“Only wonder can comprehend His incomprehensible power.” ~ Saint Maximus the Confessor
THE HISTORY of
THE WORK OF REPARATION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
Discover and then keep rediscovering the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus which was given to us personally by our Savior, Who called it "the most beautiful work under the sun." How well do you know this powerful means of offering reparation to God and petitioning for the conversion of sinners while growing in personal sanctity by leaps and bounds?
T I M E L I N E O F E V E N T S
JESUS CHRIST IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM
His Immaculate Mother and Saint Joseph are the first to adore Him and to gaze into the Divine Holy Face of our Redeemer, Restorer, and Remedy for All.
SAINT VERONICA
Along the Way of the Cross: Saint Veronica wipes the Holy Face of Jesus prior to His execution by crucifixion for our Redemption on Mount Calvary.
SISTER MARY OF ST. PETER
(October 4, 1816 - 1848)
"Rejoice, My Daughter, because the hour approaches
when the most beautiful work under the sun will be born."
Our Lord To Sr. Mary of St. Peter
Sr. Mary of St. Peter ("Perrine") was born in Rennes, France on October 4, 1816.
She entered the Carmel at Tours, France on November 3, 1839, had a special devotion to the Holy Infancy of Jesus, was professed as a Carmelite nun under the name Sister Mary St. Peter of the Holy Family on June 8, 1841, and received communications from our Lord and His Immaculate Mother from 1844 to 1847.
THE ARCHBISHOP OF TOURS BANS THE MATERIAL
“I shall permit the demon to cross My Work,
hereby to test the confidence of my servants.”
~ Jesus to Sr. Mary of St. Peter
The Archbishop of Tours placed an interdict on the writings of Sr. Mary of St. Peter following her death in 1848 and that ban remained in effect for thirty years.
VENERABLE LEO DU PONT
(January 24, 1797 – March 18, 1876)
The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus
was intended to change the face of the earth...
Venerable Leo Du Pont is known as the Apostle of the Holy Face of Jesus and established the three-in-one Devotion in his home.
Miracles took place there on a daily basis as people came seeking the intercession of our Lord, and people around the world who requested it were sent oil from the lamps that burned perpetually by Venerable Du Pont at his own expense.
While Leo was on his deathbed, the new Archbishop of Tours lifted the interdict on the revelations of our Lord to Sr. Mary of St. Peter in 1876.
SAINT THERESE OF LISIEUX
(January 2, 1873 – September 30, 1897)
"Your Face is my only wealth. I ask for nothing more."
~ Saint Therese of Lisieux
Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus and the Holy Face, is the patron saint of this Work here in Traditional Catholic Detroit in modern times.
POPE LEO XIII
The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus was approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885.
BLESSED MARIA PIERINA DE MICHELI
(September 11, 1890 - July 26, 1945)
"No one gives me a kiss of love on My Face to make amends for the Kiss of Judas."
~ Jesus to Sr. Maria Pierina de Micheli
________________________________________________________________
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WORK OF REPARATION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
From the book, "The Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus."
The Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus and the Golden Arrow Prayer have been given to the world by Jesus personally. Not only has Jesus revealed the power, and the necessity, of the Work of Reparation to His Holy Face, He has returned more than once in recent history and to more than one person to request that it be utilized by His people and promoted worldwide for the benefit of every single soul through all time. Why? Our Savior requested this because He loves us.
The Work of Reparation to His Holy Face is an extension of His redemptive work of reparation throughout His entire life and during His Sacred Passion and execution by crucifixion for our eternal salvation. Unfortunately, few people have heeded the Lord’s requests to take up His work and promote it. Even fewer people know that the Devotion to our Lord’s Holy Face is intimately connected with and inseparable from two other very powerful devotions, the Devotion to Jesus’ Sacred Heart presented to the world through St. Margaret Mary Alocoque (1647–1690) in France and the Divine Mercy Devotion presented through St. Faustina Kowalska (1905– 1938) in Poland. These three devotions, the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus are actually three Christocentric devotions to our Redeemer in one. “Perhaps some souls fear that the Devotion to my Holy Face may diminish that to my Sacred Heart. Tell them that, on the contrary, it will complete and increase it. Contemplating my Face, souls will share my sorrows and will feel the need for love and reparation. Is this not the true devotion to my Heart.” 2 ~ Jesus to Sr. Maria Pierina, 1937
SISTER MARY OF SAINT PETER
On August 26, 1843, Jesus appeared in Tours, France to a young cloistered Carmelite nun named Sr. Mary of St. Peter (Sister Marie de Saint Pierre in French) and spoke to her for the first time about reparation.
During His repeated communications with her over the course of four and a half years, our Lord revealed what He called “the most beautiful work under the sun.” The Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus is a means of offering reparation to God the Father for the sins of mankind through the infinite merits of our Savior’s Holy Face. At the time that our Lord appeared to Sr. Mary of St. Peter, the people of France had become so wicked that had it not been for Jesus and the Blessed Mother holding back the arm of God’s Divine Justice, mankind would have been immediately and severely punished for its many sins.
Sr. Mary of St. Peter learned that our Lord had already requested that this work be established even before He presented it to her. In 1819, the pamphlet Warning to the People of France: Reparation Will Appease the Anger of God, had been printed by Monsignor Soyer, who was the Vicar General of Poitiers and later became the Bishop of Luçon. That pamphlet stated that blasphemies had become common and were drawing down the anger of God, which is exactly what our Lord told Sr. Mary of St. Peter. It contained a prayer honoring the Holy Name of God and also implored expiation for blasphemy through the intercession of St. Louis. Although the pamphlets were circulated by a pious man to parishes throughout the city, not one had reached the Carmel of Sr. Mary of St. Peter in Tours.
MOTHER ADELAIDE
Sr. Mary of St. Peter’s superior, Reverend Mother, wrote to the bishop asking for more historical information on the subject and learned that he had published the pamphlet at the request of a Carmelite nun in Poitiers named Mother Adelaide. The bishop also informed Reverend Mother that this nun was “a most mortified soul, and also the most humble and the most holy” that he had ever known.
Mother Adelaide died on July 31, 1843. Twenty-six days later, our Lord presented His Work of Reparation to Sr. Mary of St. Peter. At the time the historical information about the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus was becoming known to Sr. Mary of St. Peter and Reverend Mother, they also learned that on August 8, 1843, Pope Gregory XVI had granted a brief in Rome authorizing a Confraternity of Reparation for blasphemy. That was eighteen days before our Lord spoke to Sr. Mary of St. Peter about the Work of Reparation for the first time.
At first, Sr. Mary of St. Peter thought that knowing this information would convince her superiors of the authenticity of the Lord’s revelations to her. However, they responded with doubt that another confraternity was needed. Jesus then told Sr. Mary of St. Peter to explain to them that this work being revealed to her was to have as its goal not only reparation for blasphemy, but also reparation for the profanation of the Holy Day of the Lord, both serious sins that had evoked the anger of God. The day after the Feast of St. Louis on August 26, 1843, the Lord communicated to Sr. Mary that the prayers of these pious souls had been fruitful.
The devil did his utmost to stop this work from spreading. On February 13, 1848, our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary of St. Peter that chastisement was close at hand. God’s justice was greatly irritated with mankind because of their sins, in particular those that directly outraged the Majesty of God. When she was told on February 20, 1848, “The Lord has strung His bow and He is about to discharge His arrows!” she realized how shamefully God had been outraged. No longer able to remain neutral due to her great desire for the Lord’s honor to be vindicated, she answered, “Strike, O Lord!” Sr. Mary of St. Peter prayed that God would strike as a Father and not as an angry judge. She then received the revelation that even though the Arm of the Lord had been raised over the heads of the guilty for four years, the strike must come to pass but it would not be mortal. What followed was a bloody revolution in Paris. The Lord made known to His messenger that as a result of her efforts since 1843 to establish the Work of Reparation to His Holy Face, France would only be partly punished for its crimes instead of being entirely destroyed.
After the death of Sr. Mary of St. Peter in 1848 at the age of thirty-three, the information about our Lord’s communications to her regarding the Work of Reparation were sealed by the bishop and remained mostly hidden for thirty years.
VENERABLE LEO PAPIN DUPONT
Fortunately, a layman named Leo Dupont who knew Sr. Mary of St. Peter established the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus in his home and continued the promote the Lord’s Work of Reparation. Miracles were granted to the great many people who came to his home and prayed with confidence before an image of Christ’s Holy Face.
The people kept coming, and the miracles continued unabated for almost thirty years. In 1874, Charles-Theodore Colet was appointed archbishop of Tours. In 1876, he allowed the documents about the life and revelations of our Lord to Sr. Mary of St. Peter to be published.
Pay very close attention to what happened after Leo Dupont—subsequently declared venerable by Pope Pius XII—was called into eternity on March 18, 1876 at the age of 79. The world largely lost interest in the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus. So what did our Lord do? One would perhaps be inclined to think that mankind was reaping what it had sown and was left to endure the punishments it had coming. That is not the case at all.
In the first half of the 1900s, the Lord and His most holy Mother appeared again to promote the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus. What is of paramount importance is that the Lord made His wishes known regarding this work in the nineteenth century, and although His requests went largely unheeded, the efforts of a minority of obedient people had a major impact and as a result the chastisement was significantly lessened. History repeated itself in the last century and is repeating itself once again in our time.
BLESSED SISTER MARIA PIERINA DE MICHELI
In the first half of the twentieth century, Jesus and the Blessed Mother returned, appearing to an Italian nun named Sr. Maria Pierina from Milan, Italy. Once again, they presented the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of our Lord to mankind as the chastisements of that horrifically homicidal century were commencing.
The Blessed Mother returned to Sr. Maria Pierina in May 1938 and asked that a scapular be created during this time in human history of tremendous suffering that was actually a time of reparation that saved many souls from eternal perdition. History has shown that as mankind received its chastisements throughout the most homicidal century in the history of humanity, our Lord and the Blessed Mother continued to love and provide for humanity by way of reparation made to the Holy Face of our Savior. The image of His sacred Countenance completely disfigured during His sacred Passion was displayed on the medal and subsequently worn by millions of people who, during World War II, were finally eager to open their hearts to the Lord’s favors.
Our Redeemer just keeps coming and coming and coming, not to condemn us but to love us! Jesus asks that we help satisfy His tremendous longing to have His love accepted by us and to be loved in return.
Consider the following words of Jesus, communicated to another nun named Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity in the first half of the 20th century: “People have a false idea of Me. They take Me for a master who distributes His favors at His caprice and who enforces His will. Do you understand that I enforce nothing? I am powerless before your liberty. It is I who beg for your love. Look at Me gasping for breath upon the Cross; behold My royalty! I have expiated your sins, but I do not even force you to believe it. I show you My Passion—does it speak to you? — and I wait. Behold My Divinity; an indefatigable patience. Throughout the centuries I await souls. I never refuse them. Ask to know Me better.” ~ Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity (1901–1942)
THE MOST VITAL WORK OF OUR TIME
Once again in our time, the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face is largely unknown and practiced by a small number of devout Catholics. Jesus is asking the faithful to once again courageously and obediently accept the task of making reparation to God the Father in union with Christ for mankind’s colossal offenses against His Majesty. These offenses still include blasphemy against His Holy Name and the profanation of Sundays and other serious crimes against the rights of God such as abortion and euthanasia, and also grave immorality that has become not only socially acceptable but admirable, widely promoted, and even celebrated.
Many, many souls are mortally wounded and in need of rescue right now. The Lord’s new requests are largely being unheeded, again, and so we can confidently expect that because of our Savior’s and the Blessed Mother’s great love for humanity, they will work through a small number of devout souls in our time and continue their appeals for mankind to take up the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus, which will appease God’s anger and lessen the coming chastisements. As in the past, even a few devout people can accomplish much to appease God’s anger and make reparation for sinners. Learn more about the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus. Establish the devotion in your home and in your home parish. Promote it very powerfully by opening The Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus Perpetual Adoration Chapels. Adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and acts of reparation will lead to the dignified restoration of Christ’s Catholic Church, restoration of His Sacred Priesthood, and restoration of His fallen people.
“The single greatest need in the world today is the practice of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.” ~ Servant of God, Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
Please take up and help spread this very important work. Christ's Catholic priests, please take the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus seriously and establish it in your parishes.
The Lord Himself gives you this task which benefits mankind so profoundly, not only by appeasing the wrath of the Father while adoring our Savior Jesus Christ and helping save many souls, but also as a very powerful means of growing in personal sanctity.
The nine promises Jesus made to all those who take up the Work of Reparation to His Holy Face can be found in Part 3 of this first section. There are so many benefits to this devotion, including the ultimate goal of helping save many souls for all eternity, that it is no wonder that the devil continues to work tirelessly to keep it a secret.
The power that has been given to the demons by the misdirected free will of man can and must be taken from them by the free will of man which loves sacrificially in imitation of Christ and the Blessed Mother, and properly adores the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the greatest Source of grace we have on earth. To learn more about the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus, see the bibliography provided at the back of this book.
“Trust all things to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary, Help of Christians, and you will see what miracles are.” ~ Saint John Bosco
ADMIRABLE IS THE NAME OF GOD!
How familiar are you with the powerful Work of Reparation to the Holy Face, which was given to us by our Lord Himself? It’s a very fascinating love story still playing out in our time.
MORE HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT
THE WORK OF REPARATION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
Some say that the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus began when Saint Veronica courageously broke through the crowd during a very threatening and incredibly frightening situation to meet Jesus as He carried the cost of our redemption along the Way of Sacrificial Love. Saint Veronica compassionately and courageously offered our Savior her veil so He could wipe His bruised, bloody, disfigured, defiled, and offended Holy Face.
While her heroic gesture has a significant place in mankind’s history, the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus actually began in a stable the night He was born, at the moment when the Lord’s most Holy Mother beheld and adored Him, holy face to Holy Face. The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is without a doubt a Marian devotion as well.
The first work of Reparation to the Holy Face Perpetual Adoration Chapel is located within the womb of God’s most holy Mother.
“He who contemplates me consoles me.” ~ Jesus to Sr. Maria Pierina
What a great tragedy of inestimable proportions that this devotion is largely unknown in the Catholic world, both under-appreciated and under-utilized in our time, especially given the circumstances of its official inception. This work is a command from the Lord, presented to humanity in the 1800s as a means of making reparation to God the Father for mankind’s sins against His Majesty.
“Our principle duty as Christians is to prepare others to live holy lives in today’s unholy world.” ~ Servant of God, Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
Making reparation is accompanied by offering our Eternal Father the battered, Holy Face of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. When offering reparation and praying this devotion to God for your intentions and for the intentions of others, remember to pray without regard to time and place and be sure to include every single soul in your supplications.
“A devotion is not a dogma; it is an act of love. To ask the Church not to have new devotions is to ask a glowing furnace not to dart its flames heavenward; it is to ask a heart that loves to hide within itself every manifestation of tenderness, never to grow young again by a new expression of the unchangeable love that forms the depths of its soul.” ~ Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
THE LORD'S FIRST REQUESTS REGARDING THE DEVOTION
As written previously, when Sr. Mary of St. Peter was presented with the task of establishing the Work of Reparation to our Lord’s Holy Face, it was given to mankind expressly to make reparation for blasphemy (offending the honor due to God’s Holy Name) and for Christians’ profanation of Sundays. It is also a very powerful means of offering reparation to God and petitioning for the conversion of sinners while growing in personal sanctity by leaps and bounds. Jesus told Sr. Mary of St. Peter that Reparation was to be inseparably tied with the Adoration of the bruised and bloody Countenance of our Savior. The Devotion to His Holy Face is the means of atoning for the sins against the first three Commandments of God.
ur Lord gave Sr. Mary of St. Peter the powerful “Golden Arrow Prayer” which shoots directly into the Sacred Heart of our Lord and heals the wounds inflicted by the malice of sinners. After receiving this prayer, she was given a vision in which she saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus delightfully wounded by this “Golden Arrow,” as torrents of graces streamed from It for the conversion of sinners.
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. After Holy Communion on February 27, 1844, Jesus told Sr. Mary of St. Peter to receive Him in the Sacred Host as King, and to offer her soul to Him for His dominion. He then urged her to present herself before Him in the name of her nation, as an ambassador offering Him her Communion in the spirit of reparation for the crimes of which her nation was guilty, most notably those against the Divine Majesty and those against the holy Church.
After Sr. Mary of St. Peter received our Divine King, she laid before Him the spiritual needs of her country. Jesus then told her that He was entrusting France to her care and had appointed her as its ambassador so she could negotiate about terms of peace with Him. She replied, “My God, I have given myself entirely to You for the accomplishment of Your designs. Do in me as You will.”
Having accepted the obligations that God had imposed upon her, she begged Him to make her worthy of His designs, or better yet, to accomplish Himself His will within her. Sr. Mary of St. Peter reported that for days, the Lord had kept her so united to Him in the Eucharist that even while she attended to her other duties, she was “in spirit uninterruptedly at the foot of the altar where I leave my heart.” No matter where she was, she reported that she was always in sight of Him, keeping Him company. The Lord asked this interior exercise of her because it was His Will that she remain ever before the Blessed Sacrament on behalf of France, continuously praying for the sanctification of the nation.
We are to do the same things in our time. Ask the Lord to appoint you as the ambassador of your parish, your country, even of all souls through all time. Give yourself to Him completely, and remain before the Blessed Sacrament interiorly, always and wherever you are, while praying and offering reparation to God on behalf of all.
“The most potent prayer before God is the prayer of action.” ~ Servant of God, Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
On March 16, 1844, our Lord showed Sr. Mary of St. Peter during Holy Mass the enormity of the crime of blasphemy. He said to her, “You cannot comprehend the malice and abomination of this sin. If My Justice were not restrained by My Mercy, indeed, it would instantly crush the guilty. In fact, all creatures, even those that area inanimate, would avenge this outrage against their Creator’s majesty, but I have an eternity in which to punish the guilty.”
Jesus then made her understand the excellence of the Work of Reparation. He had her see how the Devotion of Reparation to His Holy Face surpasses other devotions, how pleasing it is to God, and how beneficial it is to the Church. Our Lord cautioned her to not be disappointed if she did not feel particularly gratifying emotions while reciting the prayers. Also, He informed her that the demon would give her an aversion for this devotion, and told her not to worry about these things. Jesus said to Sr. Mary of St. Peter, “Oh, if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, ‘Admirable is the Name of God,’ in the spirit of reparation for blasphemy!”
Our Redeemer also made her see how really needy and weak she was, and how poorly she had profited by all the graces He had sent her. However, in His great Mercy, He was willing to forgive everything. She asked for our Lord’s pardon, and His pardon was granted. Jesus said to her, “A workman cleans the tool which He wants to use.”
“The most fundamental need we have in our lives is to beg God for His forgiveness.”
~ Servant of God, Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
She was then able to see to what degree a Carmelite must be divested of self and detached from everything, seeking only the glory of God and His Church and the salvation of souls, which should then imbue her with the desire for suffering and humiliations. He taught her how she could never expect to acquire these virtues of herself while the One who forgives sins could “readily give birth to these virtues” in her soul, provided that she beg Him to do this. Jesus asked her, “Are you willing to walk in My ways?”
After receiving her consent, He said, “Cast yourself blindly into My Sacred Heart. For your badge I give you the cross and the thorns that lay buried within My Heart. Do not turn away from this cross nor from these thorns because, My daughter, you are being called to a high perfection. Think therefore only of Me and in return I will think of You. Attend to My affairs and I promise you that I will take care of yours. And now, as long as you live I want you to look upon this day as one of the most beautiful days of your entire life!”
“The price of heaven is carrying the cross.” ~ Servant of God, Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
The information, including the Lord’s requests to have the Devotion to the Holy Face established officially so that it could then be promoted, were sealed by church authorities after the death of Sr. Mary of St. Peter and remained sealed for three decades. Nevertheless, the authenticity of the revelations was revealed in time. A Catholic layman by the name of Leo Dupont, a lawyer and friend of the Carmelites who was a contact for them out in the world, had learned of the revelations while Sr. Mary of St. Peter was still living and established the Devotion to the Holy Face in his home after her death.
For three decades, many people came and prayed before the image of the Holy Face of Jesus in Leo’s home. An oil lamp burned continuously to honor our Lord’s sacred Countenance. Oil from the lamp was used to anoint the great many sick people who came asking the Lord for cures. Miracles occurred there daily. The oil was also distributed in vials around the world at Leo’s expense. His confidence in God was so great and the Miracles so numerous that Pope Pius IX declared him to be perhaps the greatest miracle-worker in Church history. So many incredible and delightful stories can be found in the wonderful book, "The Holy Man of Tours: The Life of Leo Dupont by Dorothy Scallan."
Leo was in his eighties and due to illness was confined to his bed upstairs. There he had a second Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, when he was finally and joyfully presented the news that Sr. Mary of St. Peter’s revelations had been unsealed.
“Never question God’s dealings with you. Respect God’s work in your soul with silence.” ~ Servant of God, Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
Our Lord’s revelations to Sr. Mary of St. Peter were followed by thirty years of miracles attesting to the truth and power of this devotion. In 1885 Pope Leo XIII recognized the revelations and established the devotion as the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face for the entire world. The Devotion of Reparation was practiced widely at first but then was neglected and forgotten in the years just prior to the First World War in 1914. History reveals what happened after the world lost interest in the Lord’s Work of Reparation to His Holy Face, and failed to adore Him and make reparation for its sins. However, the Lord never abandons His people, nor does the Blessed Mother abandon her children. Once again they came and made an appeal to mankind and once again, their messenger was a bride of Christ.
TWENTIETH CENTURY APPARITIONS
AND THE DEVOTION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
“No one gives me a kiss of love on My Face to make amends for the kiss of Judas.”9 ~ Jesus to Sr. Maria Pierina
In the first half of the 20th century, our Lord and the Blessed Mother appeared to a nun named Sr. Maria Pierina de Micheli. Her mystical experiences began during her childhood and continued throughout her life. Often, Jesus showed Himself to her sad and sometimes bleeding, and asked her to make reparation for sinners, as he had to Sr. Mary of St. Peter almost 100 years prior. Her desire to suffer and sacrifice herself to save souls increased.
In 1936, during night adoration on the first Friday in Lent, Jesus had her share in His spiritual sorrow and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and appeared to her with His Face covered with blood. He was very sad, and said to her, “I wish that my Face, which reflects the intimate sorrow of my soul, and the suffering and love of my Heart, be better honored. He who contemplates me consoles me.”
On the Tuesday after Palm Sunday, Jesus appeared again and said, “Each time my Face is contemplated I will pour my love into hearts and through my Holy Face the salvation of many souls will be obtained.” While praying on the first Tuesday of 1937, Jesus instructed her on the Devotion to His Holy Face and concluded by saying, “Perhaps some souls fear that the Devotion to my Holy Face may diminish that to my Sacred Heart. Tell them that, on the contrary, it will complete and increase it. Contemplating my Face, souls will share my sorrows and will feel the need for love and reparation. Is this not the true devotion to my Heart?”
THE BLESSED MOTHER REQUESTS A SCAPULAR OF THE HOLY FACE
In May 1938, while Sr. Maria Pierina was praying in the community chapel, the Blessed Mother appeared on the altar step in a beam of light and was holding a scapular made of two small pieces of flannel joined by a cord. The image of the Holy Face of Jesus was on one of the pieces, along with the words “Iliumina Domine Vultum Tuum Super Nos” (May the light of Thy Face, O Lord, shine upon us) and on the other, a host surrounded by rays and the words “Mane Nobiscum Domine” (Stay with us, O Lord).
The Blessed Mother gently approached her and said: “Listen carefully and refer everything to Father (her priest confessor); This Scapular is an armor of defense, a shield of strength, a pledge of mercy which Jesus wishes to give to the world in these times of lust and hatred against God and His Church. There are very few true apostles. A divine remedy is necessary, and this remedy is the Holy Face of Jesus. All who shall wear a Scapular like this and make, if possible, a visit to the Blessed Sacrament every Tuesday in reparation for the outrages that the Holy Face of my Son Jesus received during His Passion and is still receiving in the Holy Eucharist every day” will be promised three things.
Below are the promises revealed by Our Lady through Sr. Maria Pierina in favor of those who practice the Holy Face devotion, especially when wearing the Holy Face scapular/medal:
• They will be strengthened in the Faith, and will be made ready to defend it
• They will overcome all difficulties, internal and external
• They will have a peaceful death under the loving gaze of my Divine Son.
Our Lady continued to request that the scapular be made and distributed, but Sr. Maria Pierina reported that it was not in her power to carry this out. That same year Jesus appeared again covered with His Precious Blood and said very sadly, “Do you see how I suffer? Yet, very few understand me. Those who say they love me are very ungrateful! I have given my heart as the sensible object of my great love to men and I give my face as the sensible object of my sorrow for all the sins of men. I wish that it be venerated by a special feast on Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. I wish that the feast be preceded by a novena in which the faithful make reparation with me, joining together and sharing in my sorrow.”
Eventually, Sr. Maria Pierina had medals made instead of cloth scapulars, and she was concerned that perhaps this was not what the Blessed Mother had requested.
On April 17, 1943 the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and provided consolation, saying, “My daughter, rest assured, the Scapular is replaced by the medal with the same promises and favors—it only has to be spread widely. Now my heart is on the Feast of the Face of my Divine Son. Tell the Pope that I desire this.”
What came to be known as the Holy Face medal spread rapidly; innumerable favors were attributed to the graces granted through these medals by our Lord. Jesus conveyed the following promise to all those who exercise this beautiful and loving devotion: “According to the care you take in making reparation to My face, disfigured by blasphemers, I will take care of yours, which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint on it My image, and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the baptismal font. I promise personal and spiritual protection to all who venerate this medal.”
That is how the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus proliferated in a different time, along with the new medal in its honor. Since then the devotion and the medal have been accepted around the world with enthusiasm, and through them the Lord has granted many graces, conversions, and cures.
After having given herself completely to Jesus and spending her life entirely in His service, Sr. Maria Pierina died in 1945 at the age of 54. In 1958, Pope Pius XII declared a special feast day for the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus as the Blessed Mother had requested, to be celebrated on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday (also known as Mardi Gras Tuesday and Fat Tuesday).
Sr. Maria Pierina was declared a blessed by the Catholic Church on May 30, 2010, which led to renewed interest in her and in her mission. Other saints with profound devotions to the Holy Face of Jesus include St. Gertrude the Great, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St. Gaetano Catanoso.
THE NINE PROMISES
There are nine promises connected with this devotion known to have helped St. Therese of Lisieux attain great sanctity:
1. By offering My Face to My Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained.
2. By My Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God, and draw down mercy on sinners.
3. All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica.
4. According to the care they take in making reparation to My Face disfigured by blasphemers, so will I take care of their souls that have been disfigured by sin. My Face is the Seal of the Divinity, which has the virtue of reproducing in souls the image of God.
5. Those who by words, prayers, or writings defend My cause in the Work of Reparation, especially My priests, I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom.
6. As in a kingdom they can procure all that is desired with a coin stamped with the king’s effigy, so in the Kingdom of Heaven they will obtain all they desire with the precious coin of My Holy Face.
7. Those who on earth contemplate the wounds of My Face shall in Heaven behold it radiant with glory.
8. They will receive in their souls a bright and constant irradiation of My Divinity, that by their likeness to My Face they shall shine with particular splendor in Heaven.
9. I will defend them, I will preserve them, and I assure them of Final Perseverance. Please share this information with others and help spread the Devotion to the Holy Face and the Work of Reparation that are so greatly and urgently needed in our time.
ALMIGHTY GOD OUR FATHER OF MERCIES'
WORK OF REPARATION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS IN MODERN TIMES
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