What is the Holy Face Chaplet?
The Holy Face chaplet is one of reparation designed to battle the enemies of God. It has seen a resurgence of popularity especially in recent years and has been strongly recommended by Cardinal Burke among other notable Catholic figures.
The chaplet honors the Five Wounds of Christ and asks God for the triumph of His holy Church. The Five Wounds do reparation for sins committed through the five senses. The most repeated line, thirty-three times, “Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered. Let them that hate Him flee from before His Face” has been reported by St Athanasius that the devils take flight from hearing this Scripture passage more than any other. When prayed in Latin, the language the devil particularly hates, this passage is given even greater efficacy as is included below.
In 1884, Pope Leo XIII approved the Arch-confraternity of the Holy Face. Christ revealed to Sister St Pierre that this initiation of the Holy Face devotion is “the birth of the most beautiful work that has yet appeared on the face of the earth.” [1] He further relates that this reparative work is “His greatest consolation” and “the only means of appeasing the Father.” [2]
This message was sent just before the rise of Karl Marx and Communism and has been a continual means of combating the anti-Christian core of that ideology.
PROMISES OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Revelations to Sr. Mary of St. Peter,
Discalced Carmelite Nun of Tours, France, in favor of those who honor His Holy Face. Details of these revelations are found in the book named The Golden Arrow, the autobiography of Sister Mary of St. Peter.
| 1. By offering My Face to My Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained. | |
| 2. By My Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God and draw down mercy on sinners. | |
| 3. All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica. | |
| 4. According to the care they take in making reparation to My Face disfigured by blasphemers, so will I take care of their souls which have been disfigured by sin. My Face is the Seal of the Divinity, which has the virtue of reproducing in souls the image of God. | |
| 5. Those who by words, prayers or writings defend My cause in the Work of Reparation, especially My priests, I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom. | |
| 6. As in a kingdom they can procure all that is desired with a coin stamped with the King’s effigy, so in the Kingdom of Heaven they will obtain all they desire with the precious coin of My Holy Face. | |
| 7. Those who on earth contemplate the wounds of My Face shall in Heaven behold it radiant with glory. | |
| 8. They will receive in their souls a bright and constant irradiation of My Divinity, that by their likeness to My Face they shall shine with particular splendor in Heaven. | |
| 9. 1 will defend them, I will preserve them and I assure them of Final Perseverance. |
How to Pray the Holy Face Chaplet
These prayers may be prayed with or without the chaplet beads.
To pray this chaplet, start by making the sign of the cross with the crucifix.
1. On the Crucifix
The Sign of the Cross | Signum Crucis:
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. | In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. |
+Deus in adjutorium meum intende. | +Oh God, come to my assistance. |
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. | Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
2. On each of the six larger beads (precedes each decade of six beads) in order say in honor of the five senses of Jesus. First of the sense of Touch, then Hearing, then Sight, then Smell, and finally Taste:
O mi Jesu misericordia! Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. (1x) | My Jesus, mercy! Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. (1x) |
3. On the thirty-three small beads:
Surge Domine et dissipentur inimici Tui et fugiant qui oderunt Te a Facie Tua. | Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Thee flee before Thy Face! |
At the end of meditating on the senses of Jesus, continue repetitions of “Arise, O Lord” prayer on the remaining three beads, to bring the total to 33, one for each year of Our Lord’s earthly life. On each of these last three beads, think about the wounds in His holy face from the slaps He endured, and from the crown of thorns.
After all of this, repeat the Gloria Patri seven times, in honor of the 7 Last Words from the Cross :
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. | Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
On the medal at the end pray:
Protector noster, aspice, Deus, et respice in Faciem Christi Tui. | O God, our Protector, look down upon us and cast Thine eyes upon the Face of Thy Christ! |
Some additional prayers that are recommended to be said on the five beads afterward (from the revelations of Sister Mary of St. Peter in the Golden Arrow book):
1. May God arise and let His enemies be scattered and let those who hate Him flee before His Face!
Exsurgat Deus, et dissipentur inimici ejus ; et fugiant qui oderunt eum a facie ejus. (Psalm 67:2)
2. May the thrice Holy Name of God overthrow all their plans!
3. May the Holy Name of the Living God split them up by disagreements!
4. May the terrible Name of the God of Eternity stamp out all their godlessness!
5. Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live.
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Pater, dimitte illis: non enim sciunt quid faciunt. (Luke 23:34)
The “Golden Arrow” prayer (on the Crucifix):
Sanctissimum, sacratissimum, adorabile, incomprehensibile et ineffabile Nomen Dei semper laudetur, benedicatur, ametur, adoretur et glorificetur in caelo, in terra et sub terra, ab omnibus creaturis Dei, et a Sacro Corde Domini nostri Jesu Christi in Sanctissimo Sacramento Altaris. Amen. | 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 under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar. Amen. |
