THE HOLY FACE DEVOTION


The Holy Face of Jesus from the image of Veronica's veil
(The veil is kept in St. Peters Basilica, Rome.)

as requested by Our Lord Jesus Christ. These prayers are to be said on Sundays and the Holy Days of Obligation, publicly (if possible), and preferably before the Blessed Sacrament or before the picture of the Holy Face.

    Dear Lord, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I (we) offer You these prayers in reparation for the sins which offend God the most in these modern times--the sins of BLASPHEMY and the PROFANATION OF SUNDAY and Your Holy Days of Obligation:

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 receiving this prayer, Sister Mary of St. Peter 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 far the conversion of sinners.
 

    I salute Thee, I adore Thee and I love Thee, O adorable Face of Jesus, my Beloved, noble Seal of the Divinity! Outraged anew by blasphemers. I offer Thee, through the heart of Thy blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels and Saints, most humbly beseeching Thee to repair and renew in me and in all men Thy Image disfigured by sin.

    O adorable Face which was adored, with profound respect, by Mary and Joseph when they saw Thee for the first time, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which did ravish with joy, in the stable of Bethlehem, the Angels, the shepherds and the magi, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which did transpierce with a dart of love in the Temple, the saintly old man Simeon and the prophetess Anna, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which filled with admiration the Doctors of the law when Thou didst appear in the Temple at the age of twelve years, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which possesses beauty always ancient and always new, have mercy...
    O adorable Face which is the masterpiece of the Holy Ghost, in which the Eternal Father is well pleased, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which is the ineffable mirror of the divine perfection, have mercy on us.

    Adorable Face of Jesus which was so mercifully bowed down on the Cross, on the day of Thy Passion, for the salvation of the world! Once more today in pity bend down towards us poor sinners. Cast upon us a glance of compassion and give us Thy peace.

     O adorable Face which became brilliant like the sun and radiant with glory, on the Mountain of Tabor, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which wept and was troubled at the tomb of Lazarus, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which was rendered sad at the sight of Jerusalem, and shed tears on that ungrateful city, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which was bowed down to the ground in the Garden of Olives, and covered with confusion for our sins, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which was covered with the sweat of blood, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which was struck by a vile servant, covered with a veil of shame, and profaned by the sacrilegious hands of Thy enemies, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which by Its divine glance, wounded the heart of St. Peter with a dart of sorrow and love, have mercy on us.

    Be merciful to us, O my God! Do not reject our prayers, when in the midst of our afflictions, we call upon Thy Holy Name and seek with love and confidence Thy adorable Face.

    O adorable Face which was washed and anointed by Mary and the holy women and covered with a shroud, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which was all resplendent with glory and beauty on the day of the Resurrection, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which is hidden in the Eucharist, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which will appear at the end of time in the clouds with great power and great majesty, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which will make sinners tremble, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which will fill the just with joy for all eternity, have mercy on us.
    O adorable Face which merits all our reverence, our homage and our adoration, have mercy on us.
    O Lord, show us Thy Face, and we shall be saved!
    O Lord, show us Thy Face, and we shall be saved!
    O Lord, show us Thy Face, and we shall be saved!

Note: The Litany of the Holy Face above, and the same Litany in our pamphlets, is the abridged version, as the full version is quite lengthy. Here is the full-length Litany of the Holy Face.
 

    Almighty and Eternal Father, since it has pleased Our Divine Savior to reveal to mankind in modern times the power residing in His Holy Face, we now avail ourselves of this Treasure in our great need. Since our Savior Himself promised that by offering to You His Holy Face disfigured in the Passion we can procure the settlement of all the affairs of our household, and that nothing whatsoever will be refused to us, we now come before Your throne.
    Eternal Father, turn away Your angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Your eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Your Beloved Son; for this is the Face of Him in whom You are well pleased. We now offer You His Holy Face covered with blood, sweat, dust, spittle and shame, in reparation for the worst crimes of our age, which are atheism, blasphemy, and the desecration of Your holy days. We thus hope to appease Your anger justly provoked against us. The All-Merciful Advocate opens His mouth to plead our cause; listen to His cries, behold His tears, O God, and through the merits of His Holy Face hearken to Him when He intercedes for us poor miserable sinners.

AIDS TO ASSIST WITH THIS DEVOTION

Here are links to high resolution framed and unframed photos of one of the Holy Face 2nd class relics (rare painting of the Holy Face which was created and touched to Veronica's veil in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in the late 1800's).

Feel free to print out either of the photos above if you would like to have an image in front of you while you take part in the devotional prayers above and elsewhere on this site.

We offer a Holy Face Cross (pictured below) that can be used with this devotion. We suggest a small donation of $4.50 for a cross (our break-even cost), though we do not make this mandatory for those that cannot afford it. Donation information is on our Donations page.

To request a Holy Face Cross, please click here to send us an email. Please include your full name and address to ship to, along with where you heard about our site, and if you are able to donate. You may also mail your request to the postal address below. Note, due to heavy demand and only three members in this apostolate, it may take up to 8 weeks to receive.

* Please note that we are a small apostolate and have a small inventory of Holy Face crosses, so we normally cannot send our crosses in bulk. We typically ask each person to request their own cross, so it is more likely each cross will be properly used with the devotion. If you have a special need to order a large number of crosses, please see our bulk orders page. Also note that some orders may take several weeks to arrive since we are overloaded at times. Thank you for your patience!
 

Our current Holy Face Cross
Click for larger view
 (Size is approximately 2" x 1-3/16")
 

Mailing Address:

Immaculate Heart of Mary Apostolate
P.O. Box 2407
Milford, CT 06460
 

(With Ecclesiastical Approval)