History
The Holy Face of God is mentioned 840 times in Scripture and His Countenance is mentioned 101 times.[1] The Psalms of King David are rich with the word Face and this context brings lively devotion to the Holy Face. At the Nativity, humanity had the first glimpse of the Face of God in the little child Jesus. Saints throughout the ages of the Church have poetically commented on the Face of God. Moses and many saints[2] manifested rays from their faces to promote the Kingdom of God. In the 1840’s a humble Carmelite Nun in Tours, France received intellectual visions[3] from Jesus describing His desire for His Face to be the object of a new crusade not to defend the Holy Land but to defend the Most Holy Name of God. In this mystical combat Our Lord Jesus asked this Sister Marie de St. Pierre to cross swords with the communists to fight against the prospects of world slavery. Our Lord told Sister that He wanted clients or devotees to His Holy Face to turn the instruments used to torture Him in His Passion toward the scourge of revolutionary men: the Cross, Spear, Crown of Thorns, Pillar, Shroud, the Dice, the Nails, etc.
The Sacred Congregation of Rites under Pope St. Pius X granted permission for the Mass of the Holy Face of Jesus in the Decreta, vol. 1910, p. 189a. On April 17, 1958, Ven. Pope Pius XII extended the devotion by approving the observance of the Feast of the Holy Face on Shrove Tuesday (Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). A copy of the missal insert can be found at https://www.martinians.org/mass-of-the-holy-face.
Practical Application
Who is the most powerful creature armed to fight against the malice of revolutionary men? It is the priest. St. John Marie Vianney mentioned that if we knew the power of the priest we would weep with joy. Before the Holy Week changes to the Latin Rite in 1955, priests had the option on low feast days[4] to add extra collects at the Holy Sacrifice. They were akin the petitions said in the Novus Ordo. When priests are allowed to add collects ad libitum eligenda[5] they may insert the collects found in pre-1962 missals in the section titled: pro aliquibus locis[6] especially to honor the private revelations that Jesus gave to Sister Marie de St. Pierre to fire the instruments of the passion at the demonic kingdom and their agents. These collects include: the Holy Face[7], Prayer in the Garden, Crown of Thorns, Sacred Lance & Nails, the Holy Shroud, the Five Wounds, the Most Precious Blood, etc.
Conclusion
In God’s design, it is through adversity that souls merit—He loves to see a good fight to preserve His honor. The true subject of Christ the King makes vengeance on those who say the Lord’s name in vain by making reparation, one of the ends of sacrifice. Moses went on top of the hill when the Israelites fought against Amalec.
“And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame. And Moses’ hands were heavy: so they took a stone, and put it under him and he sat on it and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands were not weary until sunset. And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword.”[8]
The Church is a sleeping giant. We can awaken her with a spirit of reparation by supporting the hands of priests. Imagine the instruments of the Passion being flung from the hands of the priest in the orans position into the camp of the enemy. Saying Mass reverently, like the Mass of the Holy Face, can defeat the scourge of revolutionary men. The source and summit of our faith is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is a reverent Mass that can strike against the impending darkness and mitigate the punishment that God is currently sending us. Read The Secret of the Holy Face to learn more of how to join ranks with the elite army of Our Lady of the Holy Name[9] of God and join the mounting attack on the revolutionists whose desire is to enslave the world.
The Mass of the Holy Face is the perfect counter to the paganization of Mardi Gras and gluttony that is pervasive in our times on Shrove Tuesday. Catholics of the past during Lent would fast from eggs, lard, etc., so this day was set aside before Ash Wednesday to eat the remaining food forbidden during Lent and not let it go to waste.
St. Michael, St. Martin, St. Louis, orate pro nobis!
[1] Carney, Fr. Lawrence, The Secret of the Holy Face: The Devotion Destined to Save Society (Gastonia: Tan Books, 2022), p. 17.
[2] Padre Pio’s face, “…assumed an unearthly beauty…” Ruffin, C. Bernard, Padre Pio the True Story (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc, 1982), p. 83.
[3] “From St. Theresa, St. John of the Cross, and other mystical and spiritual writers, Fra [St. Padre] Pio learned to speak of three separate types of visions: the bodily, the imaginative, and the intellectual.” Ruffin, C. Bernard, Padre Pio the True Story (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc, 1982), p. 50. Theologians argue that intellectual visions are the highest of the three because the soul sees Jesus more clearly than one man sees another as described by the mystic Angelo of Foligno (1248-1309).
[4] Ferial and Simple Feasts required priests to say three collects at Mass with the option of five or even up to seven.
[5] At their discretion.
[6] For other locations.
[7] Let God arise, and let His enemies by scattered: and let them that hate Thee flee from before His Face. (Ps. lxvii, v. 2).
[8] Ex. xvii, 11-13.
[9] Sr. Marie de St. Pierre was told by Jesus that we do well to beg her to be our general in this mystical combat.
