Devotions to the Holy Face and its special significance for the Lenten Season

Holy Face Shroud of Turin--------Holy Face from Veronica's Veil

The  devotion to the Holy Face is one of the earliest devotions in the Church during which the devotee contemplates the face of Christ in His Passion - A face most glorious from birth, but disfigured in consequence of the sins of men. The two major relics of this devotion as seen above are: the winding Cloth of Our Lord's burial, known as the Shroud of Turin; and the Miraculous Image of Jesus imprinted on the Veil of holy Veronica, who compassionately wiped Our Lord's face, when He was bearing the cross. These relics have been carefully, and miraculously, preserved in the Church for millennia, through to the present day

There is a significant  call in the Providence of God linking Lenten observances with the Holy Face devotions. Studying the historical timeline we are looking also into the  messages of Our Lady at Salette and Fatima to show that the enemies Our Lady warned us against are the same that Our Lord told Sr. Mary Peter of Tours, in the 1840's atheistic communists.

The Tuesday  before Ash Wednesday (fat Tuesday) in past centuries was also called Shrove Tuesday. It was considered to be a day of examination and repentance. It was a time for the faithful to decide on their Lenten penances and to go to confession in order to prepare to make a good Lent 

Last year Shrove Tuesday, fell on February 13th. I was researching the historical timeline then and I mistakenly made a false assumption.  I just realized I needed to correct my error of calling Shrove Tuesday a feast or memorial of the Holy Face. I thought because the Devotions and Novena to the Holy Face  are approved,  that the Church also gave Our Lord what he asked for in the 1840's. I was wrong the church never officially declared Shrove Tuesday a Memorial or Feast of the Holy Face. I apologize for that that error and would have corrected it earlier if it was brought to my attention.

I was surprised because as I looked for information on the Devotions I  discovered a PDF. copy of the 1887 Manuel of the Arch Confraternity of the Holy Face   In it, on page 256, there is a Mass written in honor of the Holy Face in the Tridentine (extraordinary form). 

Until I learn differently,  I am assuming that  the Mass written for the Holy Face in the 1887 Arch-Confraternity Manuel was at one time approved for use by the Arch-Confraternity in Tours. I am making inquiries to see if it still is and if  permissions may be obtained for the Mass to  be said by Confraternites of the Holy Face attached to the arch-confraternity. I am hoping to learn how we may spread Confraternites of the Holy Face in the church.

In the meantime let us be happy that we can participated another year in the Novena in order  to make Reparation. Let us continue to do what we can to spread the Holy Face Devotions to those around us.

In 2018, Shrove Tuesday 
fell on February 13th. The anniversary of the death of Servant of God Sr. Lucia of Fatima.
We should not let this significant timing pass unnoticed. It is not a random coincidence. 

Nothing in the unfolding of Divine Providence 
is random or chance.

Fatima Sanctuary Statue

Golden Star under Rosary

The number 13 was prominent during the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, Our Lady appeared in each of her six apparitions to the three shepherd children on the 13th of each month. Early Fatima scholars recognized it as a sign linking the Fatima Message with the book of Ester. Another visible sign in each of her apparitions was a star embedded in her pure white gown just below her knees. It was under the crucifix which dangled from the Rosary that she held in her hands. This star signified her as a Jewish Princess. Theologians from the early beginnings of the apparitions called it the Star of Esther, in reference to the Old Testament Book of Esther. Here Queen Esther is a type for the Virgin Mary, and personifies, Our Lady especially under her titles of Our Lady of Fatima. 

Sr. Lucia of Fatima

The magnitude of February 13th, or “the 13th of Adar”, could not be fully realized, even by Fatima scholars until the death of Sr. Lucia, the last surviving Fatima seer. In the Book of Esther the Jewish people were to be exterminated on the 13th of the Month of Adar in the Hebrew Calendar. Queen Esther asked her people to pray and fast for her as she approached the king to have the edict rescinded. (See Addendum II at the end of the post for an account of the variations between the Hebrew and Gregorian Calendar.)

Sr. Lucia lived to be 97 years of age and was called to eternal life on February 13, 2005. The timing of Sr. Lucia’s death is the final stamp by God linking the Fatima Messages with the Book of Esther. The date of Sr. Lucia’s death has been before our eyes for some time but few in the Church realize its significance. This is a silent symbolic call from God that shouts for prayer and penance. Individually, our prayers and penances bring the grace and mercy of God. However, we need the whole community of the faithful to pray together to defeat the evil around us. Let us wake up and answer this call and pray it will be also heard and presented in the Church.

Events in Book of Ester link 

The Holy Face Devotions with the 

Messages of Fatima and La Salette 

We are assuming the reader is familiar with the story in the book of Ester. At some point it would be good to read and meditate over the scriptures once more in the light of the Fatima Message.

Sr. Mary Peters of Tours with Golden Arrow

If we read over the historical account of the Holy Face Devotions over the centuries we see that our Lord came first to Sr. Mary Peter of Tours from 1843-1847. Sr. Mary Peters was a discalced Carmelite Nun from Tours and is best known for starting the devotions to the Holy Face ofJesus and for the Golden Arrow Prayer. She also introduced the Little Sachet Sacramental.

Our Lord asked her to promote the Devotion to His Holy Face as a means of Reparation for "Revolutionary men" -- the communists through whom God is allowing the world to be chastised for its unbelief’. The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for their idolatry, and blasphemies in the abuse of His Holy Name and the profanation of Sundays, all sins against His Divine Majesty in the first three commandments.

"The earth is steeped in crime! The Holy Name of the Lord is blasphemed; the very day of Sunday itself is profaned: these fill the measure of iniquity. In no age has crime been so malignant. My Name is every where blasphemed; even by the little children!" 

(Words of Our Lord to Sr. Mary Peter of Tours mid 1840’s) 

What will our Lord say about us?

Is this not also included in the Fatima Message?

Our Lady came to Fatima to ask us to help her to prevent Russia from spreading her errors throughout the world, namely atheistic communism. She expressed in various ways the urgent need to make reparation to God for poor sinners who have no one to pray for them. She asked us not to offend God anymore for he is already deeply offended! The Holy Face Devotion and the appearance of Our Lady at La Salette with the prophecies of impending chastisement are reflected with the same urgency today in the Fatima message. Our Lady came to Fatima remind us of our duties towards God who is already deeply offended. Spend some time in prayer meditating on the Message of La Salette and of Our Lord to Sr. Mary Peter of Tours in the light of the Fatima Message.

Examining the various symbols in the apparitions; The Holy Face, La Salette and Fatima, we also see that the prophecies point to the time of the apparitions as well as possibilities for a future fulfillment. Similar to the prophecies contained throughout scripture. The Apparitions of Our Lord or Lady over the course of time no matter how far in the past are always present to God. With God there is no past or future there is only the eternal present. The symbols and gestures as well as the dates and times during these apparitions are not coincidences. There is a measure and a message to proclaim, in the timing of God's manifestations within the historical context, of the moment and again in the unfolding of history. There are mysteries that will be understood only as the Church prays and meditates over the events. With the help of the Holy Spirit we will be able to penetrate the hidden meaning that God shares with those who pray. In prayer and meditation the Church may discover the meaning for the present time and also see the possibilities of a future fulfillment of the prophecies. They are always conditional, dependent on our responses to the call for penance.

Establishment of the Confraternity of the Holy Face as works of Reparation 

Our Lord also revealed to Sr. Mary Peters: "works of reparation” that can be utilized in our time. (Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in Tours, 1887 - an Archconfraternity erected in perpetuity by the Holy See by Pope Leo XIII. This richly indulgenced work of reparation emphasizes reparation to Our Lord in his agony and is the Divine tool given by God to defeat Communism, but it is also an instrument given to the individual devotee as a seemingly unfailing method of appealing to God in prayer-----through adoration of His Holy Face and Name.The Statutes of the Archconfraternity, submitted to Pope Leo XIII, declare: "...the veneration of this adorable Face to be the great means of preventing and repairing the impious outrages committed against the Majesty of God, the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and the Authority of the Church." The Archconfraternity had in mind particularly the crimes perpetrated by free-masonry, and later by communism. The Archconfraternity adopts as its motto the invocation to which the Holy Father has attached an indulgence:

"Lord, show us Thy face, and we shall be saved," from Psalm 79.4 

"Deus converte nos, et ostende faciem tuam, et salvi erimus." 

"O God, convert us, and show us Thy face, and we shall be saved."

Please follow the links here and at the end this post for information and copies of the original ArchConfraternity Statutes published in 1887. You may with the help of God’s grace be called to establish a confraternity of the Holy Face in your diocese or parish.  1887 Manuel of the Arch Confraternity of the Holy Face

                                   

Our Lord also dictated to Sr. Mary of St. Peter the following "Golden Arrow" Prayer, which, as He promised, would so touch His most loving Heart as to bring forth from It streams of grace for the conversion of sinners. “This prayer will wound my heart delightfully and will heal the wounds inflicted by blasphemy” 

"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."

Venerable Leo Dupont-Holy Man of Tours 

Many Catholics are unaware of the providential connection between the public devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus (received by Sr. Mary St. Peter of Tours from 1843-1847) and the church approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at La Salette in 1846. This was recorded by the Holy Man of Tours Leo Dupont, He was the friend and confidant of Sr. Mary Peters. He record her communications with Our Lord and wrote her biography. He was called the "Apostle of the Holy Face", and helped spread the devotion after the death of Sr. Mary Pete,  He was declared Venerable by the Holy See during Pope Pius XII’s Pontificate and currently awaits beatification. There is a link below to read the original book he wrote on the life of Sr. Mary Peter of Tours published in 1884. 

Here are selected parts from Chapter XVI “La Salette from the 480 page scanned copy of the book Ven. Leop Dupont wrote on the: “The Life of Sr. Mary Peter Carmelite of Tours”,1884 Imprimatur.

  Click to download the pdf book

Sr. Mary Peter was overwhelmed at the enormity of the approaching chastisement that was awaiting France, and begged Our Lord and Lady to send another soul outside of the cloister who would be in better position to make the warnings from Heaven to others: 

“All my prayers, all my communions, all my aspirations and all my thoughts were offered for the establishment of this work of reparation so dear to my heart, (The Holy Face devotions). if it were possible, to proclaim it all over France, by making my countrymen know the misfortunes that menaced them, Oh how I suffer in being the only confidant in a matter of such importance, and which I am obliged to keep within the secret walls of the cloister! Oh most Holy Virgin I implore you to come to some pious soul in the world, and make her a partaker of that which was communicated to me in reference to France!"

A little while later, in answer to her prayer, Our Lady appeared to two shepherd on September 19, 1846, at La Salette, a remote mountain village in France. Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, while grazing their cows on the steep mountain slopes of La Salette saw a woman bathed in light. As they approached closer they observed her seated on a rock with her head in her hands weeping bitterly. Our Lady here as well as at Fatima, shows herself as the refuge of sinners. She interposes herself as an afflicted mother between the wrath of God and her guilty children.

“If my people will not submit I shall be forced to let fall the avenging arm of my Son," She told them. “Oh! If you only knew how much I suffer for you” The tears streamed from her eyes and fell on the image of an unusual crucifix resting near her heart with a hammer and pincers affixed to it. During the course of the long apparition our Lady spoke and walked with them. She gave them a public message and each child also received a private secret message that was to be revealed at a later time. The crucifix our Lady wore seemed to be alive, at times the image of our Lord was in agony, and at other times, he appeared motionless and dead.

When word of the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette finally reached Sr. Mary Peter she wrote again in thanksgiving: “I render thee thanks Divine Mother for having given me these two little shepherds as sounding trumpets, to cause the mountains to re-echo in the ears of France, that which was made known to me in solitude. The voices of my two little associates were soon heard over all the earth, and their announcements produced a great impression on mankind.”

Reflecting on Our Lady of La Sallete who was seated upon a rock weeping: May we say Our Lady was weeping over the church and her errant children whose sins are bringing upon themselves and the world God’s chastisement? When she finished giving Her message to them she departed Her final sorrowful glance as She left was east toward the direction of Rome. Through simple shepherd children in the apparitions of La Salette and Fatima, the Blessed Virgin rebukes the people for their impiety, manifested in their contempt for the commandments of God. May we also say that she not only wept over the sins of that time, but she also wept and continues to weep over the sins that we are committing today as well?

Rev. Michael Gasnier, O.P., in his study of "The Roses of the Apparition of La Salette", said: "Certain details even though they remain subordinate to the essential value of an apparition, have nevertheless, a proper signification. This signification has a bearing on the end of Mary's message, completing and interpreting it, and which, in consequence, should be considered separately. These particulars, when considered in their entire value, possess many a touching lesson. Not only do they give a greater comprehension of the inexhaustible mystery of the Apparition but they also permit one to advance more and more into the intentions and desires, and I would almost say, into the maternal psychology of Our Blessed Mother."

Meditating in the line of Providence once more, let us consider the La Salette crucifix in order to find its true significance outside of the obvious indication for the time of the Passion of Our Lord and Lent. Melanie said that: "The Lady had a very small chain to which was attached a crucifix: at the right, of the corpus were pincers and on the left, a hammer"

The hammer and pincers placed on either side of the cross, on which Jesus hanged crucified, have relations to the great mystery of the Crucifixion. Recall that Our Lord said that on His right would stand the blessed on the last day and on His left those destined for hell. It was the hammer that was used by the executioners charged with the task of crucifying Jesus. However, indirectly, it was moved also by all of us sinners of the earth. The hammer, therefore, was the instrument of God's enemies and of his enemies alone. 

Love destroyed the work of hate represented by the pincers which Joseph of Arimathea used to detach Jesus from the cross. Love will destroy the work accomplished by the hammer; and it was used only by the friends of Jesus.

Through our prayers and works of reparation we participate in the love that Joseph of Arimathea showed Our Lord when he took him off the cross. We also participate in the consolation that Veronica gave Our Lord when she wiped his bloody sweat from his face on his way to Calvary. 

The Holy Face Devotion forgotten 
During World War I 

Bl. Maria Pierina de Micheli 

Unfortunately, the Holy Face devotion was lost around World War I. Likely because of the sufferings of the time and lack of modern communication. Sometime just before the start of WWII from 1935-1945 our Lord came again to Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli, a holy nun from the Congregation of The Daughters of the Immaculate Conception. 

Our Lord chose her to give his second plea to the world for devotion to his Holy Face. He urged her in many visions to spread once again the devotion, in reparation for the many insults He suffered in His Passion. He told her he wanted reparation for the times he was slapped, spit upon and kissed by Judas, as well as for the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament through neglect, and sacrileges. Bl. Mother Pierina was beatified on Sunday, May 30, 2010 by Benedict XVI at the Basilica of St. Mary Major the first beatification ever held within its walls.

"Do you see how I suffer? The executioners crucified me on Good Friday, Christians crucify me on Sundays. I have given my heart as the sensible object of my great love to men and I give My Face as the sensible object of my sorrow for all the sins of men. I wish that my Face be venerated by a special feast every year on Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. I wish that the feast be preceded by a novena of nine days which the faithful make reparation with me, joining together and sharing in my sorrow."

“By My Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of numberless sinners. Nothing that you ask in making this offering will be refused you. According to the care you take in making reparation To My Face, disfigured by blasphemers, I will take care of yours, which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint on it My Image, and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the Baptismal Font.” 

                           Our Lord to Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli

                             

© Carmelite Monastery St. Therese,

Clinton Twp. MI

ArchConfraternity in U.S.A.

       What can we do?
Our Lord asked for a novena 9 days before Shrove Tuesday, however, the novena may be said any time there is a great need for reparation. One could also pray the novena nine days before Good Friday while walking with our Lord during his sufferings. However this year the significance of Shrove Tuesday with the Fatima Message and the Book of Ester we should have as many people as possible take part in this work of reparation.The novena this year begins on Sunday February 16th and ends February 24th the day before Shrove Tuesday. Here is the link for the Novena to the Holy Face. 
                   Link for the Novena to the Holy Face:
   https://www.holyface.org.uk/content/holyfacenovena.htm

1885 ArchConfraternity 

       For The Holy Face       

In the revelations to Sister Mary of St. Peter, Our Lord was very specific in stating the extreme importance of this devotion to his Holy Face for making reparation to God, for holding back the justice of God during the evils of the day, and for obtaining the resolution to all of the problems in our families. To His priests He promises He will defend them before His Father in Heaven and give them His kingdom if they, through words, prayers or writings, defend His cause in this work of "reparation." Pastors, therefore, and priests who desire to answer this call should endeavor, through regular procedure, to establish the Confraternity of the Holy Face in their parishes. Follow link how to establish confraternities:   http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/confraternity.htm

Addendums: 
The Public Message of La Salette

Similar to the Fatima Message, Our Lady also gave the children of La Salette a public message which was given told to the bishop and made public. After an initial period of investigation by the local authorities, the apparitions were declared to be worthy of belief in 1851 by the bishop of Grenoble. This legitimized devotion to Our Lady of 

La Salette.

At the same time Cardinal de Boland instructed, Melanie and Maximin to write down the content of the secrets, which were then sealed in envelopes and transmitted to Pope Pius IX. These secrets remain buried in the Vatican secret archives for nearly a century and a half, until they were finally unearthed by Fr Michel Corteville in 1999, who working together with Fr Rene Laurentin, eventually revealed the messages to the public in 2002 in their book Découverte du secret de La Salette, (Discovery of the Secret of La Salette, Fayard, 2002).” Read More…. http://unveilingtheapocalypse.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-lady-of-la-salette.html

The Secrets of La Salette

Time does not allow for a full expose on the various versions of the secrets in circulation on La Salatte. Which ones are authentic and which are not. In essence they all say the same thing with varying degrees of embellishment. It is too convoluted and will not serve our purpose here to address this except to say that there were secrets and they have been revealed. To correct these common misunderstandings of the La Salette secrets, it is essential to return to the original accounts, in their various versions, to distinguish the primitive version from later embellishments. This has become possible for the first time in over a century, thanks to the rediscovery of the original secrets submitted by the children directly to Pope Pius IX in 1851. They compared the authentic secrets to other versions that appeared over the years, and explain the relationship of these to the originals, thereby constructing a documentary history of the revelations of La Salette. Follow this link for details:  Public and Secret messages of La Sallette  http://www.arcaneknowledge.org/catholic/lasalette.htm

Controversies

We should not let the controversy over the secrets of La Salette detract from the importance of the message itself. It is a plea for men to stop offending God and for reparation. It is the same plea given at Fatima.

The Fatima Message also suffered similar controversies over the Collegial Consecration of Russia that detracted from the essence of the message. The people looked at what they thought the pope should have done instead of incorporating the Message of Penance into their daily lives. Where ever the Holy Spirit is poured out you can be sure the evil spirit will not be far causing confusion and divisions. His time is short. For us to argue over these opinions and it takes us away from doing the work of reparation and the devil wins. Some truths will only be known in Heaven.

Teaching the importance of personal reformation is what we need to accomplish this reawakening in the Church to the beauty and power of reparation contained in the devotions to the Holy Face. The spread and reawakening of this devotion may be the means used by God to help bring about the necessary reparation needed for the longed for Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

Addendum II  

A friend of mine who speaks fluent Latin wrote to remind me that the two calendars, (Hebrew and Gregorian) do not often line up. I sighed and thought; Ok Lord, she is not the only one who will have this observation, so I am back to the computer screen preparing another addendum.

I avoided the subject because of the time I needed to get this out before February 4th, the start of the Holy Face Novena and because It would have unduly lengthened an already long post if I brought out the  calendar variations. I also feared that some people would dismiss this as fancy imaginings, (putting things together on my part) and not look the post over with a prayerful discernment. I decided I would deal with the subject if it was brought up. It was and I expect there are others like my friend in the cyber world, so with Gods help here is the second addendum.

I was aware that the dates in the Hebrew Calendar and the Gregorian calendars do not often align. This is because the Hebrew calendar is Lunar while the western calendar (Gregorian) is Solar. Every four years the western calendar has to add a day ( 29th February ) leap year. This keeps the calendar in step with the Earth's progress around the Sun. The Hebrew calendar is about ten days short of a solar year, so every seven years they add an extra month. This ensures that the seasonal feasts keep to their correct season. This extra month is added at the end of the Jewish Year after the month of Adar II. The leap year month is called Adar I Purim must be celebrated in Adar II in a leap year, so Adar I is considered the "extra" month.

In current 2018 Hebrew calendar, the 13th of Adar falls on 1 March 2018, so the Jews will celebrate their Purim feast after sunset on 28 February 2018 (Wednesday of the second week of Lent).This day is celebrated as the Jewish Feast of Purim-"lots," in reference to the lots cast by Haman in choosing the day on which the Jewish People were to be slain (Esther 3.7-12). The chosen date was the 13th of Adar. The Month of Adar in the Holy Scriptures comprises in Esther: 09, 21.

Adar and Adar II Is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It occurs during anytime during February–March on the Gregorian calendar. Based on a line in the Mishnah declaring that Purim must be celebrated in Adar II in a leap year (Megillah 1:4), Adar I is always considered the "extra" Leap year month. The next Jewish leap year will be in 2020. Incidentally, the Jewish calendar is calculated from Creation and therefore needs no BC or AD. Jewish reference to the Western, Gregorian, calendar are CE or BCE; CE standing for Common Era and Before Common Era.

There are people who are exacting types and may dismiss the whole account just because Adar 13 and February 13 are not the exactly same day this year. So if I may make a plea in defense of God’s silent language in the unfolding of His Divine Providence. God knew in advance that the calendars would not line up every year when he sent Our Lady on the 13th of each month to Fatima for six months. He also knew the calendars would not align when God placed the star on Our Lady’s dress signifying her as a Jewish Princess/Queen. He also realized this when he called Sr. Lucia home on the February 13, 2005. Of all the days of the year to choose he chose this date, placing the final stamp implying that the Fatima Message and the Book of Ester are related

Finally, God foresaw that in 2018 the feast that He requested to honor His Holy Face would fall on Shrove Tuesday, February 13th. If God knowing that Adar 13 and February 13 would not always align. Why should we nitpick and just accept the implied reference? It should be enough for us that the timing of the all these events direct us to look at the Book of Ester and follow the example of Queen Ester in relation to the Fatima Message. 

What is indeed interesting to note that this year the Jewish Passover or Seder fall on March 30th, Good Friday, the same time it occurred when Our Lord was crucified.

Information in this post article was compiled from following links:

1887 Manuel of the Arch Confraternity of the Holy Face 

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/files/ManualoftheArchconfraternityoftheHolyFace.pdf

First Papal Brief (December 16, 1884)

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/papal_brief1.htm

Second Papal Brief (April 22nd, 1885)

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/papal_brief2.htm

Third Papal Brief (October 1, 1885)
http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/papal_brief3.htm

Indulgences granted

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/indulgences.htm

Photo Video of La Salette Shrine 5 min

https://youtu.be/VnMWvUmV-TA

The Life of Sr. Mary Peter, Carmelite of Tours

http://www.todayscatholicworld.com/life-of-sr-mary-st-peter-tours-holy-face.pdf

The Holy Face and connection with La Sallette

https://www.holyface.org.uk/content/srpierina.htm

Link for the Novena to the Holy Face

https://www.holyface.org.uk/content/holyfacenovena.htm

Closing Devotions

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/files/HFhandout3-updated.pdf

Another Novena to the Holy Face

http://www.catholictradition.org/Christ/golden-arrow.htm

Feast of the Holy Face on Shrove Tuesday

https://www.holyface.org.uk/content/holyfacefeast.htm

Devotion to the Holy Face Early revelation on Communism

History of devotion to The Holy Face an early revelation concerning communism.

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/timeline.htm

St Therese and Holy Face

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/files/HFhandout1.pdf

Holy Face Devotion and LaSallette

http://www.tcwblog.com/182861439

Various Versions of the Secret of LaSallette

http://unveilingtheapocalypse.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-lady-of-la-salette.html

The Crucifix of La Sallette

https://www.lasalette.org/about-la-salette/reconciliation/spirituality-and-charism/1824-the-crucifix-of-la-salette.html

Secrets of Lasalette.

http://www.arcaneknowledge.org/catholic/lasalette.htm

Our Lady's Apocalypse

http://www.catholicapologetics.info/catholicteaching/privaterevelation/lasalet.html

Seeking the Face of Christ during Lent
 http://speramus-hope.blogspot.com/2014/03/seeking-face-of-christ-during-lent.html

Holy Face Devotions Divine Remedy for our Post Christian Age
https://speramusposterous.wordpress.com/holy-face-devotion-defenders-of-the-holy-name-of-god/remedy-for-a-post-christian-age/

Seeking the Face of Christ during Lent

© Carmelite Monastery of St. Therese Light of Love League

"Hear my voice when I call O Lord and be merciful to me. Answer me when I call My heart says of you 'Seek his face!'

 Your face, Lord, I will seek." Psalm 27:7-8

 "Rejoice, My daughter; because a time approaches when the most beautiful work under the sun will be born." 
      Our Lord To Sister Mary of St. Peter

 

Jesus wanted a special Feast 

the day before Ash Wednesday 
 (Shrove Tuesday) in honor 
of His Holy Face

Lent is a good time to consider taking upon ourselves a spirit of reparation, for our sins and to help repair for the sins of our neighbor.

The Devotion to the Holy Face was approved by the church and Our Lord promised great blessings for those who would take up this devotion. 

”The treasure of My Holy Face in itself possesses such tremendous value

that through It ALL the affairs of My household can readily be settled.

1.   By offering My Face to My Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained.

2.   By My Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God and draw down mercy on sinners. All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica."

        Our Lord To Sr. Mary of St. Peter, Carmelite Nun of Tours, France, in favor of those who honor His Holy Face.

Our Lord us to repair primarily for sins 

against the First three commandments 

sins against  the majesty of God!

 

1. I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me. 

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain 

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day 

 The devotion to the Holy Face may also  be linked in God's line of 

Providence with the Apparition of Our Lady at LaSalette in France around 

1846.  Our Lady appeared there and gave the same reasons to Meline and for why Our Lord was going to 

punish Europe with Famine and pestilence.  I have included a reference 

on LaSalette towards the end of this post. 

With this in mind and seeing the state of the world today one should 
reflect seriously on the dangers we are in and heed Our Lords Call for 
reparation for sins against the commandments that directly attack the 
majesty of God. And heed the warnings Our Lady gave at LaSallette and 
Fatima with the final call from God by the Angel at Fatima for 
PENANCE!, PENANCE! Penance! Do make this Lent a good Lent.

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Devotions to the Holy Face and its Special Significance for this 2018 Lenten Season 

The novena prayer our Lord asked for before Shrove Tuesday may be 
said at any time, but especially in the nine days leading up to the Feast of the Holy Face on Shrove Tuesday.  However One may also begin the Novena on  Shrove Tuesday or anytime especially during Lent if you are just reading about this devotion. 

I have been so busy I plan to begin the Novena on Shrove Tuesday. I 
hope others will take up the spirit of Reparation with the novena and 
possibly joining the Arch-confraternity to the Holy Face details also later in the post.  Link for Novena Prayers 

History of the Holy Face Devotion

Sr Mary of St Peter holding Golden arrow

     
   The devotion had its beginnings in Tours, France around 1840, when a young Carmelite nun, named Sr. Mary of St Peter, received a series of revelations from Our  Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide-----the devotion to His Holy Face. The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of  "Revolutionary men" [the Communists] through whom God is allowing the world to be chastised for its unbelief. Also reparation for the blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians.  

OUR LORD’S REVELATIONS FOLLOWED 

BY 30 YEARS OF MIRACLES 

that attested to the truth and power of this devotion. It was universally practiced until a few years before World War I And then our Lord sent  this Mother once again to remind men of their obligations to God. This

time to Fatima!

Papal Briefs

On  August 8, 1843 Pope Gregory XVI promulgated a papal brief for the 

erection of a confraternity for the reparation of blasphemy against the 

Holy Name of God. Sister Mary reported that on the same day, while 

commencing  her evening prayer Jesus made her to understand that he 

would give her prayer of reparation, a "golden dagger" for blasphemy 

against his Holy Name Our Lord gave Sister Mary a short but powerful 
prayer  called' 'The Golden  Arrow," by which a person can "shoot directly into the   Heart of God" to heart the wounds inflicted on it by the malice of sinners.  An Arch-confraternity of the Holy Face was also established in Tours, France, in 1884; and its members make reparation for the blasphemies hurled at Christ.

THE “GOLDEN ARROW” PRAYER

Dictated by Our Lord to Sister 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.

After receiving this prayer, Sister Mary of St. Peter was given a vision in which she saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus delightfully wounded by this “Golden Arrow”, as torrents of graces streamed from it for the 

conversion of sinners. 

       Arch-Confraternity   to the Holy Face 

DEFENDERS OF THE HOLY NAME OF GOD

  

In 1885 Pope Leo XIII, by papal brief, established this devotion as an 

Arch-confraternity; and contrary to custom, immediately established it 

FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD.

In the United States the Arch-confraternity of the Holy Face is canonically erected at the Carmelite Monastery of St. Therese of the Child Jesus with the discalced Carmelite Nuns. 

You may write (don't Call) the Cloisterd Carmelite sisters for a brochure on Devotion to the Holy Face.   The Light of Love is kept burning there dayand  night before the likeness of the  Holy Face. Mass is offered each First Friday for members of the Light of Love.  

                  

Write the sisters to be enrolled in the "Light of Love"  

A donation to support their consecrated life will be joyfully accepted by 

the nuns who pray for their benefactors.

Carmelite Monastery of St.Therese

 357050 Moravian Dr.,  

Clinton Twp. MI 48035 

To stem the evils of our age
Reparation is Needed

 …Each day, in a spirit of REPARATION, members are to say one Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be To The Father, and the “Golden Arrow” prayer. On Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation ALL the prayers of reparation are to be said. 
     

 …Members must refrain from work on Sundays themselves, and do what is in their power to see that others stop all unnecessary servile work on the holy days of the Lord.

     
  …Members should wear a special cross with the words 
“Blessed be the Name of God”, on one side, and “Begone Satan!” on the reverse, which gives a special resourcefulness to conquer the demon of blasphemy.

    
   …Every time one hears a curse he should repeat the two short inscriptions on each side of the cross, and he will thus overcome the evil one, and render glory to God.

As requested by Our Lord Jesus Christ. These prayers are to be said on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, publicly (if possible), and preferably before the Blessed Sacrament or before the picture of the Holy Face.

Dear Lord, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I (we) offer Thee 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 Thy Holy Days of Obligation: One Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be To The Father

                

 Spread of the Devotion 

to the Holy Face

Almost 50 years later, another French Carmelite nun, Saint Therese of 
Lisieux wrote a number of poems and prayers in the 1890s that also 
helped spread the devotion to the Holy Face.

  This was also the favorite devotion of St. 

Theresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy 

Face1885-1897:She has said that the 

suffering, wounded Face of her dear Jesus

was the foundation of all her piety. At the 

age of twelve, St. Theresa and her whole 

family registered as members of the 

Arch-confraternity of Reparation to the 
Holy Face in Tours, France. Pope St. Pius X 
called St. Theresa “The greatest Saint of 
modern times”. She was so devoted to this devotion to the Holy Face that she added the title to her name at the time she took the habit. 

This is why you will often see St. Therese 

referred to as St. Therese of the Child 

Jesus "and of the Holy Face" Since St. 

Therese's devotion to the Holy Face has 

become known, this devotion has spread 

worldwide  

   

    
   In the 1930s, an Italian nun, Bl. Maria Pierina De Micheli associated the image of the Holy Face of Jesus from the Shroud of Turin with the devotion and made the first Holy Face Medal. The first Holy Face Medal was offered to Pope Pius XII who accepted it and approved the  devotion in 1958 and declared the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus as Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) for all Roman Catholics.

"The executioners crucified me 

on Friday Christians 

Crucify me on Sunday!"

"The Savior made me understand that His justice was greatly irritated against mankind for its sins but particularly for those that directly outrage the Majesty of God – that is, Communism, Atheism, cursing, and the desecration of Sundays and the Holy Days. He said: 'The executioners crucified me on Friday Christians Crucify me on Sunday!'"

 “Our Lord then made me see that this frightful sin  of Blasphemy 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…How many TV shows blaspheme the Holy Name of God and we think nothing of it?

These are the principal sins which in modern times are provoking the 
anger of God. These were also the sins that Our Lady warned of at  
LaSallett in 1846. In God's providence Our Lady appeared and warned
the and the world church at the same time Our Lord was giving the 
against Blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays to St Mary Peter of 
Tours in 1840s.

Enter Our Lady of  La Salette
and the Holy Face?

In 1846, Sr Mary of St, Peter was still receiving revelations
on the Holy Face from our Lord when Our Lady appeared at LaSalette, France in 1846

Our Lady weeping while sitting on a rock
representing the rock of Peter the church

Not widely known or considered in church circles LaSalette is undoubtedly the most controversial of the Church-approved Marian apparitions. Foretelling future calamities for the Church and World  at that time and into the future coming of the antichrist if men did not amend their lives! 
Here Our Lady  echoed the very same concerns that Our Lord told to Sr. Mary of St. Peter in Tours France. Namely  that she could no longer hold the arm of her son back from chastising humanity because  of  the profanation of Sundays and taking the Lord’s name in vain.  

 “ I gave you six days to work, I kept the seventh for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much. Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the name of my Son in the middle. These are the two things which weigh down the arm of my Son so much."
                                          
The Punishments predicted at LaSalette are all in consequence for the lapse of Catholic's  and Christians in the practice of the faith!  She foretold also a time after the Fatima Message and the appearance of the antichrist. The secrets given the children of LaSalette are called today "Our Lady's Apocalypse"  

 At the time the church did not accept the messages of  MELANIE CALVAT and MAXIMIN GIRAUD the children who she appeared to. Their message was to hard to speak or even think about. It was to hard to accept the corruption of the clergy and the means of the appearance of the anti-Christ on earth. But today after the scandals and betrayals by the clergy we see the message is for our day.  Melanie suffered very much  as she witnessed to the truth of her experience. She persevered almost alone to the end. The cause for Melanie has been introduced at Rome. I will never forget my impression of reading the secrets. How Our Lady turned and gazed towards Rome for a long while in silence before she disappeared.   

Also See: Our Lady of Knock, LaSalette and Fatima a Hidden Mystery in Providence!
                                         "Our Lady's Apocalypse"
  

   Famine Foretold at LaSalette

The Virgin Mary at LaSallette predicted that the harvest would completely fail. In December 1846, most of the popular crops were disease stricken, and in 1847 a famine hit Europe which resulted in the loss of approximately one million lives, including one hundred thousand in France alone. Cholera became prevalent in various parts of France and claimed the lives of many children. The demise of the Second French Republic with the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) and the communist uprising of the Paris Commune of 1871 were also predicted.

Concerning the Church Hierarchy

Concerning the Church, Our Lady at LaSalatte predicted that Catholic faith in France and the world, within the civilian population as in the Catholic hierarchy of priests and bishops would diminish greatly because of many sinful acts from laity and clergy. Wars and tribulations would occur if mankind did not repent, and the total destruction of the cities of Paris and Marseille would occur near the end. France the eldest daughter of the church! At Fatima Our Lady predicted the annihilation of many nations Humanity was warned, through the secret message delivered to Mélanie, for the coming of the Antichrist and the end of times. To Maximin, she supposedly predicted the conversion of England in the final phase of the apocalypse!   The message has so much bearing for this time I provide a link for it to be read in its entirety!

                                    
Sr. Pierina, died in 1945, was given many visions through Our Blessed Lady who appeared to her, as did Our Lord Jesus. They urged her to make reparation for the many insults Jesus suffered in His Passion, to his holy face such as to be slapped, spit upon and kissed by Judas, as well as now being dishonored in many ways in the Blessed Sacrament by neglect, sacrileges, and profanations. 

She was  also given a medal which on one side bore a replica of the Holy Shroud and the inscription: "Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos."O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us. On the reverse side was a radiant host with the words: "Mane nobiscum, Domine." Stay with us, O Lord. After great difficulties, Sr. Pierina obtained permission to have the medal cast. Even the expenses for the casting were miraculously met when she found on her desk an envelope with the exact amount of the bill-----11,200 lire.  The Evil Spirit showed his chagrin and rage at the medals by flinging them down and burning the pictures of the Sacred Face, and beating the nun savagely. 

I have given My heart as a sensible object of 
My great love for man, and I give My  Face as a 
sensible object of My sorrow for the sins of man.

“I will that My Face, which reflects the intimate pains of My Spirit, the suffering 

and the love of My Heart, be more honored. He who meditates upon Me 

consoles Me."  

“Every time my Face is 

contemplated I will pour 

out my love into the heart of those persons, and by means of my Holy Face the salvation of many will be obtained”.

PROMISES OF OUR LORD JESUS

To Sr. Mary of St. Peter, Carmelite Nun of Tours, France, in favor of those who honor His Holy Face.

1.      By offering My Face to My Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained.

2.      By My Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God and draw down mercy on sinners.

3.      All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica.

4.      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.

5.      Those who by words, prayers or writing defend My cause in the Work of Reparation, especially My priests, I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom.

6.      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.

7.      Those who on earth contemplate the wounds of My Face shall in Heaven behold it radiant with glory.

8.      They will receive in their souls a bright and constant irradiation of My Divinity, that by their likeness to My Face they shall shine with particular splendor in Heaven.

9.      I will defend them, I will preserve them and I assure them of Final Perseverance.

 The following link you may obtain more information on this devotion http://holyfacedevotion.com/  and download a pamphlet http://holyfacedevotion.com/pamphlet.htm  that has been printed in an attempt to revive this extremely important devotion to the Holy Face of Christ, which He wants to last until the end of time.

                                               

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