1848), a Carmelite in Tours, France, was favored with revelations from Christ revealing the devotion to His Holy Face and the need for reparation for sins committed against the first three commandments: the denial of God (atheism and communism), blasphemy, and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
Sister Marie de St. Pierre relayed these revelations to her Mother Superior and “the formula of praise that Our Lord” dictated to her “for the reparation of blasphemies against his holy Name.” The Golden Arrow Prayer:
“May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Incomprehensible and Unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in Heaven, on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”
Leon Papin Dupont, fondly known as the Holy Man of Tours, was a friend and benefactor of the Convent who had often assisted the nuns in matters of the world in his capacity as a lawyer. The Mother Superior of the Tours Carmelite enlisted the assistance of Dupont to help promote the Devotion to the Holy Face as revealed to Sister Marie de St. Pierre.
In Rome on January 6, 1849, Saint Veronica’s veil was exposed for public veneration in response to unrest and revolution in the Papal States. On the third day of public veneration, the Face of Jesus was miraculously illuminated, as if living, for three hours upon the protective fabric covering Saint Veronica’s veil.News of the miracle quickly spread and images of the miraculous apparition of the Holy Face were reproduced.
In 1851, Dupont received an image of Saint Veronica’s veil depicting the 1849 miracle of the Holy Face of Jesus. He hung the image of Christ’s face in an honored place in his home with an oil lamp, burning day and night, before it. With great zeal, Dupont shared this devotion with all who entered his home. Dupont composed prayers to the Holy Face and encouraged the sick or troubled to bless themself with the oil from the oil lamp. Over a period of 30 years, numerous miracles and graces were documented and Dupont’s home soon became a place of pilgrimage.
In response to this growing devotion and the many miracles, Pope Leo XIII erected the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in 1885. The Archconfraternity was established with the intent to incorporate the whole world in venerating Christ’s Face in an effort to unite themselves in the act of love by which Christ saved the world. To enroll in the Archconfraternity, click here.
Louis and Zelle Martin, together with their children, notably Saint Therese of Lisieux, were among the first members enrolled in the Archconfraternity. Saint Therese, so faithful to this Devotion took the name Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face upon taking her religious vows.
Other notable members enrolled include Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli and Sr. Mary Wilhelmina Lancaster.
Christ revealed to Sister Marie de St. Pierre the devotion to His most Holy Face as both a “weapon and a shield”. As such, Devotion to the Holy Face, together with the Rosary, is a very powerful Devotion in facing the unrest of our present age, both at home and abroad, as well as making reparation for sins against the first three Commandments.
For the Novena to the Holy Face of Jesus, click here.
For the Chaplet to the Holy Face of Jesus and other prayers, click here.
