February 4th to 13th, 2018 – Novena of the Holy Face

Hear my voice, LORD, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me. “Come,” says my heart, “seek God’s Face”, your Face, LORD, do I seek! Do not hide your Face from me… (Psalm 26: 7-9)

“Does my soul thirst for the living God when I see His Face? I would like my daughters – and the devotees – to stand out in practical, loving, generous ardor in honoring the HOLY FACE of our JESUS, grieving for the sins of men … of all sins… of our sins… but especially of those who should be His most intimate friends. What will we do? If we look deeply into that divine Face, it will speak to us in the heart, we will participate in the most bitter pains, and it will tell us what to do: ‘At least you console Me, say that you love Me, that you will be all Mine.’ Let us enter with Jesus into the Garden of Olives and contemplate with love and compunction the pains of His Heart, in His Holy Face.  Let us join the Divine Victim, offering ourselves on all the altars of the world to be with HIM true  souls who make reparation, in union with the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the first Repairer.” –Bl. Mother Maria Pierina De Micheli writing about a Novena to the Holy Face.

Bl. Mother Pierina was born in Milan, Italy, in 1890. She had mystical experiences since her childhood. She became a Daughter of the Immaculate Conception Nun and was sent to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1915, then returned to Italy in 1921. In 1936, during night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on the first Friday of Lent, she received a messages from Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, telling her to spread devotion to His Holy Face. At that time she was told to have medals made with the image of the Face of the Shroud of Turin on one side and a radiant Host on the other. The words on the medal read, “Illumina Domine Vultum Tuum Super Nos” (“May, Lord, the light of Your Countenance shine upon us”) on the front and “Mane Nobiscum Domine”(Stay with us Lord”) on the reverse. It was this medal of the Holy Face that inspired Pope St. John Paul II to dedicate the millennium to the Holy Face of Jesus.

Our Lord told Mother Pierina:

“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 upon it My Image, and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the Baptismal Fount. I promise personal and spiritual protection to all who venerate this (Holy Face) medal.”

The Blessed Mother also requested the sanctification of Tuesdays by making a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and that a special feast be instituted in honor of the Holy Face on “Shrove Tuesday” which is the Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday. On that day “we should make expiation for our own sins and the sins of others who dishonor the Sacred Face of Jesus by their ingratitude and sinful lives.”

“Do you see how I suffer? Yet, very few understand me. Those who say they love me are very ungrateful! 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 the sins of men. I wish that it be venerated by a special Feast on Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. I wish that the feast be preceded by a novena in which the faithful make reparation with Me, joining together and sharing in my sorrow.” –Words of Our Lord to Bl. Mother Maria Pierina de Micheli

Our Lord referred to the work of reparation to the Holy Face as “The most beautiful work under the sun!” which He revealed as being destined to be the means of defeating atheistic Communism and restoring peace to the world.

“No one gives me a kiss of love on My Face to make amends for the Kiss of Judas.” –Our Lord to Bl. Mother Pierina De Micheli

Bl. Mother Pierina implored her sisters to make a novena, preceding the Feast of the Holy Face on Shrove Tuesday, with all the fervor of their hearts. Please join in this year’s Holy Face Novena, which will be posted each day on this site (and may also be found on the Novena tab above), beginning Sunday, February 4th and continuing to Tuesday, February 13th, which is the Feast of the Holy Face.

“I wish that my Face, which reflects the intimate sorrow of my soul, and the suffering and love of my Heart, be better honoured. He who contemplates me consoles me.” –Our Lord to Bl. Mother Pierina

“Oh Savior Jesus, who didst will that reparation should be as public and universal as had been the offense, penetrate us with the true spirit of reparation. Give us the grace to love Thy Divine Face, to make it known and loved by the whole world, in order that it may be to us a source of light and means of salvation. Amen. ” ~ Prayer of Blessed Mother Maria Pierina De Micheli

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UPDATE: 

Amazing painting recovered after the Amtrice Earthquake points to the Manoppello Veil of the Holy Face

Detail of 16 – 17th Century oil painting on canvas depicting the Ecstasy of St. Francis before the Holy Face Veil. The painting was saved from the ruins of the Church of San Francesco in Accumoli, Italy, which was destroyed in the August, 2016 Amatrice earthquake. (photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)