I was recently invited to a talk about devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, and I had never heard of it. Can you tell me something about this devotion?
As regards the Biblical origins, in the Old Testament God tells Moses that “you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20). Nonetheless, the longing for an intimate relationship with God is expressed in passages like “Your face, Lord, do I seek” (Ps 27:8). With the incarnation of God as man, the longing to see God’s face is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).
The Transfiguration of Christ (cf. Mt 17:2), where his face “shone like the sun,” and especially the Passion narratives, where his face was struck, spat upon, and disfigured (cf. Mt 26:67), provide the Biblical foundation for devotion to the Holy Face.
Early Christian tradition gives us the account of Veronica wiping the face of Jesus on his way to Calvary and leaving an imprint of his face on her veil. This is commemorated in the sixth Station of the Cross, even though it is not found in the New Testament.
In the Middle Ages, devotion to the humanity and suffering of Christ grew considerably, particularly through various forms of monastic, and particularly Franciscan, spirituality. Mystics and theologians encouraged meditation on Christ’s Passion, including on his wounded and disfigured face.
In more recent times, devotion to the Holy Face owes much to the mystical experiences of Sr Marie of St Peter (1816–1848), a French Carmelite nun in Tours. She reported visions in which Christ urged her to promote devotion to his Holy Face as a means of making reparation for sins, especially blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays. She emphasised that contemplating Christ’s disfigured face in the Passion was a way of consoling him and participating in his redemptive suffering. Also, honouring the Holy Face was akin to performing the work of St Veronica, who wiped Jesus’ face on the way to Calvary.
Another nun who received revelations about the devotion was the Italian Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli (1890-1945). When she was just 12, while waiting to venerate the crucifix on Good Friday, she heard Jesus say, “No one gives me a kiss of love on my face to make amends for the kiss of Judas.” She replied, “I will give you a kiss of love, Jesus.” In 1938, when she had become a nun and was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady appeared to her holding a scapular consisting of two pieces of cloth. On one piece was the Holy Face of Jesus and on the other the Eucharist surrounded by rays. Our Lady told her that those who would wear the scapular and, if possible, make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament each Tuesday in reparation for the offences against Jesus’ Holy Face in his passion and those he was still receiving in the Blessed Eucharist, would receive blessings from God.
Another important figure in the development of the devotion was the Carmelite St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897), who took the name “Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.” She had a deep personal devotion to the Holy Face, seeing in it both the suffering and the hiddenness of Christ. For St Thérèse, the Holy Face symbolised humility and the willingness to be unrecognised and rejected, thus reflecting her “little way” of spiritual childhood.
Devotion to the Holy Face received official endorsement from the Church in 1885, when Pope Leo XIII established the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face. And in 1958, Pope Pius XII established the liturgical feast of the Holy Face, to be celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The feast was not included in the revised liturgical calendar after the Second Vatican Council.
Spiritually, devotion to the Holy Face emphasises reparation for sins against Christ as well as love for him. By contemplating Christ’s face, especially in his suffering, the faithful are invited to recognise the gravity of sin, the depth of divine mercy, and the call to imitate Christ’s humility and charity. To contemplate the face of Christ is to enter into deeper communion with him.
