The Holy Face of Jesus is a title for specific images which some

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

believe to be miraculously formed representations of the face of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The image obtained from the

Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...

is associated with a specific medal worn by some Roman Catholics and is also one of the Catholic devotions to Christ.Ann Ball, ''Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices'' 2003 pages 635 and 239 Various

acheiropoieta ''Acheiropoieta'' (Medieval Greek: , "made without hand"; singular ''acheiropoieton'') — also called icons made without hands (and variants) — are Christian icons which are said to have come into existence miraculously; not created by a huma ...

(literally "not-handmade") items relating to Christ have been reported throughout the centuries, and devotions to the face of Jesus have been practiced. Devotions to the Holy Face were approved by Pope

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in 1895 and Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...

in 1958. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Holy Face of Jesus is used in conjunction with

Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as '' acts of reparation'' for insults and blasphemies against Jesus Christ and the Holy Name of Jesus. These include the sufferings during the Passion of Jesus. Similar prayers as '' Act ...

with specific institutions whose focus is such reparations, e.g. the Pontifical Congregation of the

Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face The Pontifical Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face is a Roman Catholic order whose focus is providing Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. History In 1950, the Venerable Abbot Hildebrand Gregori formed th ...

. In his address to this Congregation,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

referred to such acts of reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified".Vatican website: ''Letter of Pope John Paul II to Sister of the Reparation of the Holy Face'', 27 September 2000

The Veronica

Claude Mellan - Face of Christ - WGA14764

Belief in the existence of authentic images of Christ is connected with the old legend of

Abgar of Edessa Abgar V (c. 1st century BC - c. AD 50), called Ukkāmā (meaning "the Black" in Syriac and other dialects of Aramaic),, syr, ܐܒܓܪ ܚܡܝܫܝܐ ܐܘܟܡܐ, ʾAḇgar Ḥmīšāyā ʾUkkāmā, hy, Աբգար Ե Եդեսացի, Abgar Hingero ...

regarding the "

Mandylion According to Christian tradition, the Image of Edessa was a holy relic consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of Jesus had been imprinted—the first icon ("image"). The image is also known as the M ...

", and the

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

writing known as the , Acts of Pilate, regarding the "veil of Veronica".Dégert, Antoine. "St. Veronica", The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 9 April 2017 The oldest and best known of these images was called the ''vera icon'' (true image), which in ordinary language became known as "veronica". According to tradition Veronica encountered Jesus along the

Via Dolorosa The ''Via Dolorosa'' (Latin, 'Sorrowful Way', often translated 'Way of Suffering'; ar, طريق الآلام; Hebrew: ויה דולורוזה) is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus would have t ...

on the way to Calvary. When she paused to wipe the blood and sweat off his face with her veil, his image was imprinted on the cloth. The story is not recorded in its present form until the Middle Ages. The event is commemorated by the Sixth Station of the Cross.

Sr. Marie of St Peter

In 1844 Sister

Marie of St Peter Mary of Saint Peter (french: link=no, Marie de Saint-Pierre; 4 October 1816 – 8 July 1848) was a Discalced Carmelite nun who lived in Tours, France. She is best known for starting the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus which is now one of t ...

, a

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

nun in Tours, France, reported an

interior locution An interior locution is a mystical concept used by various religions. An interior locution is a form of private revelation, but is distinct from an apparition, or religious vision. An interior locution may be defined as "A supernatural communicati ...

in which Jesus told her, ''"''Those who will contemplate the wounds on My Face here on earth, shall contemplate it radiant in heaven.''"''Ann Ball, ''Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices'' 2003 pages 209-210 She later reported further "communications", as she termed them, with Jesus and the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

in which she was urged to spread the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, in reparation for the many insults Jesus suffered in his Passion. Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus started to spread among Roman Catholics in France.Joan Carroll Cruz, OCDS, ''Saintly Men of Modern Times'' (2003) pages 194-197

Leo Dupont

Leo Dupont Venerable Leo Dupont (24 January 1797 – 18 March 1876), also known as ''"The Holy Man of Tours,"'' or the "Apostle of the Holy Face", was a Catholic who helped spread various Catholic devotions such as that of the Holy Face of Jesus and night ...

was a religious man from a noble family who had moved to

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

. In 1849 he had started the nightly Eucharistic Adoration movement in Tours, from where it spread within France. He later came to be known as the "Holy Man of Tours". Upon hearing of Sister

’s reported visions, he started to burn a vigil lamp continuously before a picture of the Holy Face of Jesus, at that time an image based on the

Veil of Veronica The Veil of Veronica, or (Latin for sweat-cloth), also known as the Vernicle and often called simply the Veronica, is a Christian relic consisting of a piece of cloth said to bear an image of the Holy Face of Jesus produced by other than human ...

. Dupont prayed for and promoted the case for a devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus for around 30 years. But the documents pertaining to the life of sister Marie of St. Peter and the devotion were kept by the Church and not released. Yet Dupont persisted. Eventually, in 1874 Charles-Théodore Colet was appointed as the new Archbishop of

. Archbishop Colet examined the documents and in 1876 gave permission for them to be published and the devotion encouraged, shortly before Dupont died. Dupont was thereafter at times referred to as the

Apostle of the Holy Face Venerable Leo Dupont (24 January 1797 – 18 March 1876), also known as ''"The Holy Man of Tours,"'' or the "Apostle of the Holy Face", was a Catholic who helped spread various Catholic devotions such as that of the Holy Face of Jesus and night ...

. When Leo Dupont died in 1876, his house on Rue St. Etienne in Tours was purchased by the Archdiocese of Tours and turned into the

Oratory of the Holy Face The Oratory of the Holy Face is a Roman Catholic oratory in Tours France. It was originally established on the Rue St. Etienne, in the former home of Venerable Leo Dupont who did much to promote devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. The Oratory wa ...

. The oratory is administered by an order of priests called the Priests of the Holy Face, canonically erected in 1876. The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus was approved by Pope

in 1885, who expressed a desire to establish a similar oratory in Rome.'' Relics by Joan Carroll Cruz (Sep 1984)

OSV Press Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a Catholic Church, Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana, Huntington, Indiana, which prints the United States, American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic Periodical lite ...

, page 57 This was eventually opened in the Via Pietro Cavallini in 1891 and administered by the Priests, but was demolished in subsequent redevelopment.

Thérèse of Lisieux

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (french: Thérèse de Lisieux ), born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (), was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite ...

was a French nun who received the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

habit in 1889 and later became known by the religious name "St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face". She was introduced to the Holy Face devotion through her blood sister Pauline, Sister Agnès of Jesus. Thérèse wrote many prayers to express the devotion to the Holy Face. She wrote the words "Make me resemble you, Jesus!" on a small card and attached a stamp of the Holy Face to it. She pinned the prayer in a small container over her heart since at that time the Holy Face Medal did not exist. In August 1895, in her "Canticle to the Holy Face" she wrote: "Jesus, Your ineffable image is the star which guides my steps. Ah, You know, Your sweet Face is for me Heaven on earth. My love discovers the charms of Your Face adorned with tears. I smile through my own tears when I contemplate Your sorrows." Thérèse also composed the ''Holy Face prayer for sinners'': "Eternal Father, since Thou hast given me for my inheritance the adorable Face of Thy Divine Son, I offer that face to Thee and I beg Thee, in exchange for this coin of infinite value, to forget the ingratitude of souls dedicated to Thee and to pardon all poor sinners.

Shroud of Turin

A broader devotion to the Holy Face is based on the image used on the

which some believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus. It is different from the likeness of Jesus on the Veil of Veronica, although the veil image had earlier been used in devotions. Since the Holy Face image is said to have been obtained from the burial cloth of Jesus, it is assumed to be a post-

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

image. However, the likeness on the

is by definition pre-crucifixion, for it is assumed to have been imprinted when Veronica encountered Jesus in Jerusalem along the

on the way to

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...

. Although the Shroud of Turin has been publicly displayed by Roman Catholics at least since the 16th century, the faint image of the Holy Face on it cannot be clearly seen with the naked eye and was only observed with the advent of photography. In 1898, amateur Italian photographer

Secondo Pia Secondo Pia (9 September 1855 – 7 September 1941) was an Italian lawyer and amateur photographer. He is best known for taking the first photographs of the Shroud of Turin on 28 May 1898 and, when he was developing them, noticing that the phot ...

was startled by the negative of the image in his darkroom as he was developing the first photograph of the shroud. The happenstance by which Secondo Pia received the King’s approval to attempt the first photograph of the Shroud for an exhibition was unusual in its own right. And Pia later said that on the evening of May 28, 1898, he almost dropped and broke the photographic plate in the darkroom from the shock of seeing the image of a face on the Shroud (for the first time ever) that could not have been clearly observed with the naked eye. Hence devotions to the Holy Face prior to that year relied on earlier images, based on paintings of the Veil of Veronica.

Maria Pierina De Micheli

On the first Friday in Lent 1936, Sister

Maria Pierina Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli (11 September 1890 – 26 July 1945) was a Roman Catholic religious Sister who was born near Milan in Italy. She is best known for her association with the Holy Face of Jesus (one of the Catholic devotions) and fo ...

De Micheli, who was born near

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy, reported a vision in which Jesus told her: ''“''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''”''. Further reported

visions of Jesus and Mary Since the Crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary, a number of people have claimed to have had visions of Jesus Christ and personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding his mother, Mary, who is often known as the Virgin Mary. ...

urged Sister Maria Pierina to make a medal with the Holy Face of Jesus. This became known as the Holy Face Medal. On one side the medal bears a replica of the Holy Face image from

and an inscription based on Psalm 66:2: "''Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos''", i.e. ''"''May, O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us''"''. On the other side of the medal there is an image of a radiant Sacred Host, the monogram of the Holy Name ("IHS"), and the inscription "''Mane nobiscum, Domine''" i.e. ''"''Stay with us, O Lord''"''. In another vision, Sister Maria Pierina reported that Jesus told her: ''“''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 souls will be obtained''”''. She further reported that Jesus wanted a special Feast on the day before Ash Wednesday in honor of His Holy Face, to be preceded by a

Novena A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pen ...

(9 days) of prayers. After some effort Sister

managed to obtain permission to cast the medal and its use started to grow in Italy. As

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

started, many soldiers and sailors were given a Holy Face Medal as a means of protection. Sister Maria Pierina herself died in 1945 at the end of the war. In 2000 Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

stated that the inscription "''Illumina, Domine, Vultum tuum super nos''" on the Holy Face Medal underscores the need for deeper reflection on the Face of Jesus and the spread of devotion to it.

Vatican approval and Feast Day

The first medal of the Holy Face was offered to

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

who approved of the devotion and the medal. In 1958 he formally declared the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus as

Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), observed in many Christian countries through participating in confession and absolution, the ritual burning of the previous year's Holy Week palms, finalizing one's Lenten s ...

(the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) for all Roman Catholics. On the occasion of the 100th year of

's (May 28, 1898) first photograph of the

, on Sunday May 24, 1998, Pope

visited the Turin Cathedral. In his address on that day, he said:"the Shroud is an image of God's love as well as of human sin" and "it is an icon of the suffering of the innocent in every age." The Holy Face devotion and the Holy Face Medal spread among Roman Catholics worldwide, with organizations such as the Holy Face Association.

Theological analysis

In his 2005 book ''On the Way to Jesus Christ'',

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

performed an analysis of Holy Face devotions, and characterized them as having three separate components.''On the Way to Jesus Christ'' by Pope Benedict XVI and Michael J. Miller (October 8, 2005) pages 28-30 The first element is discipleship, and the orientation of one's life towards an encounter with Jesus. The second element is seeing Jesus in the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. The third element is eschatological, and is interwoven between the other two. Referring to Matthew 25:31-36 Benedict XVI stated that the first element (i.e. discipleship) involves seeing Jesus in the face of the poor and the oppressed, and caring for them, but to properly see Jesus in the face of those in need, believers first need to become better acquainted with Jesus through the Eucharist. The second element involves relating the Passion of Jesus, and the suffering expressed by the images that represent his wounded face to the Eucharistic experience. Thus the devotion that starts with the images of the face of Jesus leads to his contemplation in the Eucharistic experience. The eschatological element then builds on awakening to Christ by contemplating his face in the Eucharist.

Institute for Holy Face research

The International Institute for Research on the Face of Christ was formed in 1997 by Cardinal

Fiorenzo Angelini Fiorenzo Angelini (1 August 1916 – 22 November 2014) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers in the Roman Curia, and was elevate ...

and the

in Rome. In his message to the 6th annual conference of the Institute held in Rome in October 2002, Pope John Paul II emphasized the spiritual importance of contemplation of the Face of Christ and referred to his Apostolic Letter '' Novo Millennio Ineunte'' which stated:Vatican website: ''Novo Millennio Ineunte'', January 6, 2001
:And is it not the Church's task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make his face shine also before the generations of the new millennium? Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated his face. In the same message John Paul II also related the theme of the contemplation to that of contemplating the

Person of Christ In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...

as discussed in his first encyclical ''

Redemptor hominis ''Redemptor hominis'' (Latin: ''The Redeemer of Man'') is the name of the first encyclical written by Pope John Paul II. It lays a blueprint for his pontificate in its exploration of contemporary human problems and especially their proposed solut ...

''.

Notes

Sources

*Joan Carroll Cruz, ''Saintly Men of Modern Times.'' (2003) *Dorothy Scallan. ''The Holy Man of Tours.'' (1990) *Dorothy Scallan, et al. 1994 ''The Life & Revelations of Sr. Mary of St. Peter'' *Bernard Ruffin, 1999, ''The Shroud of Turin'' *Céline Martin. ''My Sister Therese of the Holy Face.'' (1997)

External links

The Holy Face Association

International Institute for Research on the Holy Face

Capuchin Monastery devoted to "Volto-Santo"

St. Therese of Lisieux and the Holy Face of Jesus

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holy Face Of Jesus Visions of Jesus and Mary Christian terminology Jesus in art