Most Sacred Heart

PRAYERS TO THE HOLY FACE

I salute Thee, I adore Thee, and I love Thee, O Jesus, my Saviour, outraged anew by blasphemers; and I offer Thee, through the Heart of Thy Blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels and Saints, as an incense and a perfume of sweet odour, most humbly beseeching Thee, by the virtue of Thy Sacred Face, to repair and renew in me, and in all men, Thy image disfigured by sin. Amen. (Sr. Mary of St. Peter)

O adorable Face of my Jesus, so mercifully bowed down upon the tree of the cross on the day of Thy Passion, for the salvation of men, now again, incline in Thy pity towards us poor sinners; cast upon us a look of compassion, and receive us to the kiss of peace. Amen. (Ven. Leo Dupont)

May I expire, burning with an ardent thirst to see the desirable Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ! (St. Edmund)

O Jesus, Who in Thy cruel Passion didst become the “Reproach of men and the Man of Sorrows,” I worship Thy Divine Face. Once it shone with the beauty and sweetness of the Divinity: now for my sake it is become as the face of a leper. Yet in that disfigured Countenance I recognize Thy infinite Love, and I am consumed with the desire of loving Thee and of making Thee loved by all mankind. The tears that streamed in such abundance from Thy Eyes are to me as precious pearls which I delight to gather, that with their infinite worth I may ransom the souls of poor sinners. O Jesus, Whose Face is the sole beauty that ravishes my heart, I may not behold here upon earth the sweetness of Thy Glance, nor feel the ineffable tenderness of Thy Kiss. I bow to Thy Will—but I pray Thee to imprint in me Thy Divine Likeness, and I implore Thee so to inflame me with Thy Love, that it may quickly consume me and I may soon reach the Vision of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen. (St. Therese of Lisieux)

O God, Who dost enlighten us with the light of Thy countenance, and Who, to reward the loving kindness of St. Veronica, didst leave us the impression of Thy Face on her veil as a remembrance, grant that through Thy Cross and Passion, we may one day fearlessly look upon Thy Face, when Thou wilt come to judge the living and the dead.
Almighty and Eternal God, through Whose grace the image of Thy Holy Face doth shine forth radiantly to Thy devout people, grant us, we beseech Thee, the remission of our sins, and direct all the thoughts, words, and actions of those who confide in Thy mercy, Who livest and reignest with the Father, in unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. (Pope Clement VI)

O my Jesus! cast upon us a look of mercy; turn Thy Face towards each one of us, even as Thou didst turn to Veronica, not that we may see it with the eyes of our body, for we do not deserve to do so, but turn it towards our hearts, that, being sustained by Thee, we may ever draw from that powerful source, the vigour necessary to enable us to wage the combats we have to undergo. (Pope Pius IX)

CHAPLET OF THE HOLY FACE

This chaplet is composed of a cross and 39 beads; of these, 6 are large beads and 33 small ones; to this chaplet is attached a medal of the Holy Face.

The 33 small beads represent the 33 years of the mortal life of our Divine Lord. The first 30 beads recall to us the 30 years of His hidden life, and are divided into 5 parts of 6 beads each, in honor of the senses of touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste of Jesus, and, as they were situated principally in His Holy Face, to render reparative homage for all the sufferings which Our Lord has endured in His Face through each of these senses. The 3 other beads mark the 3 years of the public life of Our Lord, and have for their intention to honor all the wounds of His adorable Face.

HOW TO PRAY THE CHAPLET

On the Cross: Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father, etc.

1. IN HONOR OF THE SENSE OF TOUCH OF OUR LORD
On the large bead: My Jesus Mercy.
Glory be to the Father, etc.

On the 6 small beads: Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee from before Thy Face.
2. IN HONOR OF THE SENSE OF HEARING OF OUR LORD
3. IN HONOR OF THE SENSE OF SIGHT OF OUR LORD
4. IN HONOR OF THE SENSE OF SMELL OF OUR LORD
5. IN HONOR OF THE SENSE OF TASTE OF OUR LORD

IN HONOR OF OUR LORD'S PUBLIC LIFE
On the large bead: My Jesus Mercy.
Glory be to the Father, etc.

On the 3 small beads: Arise, O Lord, etc.

The chaplet is concluded by saying on the medal: God, our Protector, look down upon us and cast Thine eyes upon the Face of Thy Christ.

Litany of the Holy Face

The Golden Arrow


PROMISES

1. “They shall receive in themselves, by the impression of My Humanity, a bright irradiation of My Divinity, and shall be so illuminated by It in their inmost souls that, by their likeness to My Face, they shall shine more than any others in eternal life.” (Saint Gertrude, Insinuations, book IV, ch. VII.)

2. Saint Mechtilde, having asked Our Lord that those who celebrate the memory of His sweet Face should never be deprived of His amiable company, He replied: “Not one of them shall be separated from Me.” (Saint Mechtilde, De la Grâce Spirit., liv. I, ch. XIII.)

3. “Our Lord,” says Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, “has promised me that He will imprint His divine likeness on the souls of those who honour His most holy countenance.” (January 21, 1847)
“This adorable Face is, as it were, the seal of the Divinity, which has the virtue of reproducing the likeness of God in the souls that are applied to it.” (November 6, 1845)

4. “By my Holy Face you shall work miracles.” (October 27, 1845)

5. “By my Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of many sinners. Nothing that you ask in making this offering, will be refused to you. If you knew how pleasing the sight of My Face is to My Father!” (November 22, 1846)

6. “As in an earthly kingdom you can procure all you wish with a coin marked with the prince's effigy, so in the kingdom of Heaven you may obtain all you desire with the precious coin of My holy Humanity, which is My adorable countenance.” (October 29, 1845)

7. “All those who honour My Holy Face in a spirit of reparation, will, by so doing, perform the office of the pious Veronica.” (October 27, 1845)

8. “According to the care you take in making reparation to My Face disfigured by blasphemies, so will I take care of yours which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint thereon My image and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the Baptismal font.” (November 3, 1845)

9. “Our Lord has promised me,” says again Sister Saint-Pierre, “that all those who defend His cause in this work of reparation, by words, by prayers, or in writing, He will defend before His Father; at their death He will purify their souls by effacing all the blots of sin and will restore to them their primitive beauty.” (March 12, 1846)

Source: M. Dupont and the Devotion to the Holy Face (1885).

Prayers & Devotions