Holy Face Relic
The threefold end of devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is: Reparation, Adoration, and Supplication
Holy Face Relic
"How well Our Lord did to lower His eyes when He gave us His portrait! Since the eyes are the mirror of the soul, if we had seen His soul, we would have died from joy!" - St. Therese, speaking of the Veil of Veronica.
Saint Veronica
by Hans Memling (c. 1470)
What is Devotion to the Holy Face
Lord, my heart has said of you, “Seek His face.” O Lord, I do seek your presence; do not hide your face from me.
– Psalm 27:8-9
Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is a devotion for lovers of the Crucified Lord. It began on the sorrowful road to Calvary, when a pious woman named Veronica, moved by compassion for her suffering Lord, braved the angry mob, and dared to wipe the spittle, dust, and blood from the Countenance of Our Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ showed his gratitude and love for this supreme act of compassion, by leaving on her veil the imprint of His Holy Face. This sacred relic of the Passion has been venerated by the Church since its earliest days and has been jealously guarded in a column of St. Peter’s Basilica. Upon viewing the Image of our Lord in His Passion, so moving is the impression, that it has been written:
A deep feeling of compunction is felt on beholding the head of the Savior pierced with thorns; the bleeding brow, the eyes swollen and filled with blood, the teeth loosened, the beard and hair torn off in many places, the face livid and blackened; on the right cheek, and seen through the bruises, is the print of the gauntlet of Malchus, who cruelly struck him in the house of Annas; on the other cheek, stains of spittle and mud; the nose bleeding and broken; the mouth open and filled with blood.
Whoever gazes upon the Holy Face of Jesus, cannot but be moved to repay our Lord’s infinite love, by a wholehearted response of love, and this is what our Lord truly desires of us:
Jesus has no need of our works but only of our love…when He said ‘Give me to drink’ it was the love of His poor creatures the Creator of the universe was seeking. He was thirsty for love…
– St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
Veronica’s Veil: A Miraculous Manifestation
When the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX, fled to Gaeta in 1849 during a revolution which threatened Catholic France and Rome itself, he ordered public prayers to be offered in all of the churches of Rome to implore God’s mercy on the Papal States. Complying with this, a three-day exposition of the Relic of Veronica’s Veil was held for public veneration at St. Peter’s Basilica. On the 3rd day of the showing a miracle occurred. The Canons of the Basilica and a number of the faithful who were praying there noticed a remarkable change on the Veil of the Holy Face, the impression of which was so faint as to be scarcely visible. “Through another veil of silk which covers the true Relic of Veronica’s Veil the Divine Face appeared distinctly, as if living, and was illumined by a soft light; the features assumed a deathlike hue, and the eyes, deep sunken, wore an expression of great pain.” The Canons immediately ordered the bells to be rung, attracting crowds of people who witnessed the three-hour manifestation. An apostolic notary was called in and composed a document testifying to the event.
That same evening, copies of the effigy were made and touched to the veil, and later sent abroad. Two of these pictures of the Holy Face were sent by the Carmelite sisters in Tours, France, to Leo Dupont. After the death of Sister Mary of St. Peter, to whom Our Lord had revealed the devotion of Reparation to His Holy Face, it was the Servant of God Leo Dupont who continued to promote this devotion until the end of his life. Leo hung one of these pictures in his parlor, and placed a crystal oil lamp before it, which he burned continuously as a mark of his reverence, veneration, and love. A few days later on Holy Saturday, the first miracle occurred. A woman afflicted with fiery pain in her eyes prayed with Leo Dupont to the Holy Face of Jesus and anointed her eyes with a little of the oil from the lamp. She was instantly cured. The oil had no curative powers. The anointing simply expressed exterior faith and was active piety. Within several weeks twenty more persons had been relieved of serious illnesses, cured instantly the same way. The miracles continued for 30 years! They became so numerous that Pope Pius IX declared Leo Dupont to be perhaps the greatest miracle worker in Church history.
O my Jesus! Cast upon us a look of mercy. Turn Thy Face towards each of us as Thou didst to Veronica. Not that we may see It with our bodily eyes, for this we do not deserve. But turn It towards our hearts, so that remembering Thee,we may ever draw from this fountain of strength the vigor necessary to sustain the combats of life. Amen.
– Blessed Pius IX