A guide to seeking the Holy Face during Lent

On September 13, 1843, Our Lord spoke to the heart of a Carmelite nun in the city of Tours, France. Jesus told her that He was calling her to a program of reparation for sins against the first three of the Ten Commandments, especially sins of blasphemy, indifference, and the profanation of Sundays. Over the next several years, that nun, Sister Mary of St Peter, received a series of mystical experiences known as “interior locutions” which spelled out the nature of that work of reparation: It would all center on devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

The messages of Sr Mary of St Peter reached the ears of a pious Catholic layman in the city of Tours, Leo DuPont. M DuPont set up an image of the Holy Face based on the Veil of Veronica in Rome in the drawing room of his legal practice. He lit a vigil lamp in front of the image. When people asked for M DuPont’s prayers, he would give them blessed oil taken from the lamp and he would pray before the image of the Holy Face. And miracles happened. Leo DuPont gained a reputation as the “Holy Man of Tours” and as a wonder worker. But he attributed everything to his devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

In 1887, inspired in large part by the work and miracles of Leo DuPont, Pope Leo XIII established an Archconfraternity of the Holy Face. Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of Therese of Lisieux, enrolled in the Archconfraternity and passed on their devotion to the Holy Face to all their children. This devotion was so important to their youngest daughter that when she became a Carmelite, she took the name “Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.” The best authorities on Therese say that if we do not understand her devotion to the Holy Face, we will not understand her Little Way. Finally, in 1958, Pope Pius XII authorized a Feast of the Holy Face, to be observed on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

In spite of such endorsements, devotion to the Holy Face was neglected or even forgotten by many Catholics by the end of the twentieth century. Praise God, things are starting to change. One might even see the change in the pontificate of Pope St John Paul II. In his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, he wrote:

To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the ‘programme’ which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium, summoning her to put out into the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization. (n. 6)

The Holy Father connected the Church’s marching orders for the third millennium to the Holy Face.

While I don’t believe John Paul II had in mind devotion to the Holy Face as taught by Sr Mary of St Peter when he wrote these words, these devotions are indeed a way to contemplate the face of Christ and then go on to change society as the saintly pontiff requested. And in recent years, one can see a resurgence in devotion to the Holy Face, as evidenced by many websites and books on the subject, such as Fr Laurence Carney’s The Secret of the Holy Face: The Devotion Destined to Save Society.

Fr Carney’s book reminds me in several ways of Fr Donald Calloway’s book Champions of the Rosary, though it is of necessity shorter because developed devotion to the Holy Face is more recent than the rosary. Yet, as Fr Carney points out quite eloquently, the roots of devotion to the Holy Face are well established in Sacred Scripture. The Old Testament speaks of the Face of God as a sign of His protection and presence. He turns His Face away from His enemies and turns it toward His people. The Face of God becomes a special note in the Psalms: “Lord, show us your face, and we shall be saved” (cf Psalm 79/80:7). “May God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; and may those who hate him flee before his face” (cf. Ps 67/68:1).

From these scriptural roots, Fr Carney touches on the story of St Veronica and the three major images connected to the Face of Jesus: the Veil of Veronica in Rome, the Shroud of Turin, and the Veil of Manoppello. These images have become holy reminders, showing us how, through His Incarnation but especially His Death and Resurrection, Christ has become the Face of God to Humanity.

Fr Carney then summarizes the Holy Face devotion in particular as it was given to Sr Mary of St Peter. He notes in a special way its connection to reparation against blasphemy and atheism. He sees the devotion as an ordered response to the atheism and revolutionary spirit so prevalent in nineteenth century France. In doing so, he draws parallels between devotion to the Holy Face and devotion to the Sacred Heart. He even connects devotion to the Holy Face to the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.

Fr Carney sees devotion to the Holy Face as a call to spiritual arms. Communism, and movements deriving from it, have enshrined blasphemy and religious indifference into modern culture. We must combat these movements with a true Christian response, and Fr Carney sees devotion to the Holy Face as the banner of a Catholic counter-revolution.

The penultimate sections of the book give an overview of saints and Catholic leaders who have been devoted to the Holy Face. In addition to Sr Mary of St Peter and Therese of Lisieux, Fr Carney mentions Ven Leo DuPont, St Martin of Tours, St Gertrude the Great, Bl Basil Moreau, and many others. He concludes the work with a call to spiritual arms, to take up devotion to the Face of Christ as a way to strive against the godlessness of modern society.

As we enter this season of Lent, let us all resolve to seek the Face of Jesus. The devotion to the Holy Face is a privileged manner of doing so. The Archconfraternity of the Holy Face exists to this day, and one might take this Lent as an opportunity to enroll. Learn about the prayers revealed to or written by Sr Mary of St Peter, such as the Golden Arrow prayer, the Chaplet of the Holy Face, and the Litany of the Holy Face. Use this Lent to truly seek the Face of God revealed in the Holy Face of Jesus Christ.

Secret of the Holy Face: The Devotion Destined to Save Society
By Fr. Lawrence Daniel Carney III
TAN Books, 2022
Hardcover, 216 pages

Catholic World Report