The Sacred Face of Jesus Christ

Popule meus, quid feci tibi? aut in quo contristavi te? - responde mihi.

The Lord show His Face to thee, and have mercy on thee.
The Lord turn His Face to thee, and give thee peace. (Blessing of Aaron.)
Behold, O God, our protector; and look on the Face of Thy Christ. (Ps. 83.)

The adorable Face of Our Redeemer, God and Man, disfigured by the most cruel treatment and reflecting the inexpressible sufferings of His loving heart, is an object most worthy of our veneration. Who can represent to himself this Face stamped with heavenly beauty, brilliant in its divine majesty, and transfigured by infinite love, and not have his heart penetrated with the most tender compassion for the painful sufferings which it endured for us? And so the devotion to the most Sacred Face of Jesus has been, at all times, practised in the Catholic Church. Our Lord himself laid the foundation of this devotion by leaving on the veil of St. Veronica the impression of His Face covered with blood. This miraculous impression is preserved as a most precious treasure in St. Peter's church, at Rome, and is exposed for the veneration of the faithful several times during the year.
A great many saints have had a special devotion to the most Holy Face: amongst them St. Bernard, St. Gertrude and St. Mechtildis. But it was reserved to our times to see the great widespread of this beautiful devotion. Our Lord made use for that purpose of a saintly maid, Sister mary of St. Peter, a carmelite at Tours (+ 1848), to whom He made numerous and consoling promises for those who venerate His Sacred Face, and thus make reparation for the crual treatment He suffered in it. A pious layman, Mr. Dupont, was especially zealous in propagating this devotion and he rightly deserves to be called the Apostle of the devotion to the adorable Face. Since that time the Confraternity of reparation of the most Holy Face, instituted in 1876 by the Right Revd. Mgr. Collet, Bishop of Tours, has hundred of thousands of members.
The object of this devotion is to offer to the adorable Face of Our Lord, disfigured by sufferings, the homage of our love and veneration, and to make reparation, not only for the insults which it endured during the dolorous week of the Passion, but also for the blasphemies and profanations of the Sunday in our times, which renew the outrages it then suffered; and lastly, to obtain from God the conversion of blasphemers and Sunday-profaners.

PROMISES

made by Our Lord Jesus Christ to the venerable Sister Mary of St. Peter in favour of those who worship His Sacred Face.

1. Our Lord, says Sister Mary of St. Peter, has promised me to impress on the hearts of those who honour His most Sacred Face, the features of His divine likeness. (January 21st 1844.)
2. Through my Sacred Face you will work wonders. (October 27th 1845.)
3. You will obtain through my Sacred Face the salvation of many sinners. In return for that offering nothing shall be refused to you. If you knew how agreeable the sight of my Face is to my Father! (November 22nd 1846.)
4. As in a kingdom you obtain everything you wish for with the money bearing the image of the Prince, thus with the precious money of my humanity, which is my adorable Face, you will obtain in heaven whatever you ask for. (October 29th 1845.)
5. All those who endeavour to honour my Sacred Face in a spitit of reparation, will in this manner do what pious Veronica has done. (October 29th 1845).
6. The more you take care in repairing my Face, disfigured through blasphemies, the more I will take care of yours, disfigured through sin. I will again impress on it my image, and make it as beautiful as it was when leaving the Baptismal Font. (November 3rd 1845.)
7. Our Lord has promised me, says Sister Mary of St. Peter, that He would defend before His Father those who by words, prayers or writings, have defended Him in this work of reparation. At their death He would cleanse their soul from all stain of sin, and give it back its primitive beauty (March 18th 1846.)

PRAYER OF POPE PIUS IX.

O my Jesus! cast a look of mercy upon us; turn toward each of us Thy Sacred Face, as Thou didst to St. Veronica, not that we may see it with the eyes of our body, for this we do not deserve; but turn it towards our hearts, that, remembering Thee, we may draw from this source of strength the help necessary for the combats we have to endure.

(Audience granted to three parishes in Rome, March 10th 1872. Several bishops have enriched this prayer with indulgences.)

OTHER PRAYERS

Hail, o adorable Face of Jesus, noble seal of Divinity; I adore thee and I love Thee! I address myself to Thee with all the strength of my soul, humbly imploring Thee to impress on our hearts all features of Thy divine image. Amen.

Almighty God, heavenly Father! look down upon the Face of Thy divine Son! We offer it to Thee with confidence, to obtain pardon for our sins. Jesus, the Mediator between heaven and earth, opens His mouth to pray for us. O hear His words, behold His tears, and for the sake of His infinite merits, graciously hear Him when interceding for us poor sinners. Amen.

Have merccy on us, O my God, and reject not our prayers, when in the midst of our calamities we invoke Thy Holy Name, and with love and confidence fly to Thy adorable Face. Amen.

ASPIRATIONS

Father in heaven, we offer to Thee the adorable Face of Thy beloved Son for the glory of Thy Holy Name and the safety of our country. (Sister Mary of St. Peter.)

May I die consumed by the burning longing to contemplate the desirable Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Prayer of St. Edme, which Mr. Dupont used to repeat in the last years of his life.)

With the approval of the Right Revd William Clifford, Bishop of Clifton.