Popular devotion February 9Devotion · Tuesday before Ash Wednesday

The Holy Face of Jesus

Devotion to the suffering Face of Christ, in reparation for sin, kept on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. In 2027: February 9.

El Greco and workshop, The Holy Face. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Who was The Holy Face of Jesus?

Christians have long contemplated the Face of Jesus: the veil of Veronica, the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Face of Manoppello. In the 1840s Sister Mary of Saint Peter, a Carmelite of Tours, France, promoted devotion to the Holy Face in reparation for blasphemy, and the Venerable Leo Dupont, "the holy man of Tours", spread it widely. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux took the religious name "of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face".

The devotion is kept on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, a day of reparation before Lent. It is movable: in 2027 it falls on February 9, and in 2028 on February 29. The Holy Face medal, spread by Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli in the 1930s, carries the words "Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos".

Feast day and traditions

Many people pray the Litany of the Holy Face and the Golden Arrow prayer, and wear the Holy Face medal as a sign of love and reparation. In Italy the shrine of Manoppello draws pilgrims to see the mysterious veil.

It is a good day to go to confession and prepare the heart for Lent.

Prayer

Holy Face of Jesus, disfigured for my sins, I adore you and console you. Let your light shine upon us, and let me see your face in every person I meet. Amen.

Novena

To pray a novena that ends on the eve of the feast, begin on January 31 and finish on February 8.

Mass readings

Read the Mass readings for February 9 from the US bishops (USCCB).

Open readings →

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We'll remind you of the feast

Get an email before February 9 with the saint's story, prayer and a greeting ready to send.

Celebrate as a family

Look together at an image of the Holy Face in silence for one minute, then ask each person whose face they will try to see Jesus in this week.

Wish someone a happy feast day

Send a greeting with this saint's story and prayer.