The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

“Our Lord has promised me that He will imprint His Divine likeness on souls that honor His Most Holy Countenance.”

Sr. Mary of St. Peter – January 21, 1847

Adore His Holy Face

What is the Holy Face of Jesus image?

The Holy Face Image shows the face of Jesus as He carried the cross to Calvary. The engraved and reproduced image is inspired by the Veil of Veronica, the cloth that wiped Our Lord’s Face during His Passion.

Tradition tells that Veronica gave her Veil to Pope Clement I. It remained hidden and protected in the Church’s heart for millennia, one of the most treasured artifacts.

Each approved reproduction bears the red wax seal and is touched to the original Veil, a fragment of the True Cross, and the spear of Longinus, making it a special relic of Christ’s Passion.

The Birth of the Devotion

Sr. Mary of St. Peter

Sr. Mary of St. Peter was born in 1816 in a France torn up by the Anti-Catholic legacy of the French Revolution. Showing extreme piety and devotion from an early age, she entered the Carmelite monastery at Tours in 1839 at the age of 23. After making her final vows in 1841, she began to receive special graces from Our Lord in prayer.

From 1844-1847, Our Lord spoke to Sr. Mary about establishing the Devotion to the Holy Face as a work of reparation for sins of blasphemy to the first three commandments through idolatry, misuse of His Holy Name, and the profanation of Sundays and other Holy Days.

She died tragically in 1848 at 31, before the devotion had full Papal approval. Read her life story, written by M. l’Abbé Pierre Janvier, director of the Priests of the Holy Face.

Venerable Leon Dupont lived in Tours during Sr. Marie De St. Pierre’s life and was a devoted supporter of the Carmelites. He frequently gave of his family wealth to support the sisters, and was heavily involved in promoting the work of reparation Our Lord asked of Sr. Marie.

After Sister’s passing, he continued promoting the Holy Face devotion, keeping a copy of the relic in an oratory in his home. One day, a visitor came on business who complained of an affliction her eyes. Leon took some of the oil from the lamp that he kept burning before the holy image. Within minutes, the woman’s eye condition completely and miraculously ceased.

In the years that followed, M. Dupont anointed thousands of visitors with this holy oil. Thousands of miraculous cures came as a result of the Holy Face Oil, inspiring Pope Pius IX to call Dupont the greatest miracle worker in the history of the Church.

Read his life story, written by M. l’Abbé Pierre Janvier.

The Archconfraternity of the Holy Face

Through the efforts of Leon Dupont and the Carmelites, devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus grew in the Archdiocese of Tours. Stories of miraculous cures brought thousands of visitors to the Oratory of the Holy Face that Dupont built in his home.

Seeking to foster this devotion, the Archbishop Guillame-Rene of Tours established the Confraternity of the Holy Face as a pious association of the faithful in his diocese. The confraternity brought the faithful together regularly for Mass and prayer before the Holy Face of Jesus, and promised apostolic blessings and indulgences for faithful participation.

The devotion received worldwide attention when Pope Leo XIII approved it and established the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in Tours with special papal blessings and indulgences attached. Smaller, local confraternities can share in those blessings by joining themselves to the Archconfraternity.

Read the full Manual of the Archconfraternity here.

Promises of the Holy Face Devotion

Our Lord spoke frequently to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre about the blessings He wanted to pour out on His Church and the world through the Devotion to the Holy Face.

  • “By my Holy Face you will work marvels.”

  • “According to the care you take to repair my countenance disfigured by blasphemy, so shall I be animated in the same degree to transform your soul which has been disfigured by sin; I will imprint thereon my own image, and I will render it as beautiful as when it came forth from the baptismal font.”

  • “My adorable Face is the seal of the Divinity, having the power to imprint itself on the souls of those who apply it to their persons.”

  • “You will obtain from my Holy Face the salvation of a multitude of sinners.”

  • “As in an earthly kingdom, the subjects can procure all they desire by being provided with a piece of money stamped with the effigy of the monarch, so also shall you be able to obtain all that you desire in the kingdom of heaven, on presenting the impress of my sacred humanity, which is my Holy Face.”

  • “If you could comprehend how agreeable the sight of my Holy Face is to my Heavenly Father!”

Join the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face.

The Carmelites of the Monastery of Our Mother of Mercy and St. Joseph are in the process of establishing a local Confraternity that is in union with the Archconfraternity in Tours, France. Once established, you will be able to join our Confraternity at the same time as joining the international Archconfraternity.