FEAST OF THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS

Hello Everyone:
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Today is the Feast day of the Holy Face of Jesus. It is a moveable feast and is always on Shrove Tuesday which is the day before Ash Wednesday. 

Devotion to the Holy Face was revealed by Jesus to Sr. Marie of St. Peter (1816-1848) a Carmelite nun of Tours in France.

The primary purpose of the devotion is to make reparation for sins against the first three commandments:

Denial of God which includes Freemasonry that has infiltrated our Church, 
Blasphemy - using God's name in vain,
Profanation of Sundays and Holy Days which are all greatly prevalent today.
The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, based on the life and writings of Sr. Marie of St. Peter, was eventually approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885 who established the devotion as an Arch-confraternity for the whole world.

In January 1849 Pope Pius IX had the relic of Veronica’s veil placed for public veneration in Rome. During this time, the Divine Face appeared distinctly, as if living, and was illuminated by a soft light. Reproductions of the veil were later printed, touched to the original and sent abroad for veneration such as the one printed at the top of this article.

The Holy Man of Tours - Leo Dupont
Leo Dupont heard of the reported visions of Jesus and Mary by the Carmelite nun Sister Marie of St Peter from 1844 to 1847. Based on this, Dupont started to burn a vigil lamp continuously before a picture of the Holy Face of Jesus based on the painted image on the Veil of Veronica. Dupont used that image because the existence of a clear image on the Shroud of Turin was not known to anyone at that time for the somewhat faded image of the face on the Shroud can not easily be seen with the naked eye and was only observed in May 1898 via the negative plate of Secondo Pia's first photograph. In 1851 Dupont formed the "Archconfraternity of the Holy Face" in Tours. He prayed for and promoted the case for a devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus for around 30 years.

Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli & The Holy Face of Jesus Devotion & Medal
At the age of twelve, when she was in her Parish Church during the 3pm Good Friday service, she heard a Voice saying quite distinctly:
"No one gives me a kiss of love on My Face to make amends for the Kiss of Judas."

In her childlike simplicity, she believed that the voice was heard by everyone and was pained to see that only the wounds were kissed but not the face. In her heart exclaiming, "Have patience, dear Jesus, I will give you a kiss of love", and when her turn came she lovingly and devoutly imprinted a kiss on His Face. (This is true - on Good Friday - many feel that kissing His face would be too bold but it would be an act of Reparation for the wounds inflicted by these sins. If one is to think you are bold  - then this too can be offered as an act of Reparation in itself because you know that it is done out of love!)

Mother Maria Pierina de Micheli obtained permission from her spiritual Director and although she did not have any financial means to get medals of the Holy Face made. She obtained the permission of the photographer Bruner to take copies of the Holy Shroud as reproduced by him, and she received the permission to do so by the Archdiocese of Milan on the August 9, 1940. Since then the devotion and the medal have been spread worldwide with much enthusiasm, accompanied all the while by wonderful graces, conversions and cures as a testament and heavenly sign of God's institution and approval of both.

St. Therese and the Martin Family
This devotion was practiced in France where it began, therefore, the Martin family were one of the first to join in this Archconfraternity of the Holy Face and it became a sweet devotion of St. Therese; so much so that she was inspired to take the full title of:

‘Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face’.

May we make it a devotion of our own for the many crimes committed today. We can not just sit back but be active in making Reparation. The Holy Face devotion is a great means of grace. Please check out more information on this website under Devotions for more information on the Holy Face.

"O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every Adoration Thine." (3 times)

God bless!

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