Sr. Mary of Saint Peter
Venerable Leo Dupont
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
My only treasure is Thy Face,
No other do I ask to see,
There shall I find my hiding place
Till, Jesus, I resemble Thee.
- Saint Therese, Canticle to the Holy Face, 1895
Blessed Maria Pierina de Michelli
"I desire that My Face, which shows My Soul’s deepest anguish, my Heart’s sorrow and love, may be more honored.
Whoever contemplates me, consoles me."
- Our Lord to Blessed Maria Pierina, First Friday of Lent 1936
Sr. Marie de St. Pierre was born in Rennes in Brittany on October 4, 1816. She was rather sickly as child and not at all pious. In fact, she describes herself as stubborn and easily roused to anger. After making her 1st confession at the age of 6 years, she began to seriously work on overcoming herself and about this same time, her parents instilled into her a devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin. After making her First Communion at the age of 10 years, she progressed most rapidly in virtue to the amazement of all those who knew her. She received many graces in prayer and began to understand that Our Lord was calling her to consecrate herself to Him in religion. With the direction of a wise and holy confessor who tried her in virtue for 5 years and prepared her for the religious life, she finally entered the Carmelite Monastery in Tours, France on November 13.
Revelations of the Holy Face Devotion: the Work of Reparation
As a novice, she continued receiving extraordinary favors in prayer. She submitted all of these interior communications of Our Lord to her Superiors and waited upon their consent before she could offer herself completely to Our Lord as He had been asking. Once permission was obtained, Our Lord began communicating with her about the need for reparation, adoration and supplication, by means of devotion to His adorable Face. Our Lord first spoke to her of the need to make reparation for the sins of Blasphemy and also the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. “My name is everywhere blasphemed!” Our Lord exclaimed to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, who relates...He then made me see that this frightful sin wounds His divine Heart more grievously than all other sins, showing me how by blasphemy the sinner curses Him to His Face, attacks Him publicly, nullifies his redemption, and pronounces his own judgment and condemnation. Our Lord then made me visualize the act of blasphemy as a poisoned arrow continually wounding His divine Heart. After that He revealed to me that He wanted to give me a ‘Golden Arrow’ which would have the power of wounding Him delightfully, and which would also heal those other wounds inflicted by the malice of sinners.” (August 26, 1843)
May the most, holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth and in the hells, by all the creatures of God and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
- The Golden Arrow Prayer
Nothing that you ask in virtue of this offering will be refused you! Ah! If you did but know how pleasing is the sight of My Face to My Father
- Promise of Our Lord to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre
Look at His Face, look at His glazed eyes, look at His wounds, look Jesus in the Face. There you will see how He loves us.
- St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face