Sr. Mary of Saint Peter
Venerable Leo Dupont
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
My only treasure is Thy Face, No other do I ask to see, There shall I find my hiding place Till, Jesus, I resemble Thee. Saint Therese, Canticle to the Holy Face, 1895
Apostles of the Holy Face
Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, OCD
Sr. Marie de St. Pierre was born in Rennes in Brittany on October 4, 1816. She was rather sickly as child and not at all pious. In fact, she describes herself as stubborn and easily roused to anger. After making her 1st confession at the age of 6 years, she began to seriously work on overcoming herself and about this same time, her parents instilled into her a devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin. After making her First Communion at the age of 10 years, she progressed most rapidly in virtue to the amazement of all those who knew her. She received many graces in prayer and began to understand that Our Lord was calling her to consecrate herself to Him in religion. With the direction of a wise and holy confessor who tried her in virtue for 5 years and prepared her for the religious life, she finally entered the Carmelite Monastery in Tours, France on November 13.
Revelations of the Holy Face Devotion: the Work of Reparation
As a novice, she continued receiving extraordinary favors in prayer. She submitted all of these interior communications of Our Lord to her Superiors and waited upon their consent before she could offer herself completely to Our Lord as He had been asking. Once permission was obtained, Our Lord began communicating with her about the need for reparation, adoration and supplication, by means of devotion to His adorable Face. Our Lord first spoke to her of the need to make reparation for the sins of Blasphemy and also the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. “My name is everywhere blasphemed!” Our Lord exclaimed to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, who relates…He then made me see that this frightful sin wounds His divine Heart more grievously than all other sins, showing me how by blasphemy the sinner curses Him to His Face, attacks Him publicly, nullifies his redemption, and pronounces his own judgment and condemnation. Our Lord then made me visualize the act of blasphemy as a poisoned arrow continually wounding His divine Heart. After that He revealed to me that He wanted to give me a ‘Golden Arrow’ which would have the power of wounding Him delightfully, and which would also heal those other wounds inflicted by the malice of sinners.” (August 26, 1843)
May the most, holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth and in the hells, by all the creatures of God and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
– The Golden Arrow Prayer
Our Lord told Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, “Oh, if you only knew what merit you acquire by saying even once, ‘Admirable is the Name of God’ in a spirit of reparation.” Our Lord explained that reparation for blasphemies also included all attacks against Religion and Holy Church; that is all heretical attacks (which are so numerous in our times, even from within the Church). Our Lord said that only Reparation could disarm the Justice of God because the guilt of men had provoked His anger. On October 4th, 1846 Sr. Marie was given to know that in the future, “God’s justice would use as the instrument of punishment, ‘the malice of revolutionary men-that is the Communists’.” This was the first revelation from Heaven concerning Communism. It is interesting to note that Communism was still at its beginning stages at this time, and that Karl Marx had not even published his Communist Manifesto until 1848, and these Revolutionaries were not even calling themselves “Communists” in 1846. Our Lord ordered Sr. Marie to wage war against the enemies of the Church, the Communists, through prayers and devotion to His Holy Face and the instruments of His Passion which would be her only weapons against them and the devil himself. Thus Devotion to the Holy Face is a sister devotion to Fatima.
Adoration of the Holy Face
Our Lord also told Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, “I seek Veronicas to wipe and venerate my Divine Face which has but few adorers.” On another occasion our Lord also revealed His desire for adoration, as described by the holy Carmelite of Tours, “Drawing me strongly to the contemplation of His adorable Face, our Divine Savior made me see through a ray of light issuing from His august Countenance that the Holy Face which He presented to mankind for their adoration, was indeed the mirror of those unutterable Divine Perfections comprised and contained in the Most Holy Name of God…. I saw that by thus honoring and venerating this Sacred Countenance covered anew with outrages, we could atone for blasphemers who attack the Divinity of which this Holy Face is the figure, the mirror and the expression.” Sr. Marie de St. Pierre also emphasized the importance of the Holy Eucharist in connection with the Holy Face Devotion. “Yes, it is through this august Sacrament that Jesus, our Savior, desires to impart to souls the rare virtue emanating from His most Holy Face, for indeed there in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar His adorable Face is more dazzling than the sun. He then once more promised me to imprint His Divine likeness upon the souls of those who honor the features of His Face.” Our Lord Himself called devotion to His Holy Face, “The most beautiful work under the sun”.
Our Lord Himself dictated many prayers of the Holy Face to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre and others she composed with His approval. Our Lord desired that these prayers be printed and circulated. A holy man of Tours, Leo Dupont, a friend of the Carmel of Tours, took up the prayers and devotion to the Holy Face, and arranged to have the prayers dictated by our Lord to Sr. Marie of St. Pierre, printed and circulated, calling the pamphlet, “The Work of Reparation” against the sins of the profanation of Sundays, and blasphemy. Venerable Leo Dupont, was called by Pope Leo XIII, the “wonder worker” on account of the many miracles which came about through the use of oil from a lamp which he burned perpetually in front of an image of the Holy Face. Shortly before his death, devotion to the Holy Face was officially approved by the Church, and in 1885 Pope Leo XIII established the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in his public oratory, which is still a place of pilgrimage to this day.
Supplication through the offering of the Holy Face of Jesus
Nothing that you ask in virtue of this offering will be refused you! Ah! If you did but know how pleasing is the sight of My Face to My Father
– Promise of Our Lord to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, our way and mediator with the Father, True God and True Man, who has reconciled us through His death with the Father, making peace through the Blood of His cross, calls us to come to Him, in a particular way, though devotion to His Most Holy Face. For devotion to our Lord’s Holy Face, is devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Our Lord, so greatly desiring the salvation of all mankind, gave many prayers and promises to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, for our own sanctification and that of all mankind.
Promises of Our Lord Jesus Christ to those who practice devotion to his Holy Face
- By offering My Face to my Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained.
- By my Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God and draw down mercy upon sinners.
- All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica.
- According to the care they take in making reparation to My Face disfigured by blasphemers, so will I take care of their souls, which have been disfigured by sin. My Face is the seal of the Divinity, which has the virtue of reproducing in souls the image of God.
- Those who, by words, prayers or writings defend my cause in the Work of Reparation, especially my Priests, I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom.
- As in a kingdom they can procure all that is desired with a coin stamped with the King’s effigy, so in the Kingdom of Heaven, they will obtain all they desire with the precious coin of My Holy Face.
- Those who on earth contemplate the wounds of my Face, shall in Heaven behold it radiant with glory.
- They will receive in their souls a bright and constant radiation of my Divinity, that by their likeness to My Face they shall shine with particular splendor in Heaven.
- I will defend them, I will preserve them and I assure them of Final Perseverence.
For additional information about Sr. Mary of St. Peter see the book published by TAN called
The Golden Arrow edited by Dorothy Scallan and translated by Fr. Emeric Scallan STB.
Venerable Leo Dupont
After the death of Sr. Mary of St. Peter in 1848, to the surprise of Leo, the Archbishop of Tours placed an interdict on her writings. No one was allowed to write or speak about the revelations she had received. Our Lord’s words to the humble nun had indeed come true: “I shall permit the demon to cross My Work, thereby to test the confidence of my servants.”
All quotations are from The Holy Man of Tours: The Life of Leo Dupont by Dorothy Scallan published by TAN.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
Look at His Face, look at His glazed eyes, look at His wounds, look Jesus in the Face. There you will see how He loves us.
- St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
Blessed Maria Pierina de Michelli
In spite of Our Lord’s revelations to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre and His earnest plea for reparation and supplication to prevent the errors of Communism from spreading and to repair for the sins of basphemy and profanation of Sundays, this devotion was not fully realized in the manner which our Lord desired, in great part because of the lack of cooperation of the Bishop of Tours. However, Our Lord is most patient with us, and once again in the 20th century, our Lord revealed His desire for an increase of devotion to His Holy Face to a chosen soul, Sr. Maria Pierina De Micheli, a Daughter of the Immaculate Conception, who has been beatified by Pope Benedict XVI. As a young girl of 12, while attending Good Friday Services, she heard interiorly, “Will no one give Me a kiss of love on My Face, to make reparation for the kiss of Judas?” She then proceeded to kiss the crucifix on the Face. Years later as a religious, Our Lord continued to speak to Bd. Pierina, revealing His desire that His Face be more honored, and He promised her, “Everytime that anyone gazes at My Face, I will pour My Love into hearts and by means of My Holy Face, the salvation of many souls will be obtained.” In May 1938, Our Lord appeared with His Blood stained Face and repeated His desire of sanctifying souls through the offering of His Holy Face, adding that when this offering is made “through my priests, miracles will be worked.” Our Lord asked for souls who would sacrifice themselves with Him for the salvation of the world. In 1941 Our Lord asked Sister to join Him in the agony of His soul in Gethsemane for the sins “of those who are dear to Me and especially for the rebuffs I receive from the souls of many religious, in particular for the sin of pride in religious souls.” Our Lord was asking Sr. Pierina to make reparation for all the “Judases” of the world, who were offending Him, that is all Priests, Bishops and Religious who were unfaithful to His love and His call. After suffering many illnesses, and frequent attacks from the devil, who did everything possible to hinder the spread of devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, Sr. Marie Pierina died in 1945, in the odor of sanctity while gazing upon the Holy Face. Her last words being, “I will see all of you again in Heaven.” In that last love filled look at our Lord, Bd. Marie Pierina was showing us the way to Heaven.
Revelations and Promises of our Lord to Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli
- “I have given My Heart as the sensible proof of my great love for men, and I give My Face as the sensible object of my grief for the sins of mankind”.
- “I desire that My Face, which shows My soul’s deepest anguish, My Heart’s sorrow and love, be more honored.” “Whoever contemplates me, consoles Me”.
- “Contemplate My Face and you will enter into My Heart’s abysses of sorrow.”
- “Every time that anyone gazes at My Face, I will pour My Love into hearts.”
- “And by means of the Holy Face, the salvation of many souls will be obtained.”
- “Offer My Holy Face without ceasing to the Eternal Father. With this offering, you will obtain salvation and sanctification of many souls. When henceforth you offer it through My priests, they will perform miracles.”
- “I desire that My Face be honored in a special way on Tuesdays.”
- “I desire that My Face be honored by a special Feast on Quinquagesima Tuesday (Tuesday on the 5th week before Easter Sunday), a feast preceded by a Novena, in which all the faithful will make reparation to Me, thus uniting and participating in my grief.