Mary Frances Lester - Devotion to the Holy Face

Devotion to the Holy Face

Nihil Obstat:	Philippus Abbas Neo-Angelo Montanus
Imprimatur:	Carolus Hubertus Episcopus Sancti Josephi

Originally published at Clyde, Missouri. 3rd Edition, 1934; 83,000. Retypeset and republished by TAN Books, an Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC, in 2010.

Cover illustration: St. Veronica (oil on canvas), Reni, Guido (1575-1642), Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia/The Bridgeman Art Library International

Cover design: Sebrina Higdon

TAN Books

Charlotte, North Carolina

www.TANBooks.com
2012

O Jesus, Who in Thy cruel Passion didst become the Reproach of men and the Man of Sorrows, I worship Thy Divine Face.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus

E TERNAL Father, we offer Thee the Adorable Face of Thy Well-Beloved Son for the honor and glory of Thy Holy Name and for the salvation of all men.

Blessed Pope Pius IX

Contents

Chapter 1

Merits Derived from Meditating On the Passion of Christ

T HE devotion to the Passion of Our Lord and Saviour is, of all forms of Catholic devotion, the most ancient, the most venerable, the most universal. Jesus Himself has written the remembrance of His Passion deep into the hearts of His faithful. In order to imprint most deeply in our souls the remembrance of His Sacred Passion, Christ instituted Holy Mass, the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

For what reason did Jesus leave the impression of His bloody and disfigured Countenance on the cloth that Veronica presented to Him? Why did He take care to have the instruments of His Passion preserved, such as the Cross, the nails, the crown of thorns and the winding sheet? Was it not that we should keep vividly before us the remembrance of His bitter Passion?

Tauler, one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages, says: Once when a venerable servant of God asked Our Lord what a man merited who exercised himself devoutly in meditating upon His Passion, Christ answered: By such meditation he merits:

1. To be cleansed from his sins.

2. To have all his negligences supplied by the merits of My sufferings.

3. To be strengthened so that he will not easily be overcome by his enemies.

4. That My grace will be renewed in him as often as he reflects on My sufferings.

5. That I refuse him nothing that is profitable, if he earnestly ask for it.

6. That I lead him to perfection before his death.

7. That I assist him in his last hour, protect him against his enemies, and give him an assurance of salvation.

Fruits of Meditation on the Passion

It cleanses us from our sins . It is impossible for a soul who takes Our Lords sufferings seriously to heart, to continue offending God willfully, especially by mortal sin.

St. Alphonsus impresses this upon us by affirming: A soul who believes in the Passion of Jesus Christ, and frequently thinks thereon, will find it impossible to go on offending her Saviour.

It strengthens us against temptation . Frequent and devout meditation on the sufferings of Our Lord has the wonderful power to enable us to overcome our passions. St. Augustine writes in his Confessions that whenever he was tempted by the demon of impurity, he resisted Satan successfully by meditating on the Wounds of Jesus. As often as I am tempted, he says, I seek refuge in the Wounds of Jesus. I fly into the Heart of the mercies of my Lord!

It will lead us to perfection before our death . One of the principal sources of our sanctification is the tender and compassionate remembrance of our Saviours sufferings. St. Bonaventure addresses these words to the soul seeking perfection: If thou, O man, wouldst advance from virtue to virtue, if thou wouldst lead a perfect life, then meditate daily on the Passion of Christ. Nothing else can so powerfully urge the soul to holiness. The painful Wounds of our Saviours body penetrate even the hardest of hearts and inflame the coldest of souls with love.

It gives us the assurance of a happy death . St. Alphonsus Liguori says, Souls that are tormented by the devil and tremble for their eternal salvation will feel great consolation in withdrawing their eyes from the outward world and fixing them on the Cross where Jesus hangs, bleeding from every wound.

It insures for us a special glory in Heaven . This was revealed to St. Gertrude. Once on the feast of St. John the Evangelist she beheld how this beloved Apostle enjoyed a special bliss in Heaven because he had always begun his contemplations with the remembrance of our Saviours Passion, of which he had been an eye witness.

Moreover, we should love to meditate upon the Passion because therein our Saviour makes His virtues shine forth with great brilliance. He possesses every virtue in His soul, but the occasions of manifesting them especially arise in His Passion. His immense love for His Father, His charity for mankind, hatred of sin, forgiveness of injuries, patience, meekness, fortitude, obedience to lawful authority, compassionall these virtues shine forth in a heroic manner for our imitation. Jesus in His Passion is our Divine model in suffering. If, therefore, we frequently contemplate His sufferings and strive to imitate His virtues, we shall receive special graces which will transform us little by little into His likeness and prepare us to share in His glory in Heaven.

In reward for Veronicas sympathy, Jesus impressed His Sacred Face upon her veil.

Chapter 2

The Imprint of Our Saviours Blood-Stained Countenance on The Veil of Veronica

V ENERATION of the dolorous Face of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as proved in Rome and practiced throughout the Church, had its beginning during the very Passion of Our Lord. It came to us through that heroic woman whose memory, from the first ages of Christianity, has been inseparably connected with the Sixth Station of the holy Way of the Cross and who is known to us as St. Veronica.

The Son of God was being led forth to execution through the crowded streets of Jerusalem, followed by a shouting rabble which filled the air with loud, insulting cries. Our Divine Lord, exhausted by the tortures of the night, fell beneath the heavy weight of His cross. A man, Simon of Cyrene, who was passing by, was compelled by the inhuman soldiers to assist Jesus in carrying the Cross. The sad procession had advanced but a short distance farther when suddenly a woman of majestic appearance broke through the infuriated mob and offered our Saviour a veil as a sign of her compassion , upon which He wiped His Adorable Face covered with sweat and blood. In reward for her sympathy, our Blessed Redeemer imprinted indelibly upon her veil the likeness of His Sacred Countenance.

The Treasure of the Vatican

A tradition says that at the advice of St. Peter, Veronica later entrusted the holy Veil to the care of St. Clement, a noble Roman who was a disciple of St. Peter and his third successor in the See of Rome. From the hands of Pope St. Clement this venerated relic passed to his successors, who guarded it most carefully during the long years of persecution. Ever since that time the holy Veil has remained in Rome, where it is preserved with the greatest care as one of the most precious relics of the Vatican Basilica.

Every year in Lent the holy Veil is taken from the rich casket in which it is treasured, and from a high balcony erected around one of the pillars of the Vatican Basilica, it is exposed to the veneration of the faithful. An eye witness writes: One cannot without feelings of tenderest compassion and sorrow look upon the noble brow covered with blood, the Divine eyes, livid and bloody, the whole Face pallid as in death. On the right cheek is seen the mark of the cruel blow inflicted by the brutal soldier, and on the left are traces of the insults of the Jews who spat upon Him. The nose is bruised and blood-stained, the mouth half open, the teeth broken, the beard disheveled and partly torn out, the hair matted with blood. But the whole Sacred Face, though disfigured, presents an appearance of indescribable majesty and compassion, love and sadness .

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