The Holy Face Novena

The Novena to the Holy Face of Jesus is nine days of prayer offered in reparation to the wounded, blood-stained Face of Our Lord — the Face that Veronica wiped on the road to Calvary — begging pardon for the blasphemies, the impiety, and the profanation of Sundays that so outrage Him. It is one of the great devotions of reparation in the Church's treasury, given at Tours in the 1840s to the Carmelite Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre and spread by the "Holy Man of Tours," Venerable Leo Dupont. It is prayed at any time, but above all in the nine days that end on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the Feast of the Holy Face. Below we give the complete novena — the daily prayer, all nine proper prayers with their Psalm verses, the Golden Arrow, and the Act of Consecration — with the history and the variants readers most often seek.

The daily preparatory prayer

Each of the nine days opens with the same preparatory prayer. Name your intention before you begin, and keep it before you all nine days.

O most Holy and Blessed Trinity, through the intercession of Holy Mary, whose soul was pierced through by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of her Divine Son, we ask your help in making a perfect Novena of reparation with Jesus, united with all His sorrows, love, and total abandonment.

We now implore all the Angels and Saints to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena to the Most Holy Face of Jesus and for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

After this, each day has its own proper prayer, built around a portion of the Miserere (Psalm 51), the great penitential psalm. Every day the same petition is made — Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy — and every day closes with one Our Father, three Hail Marys, one Glory Be, and this triple invocation: O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine (three times). Each day also appends a short prayer to a particular saint or mystery, named below. If you are new to this kind of prayer, see first our guide to what a novena is.

The nine days of the Holy Face Novena

Day 1 — Mercy on us sinners

Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in your great tenderness wipe away my faults: wash me clean of my guilt, purify me from my sin.

O most Holy Face of Jesus, look with tenderness on us who are sinners. You are a merciful God, full of love and compassion. Keep us pure of heart, so that we may see Thee always. Mary, our Mother, intercede for us; Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

The first day appends the prayer of St Augustine, Almighty Father, come into our hearts. Close with the Our Father, three Hail Marys, Glory Be, and O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.

Day 2 — Sorrow for sin

Psalm 51: My offences truly I know them; my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done.

Most Holy Face of Jesus, we are truly sorry that we have hurt you so much by constantly doing what is wrong, and for all the good works we have failed to do. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saint Joseph, intercede for us; help us to console the Most Holy Face of Jesus. Pray that we may share in the tremendous love Thou hast for one another, and for the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity. Amen.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 2 appends the prayer to the Holy Spirit, Come, Holy Spirit, Sanctifier. Close as above.

Day 3 — Turn your Face toward our hearts

Psalm 51: You are just when you pass sentence on me, blameless when you give judgment. You know I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.

O Jesus! Cast upon us a look of mercy; turn your Face towards each of us as you did to Veronica — not that we may see it with our bodily eyes, for this we do not deserve, but turn it towards our hearts, so that, remembering you, we may ever draw from this fountain of strength the vigour necessary to sustain the combats of life. Amen. Mary, our Mother, and Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

This is the prayer of Pope Pius IX. Day 3 also appends the prayer of St Francis and a salutation to the Angels and Saints. Close as above.

Day 4 — Meekness and humility of heart

Psalm 51: Indeed you love truth in the heart; then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom. O purify me, then I shall be clean; O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

O Lord Jesus, who hast said, "Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart," and who didst manifest upon Thy Holy Face the sentiments of Thy divine heart, grant that we may love to come frequently and meditate upon Thy divine features. May we read there Thy gentleness and Thy humility, and learn how to form our hearts in the practice of these two virtues which Thou desirest to see shine in Thy servants. Mary, our Mother, and Saint Joseph, help us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 4 appends a prayer in honour of the Dolours of the Blessed Virgin and a prayer for the souls in Purgatory. Close as above.

Day 5 — Confidence in His patience

Psalm 51: Make me hear rejoicing and gladness, that the bones you have crushed may revive. From my sins turn away your Face, and blot out all my guilt.

Holy Face of Jesus, Sacred Countenance of God, how great is your patience with humankind, how infinite your forgiveness. We are sinners, yet you love us. This gives us courage. For the glory of your Holy Face and of the Blessed Trinity, hear and answer us. Mary, our Mother, intercede for us; Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 5 appends the prayer to St Joseph, Dear Saint Joseph, adopt us as thy children. Close as above.

Day 6 — A pure heart

Psalm 51: A pure heart create for us, O God; put a steadfast spirit within us. Do not cast us away from your presence, nor deprive us of your Holy Spirit.

May our hearts be cleansed, O Lord, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and may He render them fruitful by watering them with His heavenly dew. Mary, most chaste spouse of the Holy Spirit, intercede for us; Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 6 appends the prayer to St Michael the Archangel, O Victorious Prince, most humble guardian of the Church of God. Close as above.

Day 7 — Hatred of sin

Psalm 51: Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me, that I may teach transgressors your ways, and sinners may return to you.

Lord Jesus! After contemplating Thy features, disfigured by grief, after meditating upon Thy Passion with compunction and love, how can our hearts fail to be inflamed with a holy hatred of sin, which even now outrages Thy Adorable Face! Lord, suffer us not to be content with mere compassion, but give us grace so closely to follow Thee in this Calvary, that the opprobrium destined for Thee may fall on us, O Jesus, that thus we may have a share, small though it may be, in expiation of sin. Amen. Mary, our Mother, intercede for us; Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 7 appends the prayer in honour of Mary, Hail Mary, Daughter of God the Father, of St Louis de Montfort. Close as above.

Day 8 — Under His protection

Psalm 51: O rescue me, God my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.

Most merciful Face of Jesus, who in this vale of tears wast so moved by our misfortunes as to call yourself the healer of the sick and the good Shepherd of the souls gone astray, allow not Satan to draw us away from you, but keep us always under your loving protection, together with all souls who endeavour to console you. Mary, our Mother, intercede for us; Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 8 appends the prayer to St Peter for loyalty to Holy Mother Church. Close as above.

Day 9 — Thanksgiving

Psalm 51: For in sacrifice you take no delight; burnt offering from me you would refuse. My sacrifice a contrite spirit; a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn. In your goodness, show favour to Zion; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Sacred Face of our Lord and our God, what words can we find to express our gratitude? How can we speak of our joy — that you have deigned to hear us, that you have chosen to answer us in our hour of need? We say this because we know that our prayers will be granted; we know that you, in your loving kindness, listened to our pleading hearts, and will give, out of your fullness, the answer to our problems. Mary, our Mother, thank you for your intercession on our behalf; Saint Joseph, thank you for your prayers.

Through the merits of Thy precious blood and Thy Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition… Pardon and mercy.

Day 9 appends the prayer to the Holy Trinity, and concludes with the Act of Consecration to the Holy Face (below). Close as above.

The Golden Arrow prayer

The Golden Arrow is the great prayer of this devotion, dictated by Our Lord to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre in 1843. He promised that every time it is said, it "lovingly wounds His Heart" and draws down mercy on a blaspheming world. Many pray it as the crown of each day's novena:

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible, and ineffable Name of God be forever 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.

Two other short prayers of reparation belong to this devotion and may be added to any day. The reparation prayer of Sister Marie:

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people, whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises, in reparation for the crimes of our age, in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Amen.

The Act of Consecration to the Holy Face

Prayed on the ninth day, and fittingly renewed on the feast, this act places the family under the protection of the Holy Face — the "consecration of the home" that lies at the heart of the devotion.

O Lord Jesus, we believe most firmly in You, we love You. You are the Eternal Son of God and the Son Incarnate of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You are the Lord and Absolute Ruler of all creation, and we acknowledge You, therefore, as the Universal Sovereign of all creatures. You are the Lord and Supreme Ruler of all mankind, and we, in acknowledging this Your dominion, consecrate ourselves to You now and forever.

Loving Jesus, we place our family under the protection of Your Holy Face and of Your Virgin Mother, Mary most sorrowful. We promise to be faithful to You for the rest of our lives, and to observe with fidelity Your Holy Commandments. We will never deny before men You and Your Divine rights over us and all mankind. Grant us the grace never to sin again; nevertheless, should we fail, O Divine Saviour, have mercy on us and restore us to Your grace. Radiate Your Divine Countenance upon us, and bless us now and forever. Embrace us at the hour of death in Your Kingdom for all eternity. Amen.

Variants of the Holy Face Novena

Because this is an old and widely loved devotion, the tail of requests around it is long. Here are the forms readers most often look for.

The traditional Holy Face novena (nine days)

The nine-day form given above is the traditional novena, drawn from the revelations at Tours and the approved prayer-books. This is what people mean by the traditional Holy Face novena: the daily preparatory prayer, the nine proper prayers keyed to Psalm 51, the petition and the O Bleeding Face refrain, the Golden Arrow, and the Act of Consecration. Nothing here is invented or modern in substance; it is the reparation the Church has offered to the outraged Face of her Lord for nearly two centuries.

The Holy Face chaplet

Distinct from the novena is the Holy Face chaplet, a set of beads honouring the five senses of Our Lord's Face and His wounds, prayed on a chaplet of thirty-nine beads with a medal. Some searchers ask for a "Holy Face chaplet novena," meaning the chaplet said over nine days for an intention. The two devotions marry well: pray the novena's proper prayer, then the chaplet. We give it in full in our guide to the Holy Face chaplet, alongside the wider devotion to the Holy Face.

The 54-day Holy Face novena

The 54-day Holy Face novena — often taken up "for our president" or for the nation — is the 54-day Rosary novena offered under the banner of the Holy Face: twenty-seven days of petition and twenty-seven of thanksgiving, the Rosary said each day and joined to the Golden Arrow and the reparation prayers. It is a longer, heavier siege for grave public needs, and a natural extension of the shorter novena for those who wish to persevere.

A Holy Face novena for a specific intention

The novena carries any worthy intention — a conversion, a healing, a family need, deliverance from sin — because its central petition, Pardon and mercy, encloses every good we could rightly ask. Name your intention at the daily preparatory prayer and hold it through all nine days. Because the devotion's own end is reparation and the conversion of sinners, it is especially fitted to be prayed for those far from God, for the dying, and against the blasphemy of our age.

How to pray this novena

Pray the nine days consecutively, at a fixed hour, ideally before an image of the Holy Face — the Veil of Veronica or the Holy Shroud of Turin, both traditionally honoured as true likenesses of the Sacred Countenance. Follow the order given above for each day; on the ninth day add the Act of Consecration.

The proper season is the nine days that end on Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday), the Feast of the Holy Face, but the novena may be made at any time. The devotion also honours every Tuesday as a day of reparation before the Blessed Sacrament, in memory of the sufferings of the Passion. Joined to the First Fridays of the Sacred Heart and the First Saturdays of the Immaculate Heart, it completes the great triple reparation of the traditional week.

The story of the Holy Face devotion

The devotion to the Holy Face is as old as Veronica's veil, but its modern form was given at Tours in France. From 1843 to her death in 1848, a young Carmelite lay sister, Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre (Mary of St Peter, 1816–1848), received revelations of Our Lord's desire that His Holy Face be honoured in reparation for two sins in particular: blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday. To her He entrusted the Golden Arrow, promising that whoever honoured His Face would "perform the office of the pious Veronica," and that by His Holy Face many sinners would be converted.

The great apostle of the devotion was Venerable Leo Dupont (1797–1876), the "Holy Man of Tours," who kept a lamp burning day and night before an image of the Holy Face in his home and saw countless cures worked through the oil of that lamp. After his death the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was established at Tours, and in 1885 Pope Leo XIII raised it to an archconfraternity for the universal Church. The devotion drew strength, too, from a marvel at Rome: during the exile of Blessed Pius IX at Gaeta in 1849, the faded Veil of Veronica exposed at St Peter's was seen to become transfigured, the sacred features appearing lifelike and surrounded by a mild halo, before crowds of weeping faithful.

In our own age the devotion was renewed through Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli (1890–1945), a religious of Milan, who in 1936 received Our Lord's request for a special feast of the Holy Face and gave the Church the Holy Face medal. Her cause was crowned when she was beatified on 30 May 2010. Following these graces, Pope Pius XII in 1958 established the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus for the whole Latin Church on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday — fixing in the calendar what Tours had prayed for a century. So the devotion stands: ancient in its object, the true Face of the Redeemer; approved and enriched by four Popes; and given to us as, in Our Lady's words to Blessed Pierina, "a divine remedy" for "these times of sensuality and hatred against God and the Church."

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the Holy Face novena start?

Its proper season is the nine days ending on Shrove Tuesday, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is the Feast of the Holy Face. Counting back nine days from that Tuesday, the novena begins on the Monday of the preceding week. That said, it may be prayed at any time of year for any worthy intention, and the devotion honours every Tuesday as a day of reparation to the Holy Face.

What is the Golden Arrow prayer?

The Golden Arrow is the prayer of praise dictated by Our Lord to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre in 1843, blessing the holy Name of God "in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth." He called it a "golden arrow" because each recitation, He said, wounds His Heart with a delight that draws down mercy and reparation for the sin of blasphemy. It is the crowning prayer of the Holy Face devotion.

Who was the Holy Face devotion given to?

To Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, a Carmelite of Tours (1816–1848), in a series of revelations in the 1840s. It was carried into the world by Venerable Leo Dupont, the Holy Man of Tours, and later renewed through Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli at Milan in 1936. Four Popes — Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius XII, and, in beatifying Pierina, the reigning Pontiff — have endorsed or enriched the devotion.

Is the Holy Face novena the same as the chaplet?

No, though they are close kin. The novena is nine days of prayer for an intention. The chaplet is a set of beads honouring the Face and wounds of Our Lord, which may be said on any day. Many join the two, praying the chaplet within the nine days. See our full guide to the Holy Face chaplet.

What is the Holy Face novena prayed for?

It is above all a devotion of reparation — pardon and mercy for the blasphemies, the impieties, and the desecration of Sundays of our age, and the conversion of sinners. Within that, it carries any worthy personal intention: a healing, a conversion, deliverance from sin, a family or national need. Its constant refrain, Pardon and mercy, holds them all.

Why is the Face of Jesus shown bleeding and disfigured?

Because the devotion venerates the Face of the suffering Christ — the Face spat upon, struck, and streaked with blood in the Passion, wiped by Veronica on the way to Calvary, and imprinted, tradition holds, on the Holy Shroud of Turin. To gaze on that disfigured Face and love it is itself the reparation Our Lord asked: "Whoever gazes upon me already consoles me."

Can I pray the Holy Face novena more than once a year?

Yes. While the season before Lent is its natural home, the novena may be made whenever you have need, and the devotion is meant to be a habit of the whole year — especially on Tuesdays and on Sundays, the day whose profanation it most seeks to repair.

Pray the Holy Face Novena with day-by-day reminders, the Golden Arrow, and audio in the Iter Fidei app — the whole devotion in Latin and your own language, ready for the nine days before Shrove Tuesday. Download it here.

Sources. Psalm 51 (the Miserere); the revelations to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre of the Holy Trinity, Carmelite of Tours (1843–1848), and the Golden Arrow prayer; the traditional Novena, Act of Consecration, and prayers of reparation to the Most Holy Face as carried in the approved prayer-books of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face (Tours); the prayer of Pope Pius IX and the appended prayers of St Augustine, St Francis, and St Louis de Montfort; the erection of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face for the universal Church by Pope Leo XIII (1885); and the institution of the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus on Shrove Tuesday by Pope Pius XII (1958).