We invite you to join us in making a Novena to the Holy Face of Jesus.
In revealing this devotion, Our Lord specifically requested a feast day on the Tuesday in Quinquagesima week. This day is historically known as Shrove Tuesday; it is the day before Ash Wednesday. It is widely known as the high point of “Carnival” or “Mardi Gras.” Sadly, it is a day when many people give in to an excess of the passions, committing many sins under a certain ‘social acceptance.’ Thus, it makes perfect sense that Our Lord requested from faithful Catholics who love Him to convert this into a Day of Reparation.
Our Lord also requested that this liturgical feast be preceded by a novena. This time of prayer is a way to counterbalance the carnal indulgences of worldlings. In this 2024th Year of Our Lord, the ideal dates for the novena are Sunday, February 4 through Monday, February 12 (the Feast of Saints Jacinta and Francisco). However, it is laudable to pray this novena at any time of the year. So if you did not begin it on February 4th, why not simply make the resolution to begin it today? It is never ‘too late’ to pray.
This beautiful novena to the Holy Face – a devotion requested by Our Lord Himself, with a corresponding Feast established throughout the universal Church in 1958 by Pope Pius XII,[1] to be observed on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday – is a beautiful and precious opportunity to make reparation for the outrages that the Holy Face of Jesus received during His Passion, and which He continues to receive daily in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Download the Novena here:
⇒ Novena in Honor of the Holy Face of Jesus ⇐
Read more about the origins and practice of two common devotions of reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus here:
Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus of the Shroud of Turin and the Veil of Veronica.
[1] Regrettably, this feast – along with so many other glorious feasts – was shortly thereafter eliminated under the new liturgical calendar which accompanied the new order (novus ordo) of the Mass.