At Mater Dei, we are affiliated with the League of St. Martin of Tours, whose purpose is to promote devotion to the Holy Face, the spread of the Traditional Latin Mass, and greater reverence for the Divine Liturgies. The League invites people to pray the Holy Face devotion prayers with us on the first Sunday of each month starting at 3:30pm. Booklets are available with all the prayers for the faithful to pray.
The Feast of the Holy Face, approved by Ven. Pope Pius XII in 1958, is celebrated on Shrove Tuesday, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. At Mater Dei, we offer an evening Sung Mass on this feast day.
HISTORY OF THE VEIL
As Our Lord carried His Cross to Calvary, a woman named Berenicia (now known as St. Veronica) courageously pushed through the soldiers and crowd to reach Jesus. She fell on her knees before Him and presented her veil. Jesus took the veil, wiped His bleeding face, and
returned it. On her veil, miraculously, Our Lord left an image of His Face. It is only afterward that Berenicia is known by the name of Veronica, which name is given from the words VERA ICON, meaning “true portrait”, to commemorate her actions.
Veronica passed the relic of the veil to Clement I (the 3rd successor of St. Peter). It was hidden away in the catacombs for the next 3 centuries during the persecutions of the Church. The Holy Veil is now in the Basilica of St. Peter, protected and venerated to this day.
HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION
In 1843, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to a Carmelite nun, Sr. Mary of St. Peter, in Tours, France and revealed to her a powerful devotion He wanted to be established throughout the world – The Holy Face Devotion. Sister Marie of St. Peter prayed and labored unceasingly to bring the Lord’s wishes to fulfillment and was assisted in this Work by a holy layman, Leo Dupont.
The purpose of this Devotion is to make reparation for the sins of the world – specifically the sins of blasphemy, irreverence, and profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. After many years and struggles, the devotion was approved by the Church authorities. The Confraternity of the Holy Face Devotion was established on October 25,1884, and elevated to an Archconfraternity on October 1,1885 by Pope Leo XIII.
PRAYERS OF THE DEVOTION
As requested by Our Lord, the Prayer of Devotion, and the “Golden Arrow” prayer – which He dictated to Sr. Mary – are to be said daily, preferably before the Blessed Sacrament or before a picture of the Holy Face. On Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, add the Litany of the Holy Face of Jesus.
The Chaplet of the Holy Face honors the five senses of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of entreating God for the triumph of His Church, as well as to thwart evil and the snares of the devil. This Chaplet is composed of a cross, a Holy Face medal, and thirty-nine beads, six which are single beads, and thirty-three beads which are grouped into five sections of six beads each.
PRAYER OF DEVOTION
Dear Lord, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You these prayers in reparation for the sins which offend God the most in these modern times–the sins of blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday and Your Holy Days of Obligation (One each: Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be)
THE “GOLDEN ARROW” PRAYER
Dictated by Our Lord to Sr. Mary of St. Peter
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible, and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored, and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.
For more information about the devotion and the League of St. Martin:
https://www.martinians.org/
https://www.holyfaceadoration.com/
https://www.carmelitemonastery.org/holy-face-of-jesus.php