Every person, whether they acknowledge it or not, is on a spiritual journey. Those who recognize this will usually advance in their spiritual lives beyond just attending church. Learning about Saints has helped me tremendously, not only in learning about their virtues, which we are called to imitate but also in learning how they handled challenges.
Fox Nation has produced a series about the Saints. Film director Martin Scorsese has directed one season. The shows are 45 minutes long, with a 15-minute discussion about the saint after the film. This season, he featured St. Sabastian, John the Baptist, Joan of Arc, and Maximillian Kolbe. I signed up for Fox Nation to view this series.
Throughout history, saints have brought us insights to deepen our faith. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun, brought us the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (1670’s). Jesus visited her in private revelations. As a result of this devotion, the Church dedicates the month of June to Jesus’ Sacred Heart. As a side note, June is also “celebrated” as Pride Month. And what was the reason for Satan’s fall? Pride. Somehow, I do not think that is a coincidence. Margaret Mary was not canonized as a saint until 1920. The Church takes her time proclaiming saints, apparitions, and devotions.
I recently found a book by a priest, Fr. Lawrence Daniel Carney III, ‘The Secrets of the Holy Face, the devotion destined to save society.’ It has only been in publication for about 2 years. The title caught my attention. I had never heard of such a devotion.
Leaving church one day, I stopped to talk to another parishioner I had just recently become acquainted with. I asked her if she had heard about this book. (I had just ordered it.) She told me to wait there. She went to her car and brought me a little gold medal. The kind you wear on a necklace. It was round and had the face of Jesus on one side and some Latin writing on the other. She knew all about it but had not read the book. That, to me, was an affirmation that I was to look further into this devotion.
The Holy Face of Jesus devotion is Church-approved and started with another French nun, Sr. (Sister) Marie St. Peter, a Carmelite nun in Tours, France, in the mid-1800s. Her story not only involves her but also a very wealthy, religious man, Ven. (Venerable) Leo DuPont, and the thousands of miracles attributed to his devotion to the Holy Face. The image of the Holy Face of Jesus is that of Veronica’s veil.
The veil was said to have wiped the face of Jesus during his Passion and left an image of his suffering face. It was passed on and survived the past 2 millennia. This fragile relic has been kept at the Vatican for many centuries. On special occasions, the veil is brought out for public veneration. In 1849, it was on display at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome during the Christmas season. The veil was faded and fragile. To protect the veil, a second shielded the original, making it even harder to detect any image. On January 6th, the veil took on a clear image of Christ’s face. The church bells rang, and many came to witness the miracle. Since Photography was not available to capture the miraculous event, which lasted 3 hours, Pope Pius IX authorized artists to draw the miraculous image, and issued copies be made to touch the original drawing.
Venable Leo DuPont had one of the copies of this image that touched the veil. He kept it on display in his home with an oil lamp lit day and night in front of it. People came from all over to view it. People asked to be touched with the oil in his lamp. Miracles and healings began to happen. It was reported to be numbered in the thousands.
France had been the “favored Daughter of the Church” because of her fidelity to Christ. However, much had changed by the early 1800s due to the revolution and anti-Catholicism. In the mid-1800s, Sr. Marie St. Peter, a Carmelite nun, received private revelations from Jesus. He was warning her about His Father’s wrath against France for its blasphemies against God’s holy name, the profanation of Holy days (especially Sunday), and the decline in the belief in God. He said if reparations were not made for these offenses, France would pay not only with natural disasters but also from men of revolutionary means.
Jesus asked her to offer herself up for her beloved France by praying in reparation to His Holy Face. Our Lord said that blasphemy is a public offense in the face of God. He gave her prayers to pray and meditate on. She was also told to share them and make this devotion known. And for promoting the Image of the Holy Face as well. (This all took a while, getting her superiors first to believe her and then getting approval from the Mother Superior, Bishops, and ultimately Pope Leo XII.)
There are two prayers associated with the Holy Face. One is known as the Golden Arrow prayer. It directly pierces Jesus’ heart with love, making up for the painful piercing His sacred Heart receives from Blasphemies against the Holy name of God. The Golden Arrow goes as follows: “ May the most Holy, most sacred,, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable name of God, be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in heaven, on earth, and in hell, by all creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”
The other prayers are said in Chaplet form. (33 beads with specific prayers for each bead.) The prayers are focused on Christ’s five senses during His Passion. It begins… “In honor of the sense of Touch of our Lord. My Jesus Mercy.” And 1 Glory Be prayer. Then, while meditating on his sense of touch, on each of the following six beads, “Arise oh Lord and Let thy enemies be scattered, and let all who hate thee, flee from before thy face.” After all, five senses are complete, and three more “Arise” prayers are recited in honor of His 3 years of public life. The Final Prayer is “God our protector, look upon us and cast Thine eyes upon the Face of Thy Christ.” This prayer puzzled me at first. I did not understand how God could look at us and see Christ. But then I began to understand.
The purpose of this devotion is twofold. 1. For reparation of offenses to the first 3 of the Ten Commandments. Sadly, this has only worsened in the last 175 years. Jesus told her that even children blaspheme. Secondly, the fruit of this daily devotion is a closer relationship to our Lord through contemplating his sufferings. The empathy and love for Him continue to deepen in one’s heart to extend mercy and compassion to others and become more like Him.
It was revealed to Sr. Marie St. Peter that the devotion would spread and be kept for some time, but eventually, it would lessen in popularity and be all but forgotten. But when it was needed the most, it would experience a revival.
Now you can understand the title of the book by Father Carney, The Secrets of the Holy Face, which is the devotion destined to save society.
