Members of Archconfraternity undertake the Following obligations:
- To be inscribed on the Register of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face
- To receive the rule with the certificate of enrollment
- To recite daily for the intentions of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face – 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory Be, & the Act of Praise (O Lord, show us Thy Face and we shall be saved)
- To vow to avoid blasphemies and the profanation of Sunday, and to repair these evils by an exterior or interior act of reparation
- To wear an effigy of the Holy Face, either on a cross, medal, or scapular
- To assist, in as far as may be possible, at the monthly devotional prayer meetings
- To zealously propagate devotion to the Holy Face
Plenary Indulgences granted by Pope Leo XIII to members of Archconfraternity (applicable to the souls in purgatory)
1. On the day of admission;
2. At the hour of death;
3. For every yearly pilgrimage made to the Oratory of the Holy Face;
4. On the feast of St. Peter, or on a day during the Octave;
5. On the feast of the Transfiguration, only day during the octave;
6. On Passion Sunday, or any other day fixed by the Ordinary.
In order to gain these last three indulgences, it is necessary to visit the seat of the Confraternity.
Partial Indulgences
- 7 years and 7 quarantines for each assistance at the monthly reunions.
- 60 days: For each pious exercise performed at the seat of the Confraternity;
- 60 days: For any other work of piety offered in union with the object of the Association;
- 60 days: Each time a member devoutly kisses the effigy of the Holy Face repeating the invocation: Lord, show us that thy Face, and we shall be saved.
- 100 days for every prayer said before in effigy of the Holy Face. (Pius IX. December 11, 1876.)
- 40 days each time a member assists at any of the daily morning or evening exercises in the chapel of the Holy Face at Tours. (The Archbishop of Tours, November 15th 1876.)
The above indulgences which require that a visit should be made to the church, maybe gained by sick persons by virtue of some other act prescribes by the confessor. (Brief of the 30th March 1885.)
The Oratoire de la Sainte Face Enrollment Form is in French with English sub-titles is available below called “registration form for the Arch-confraternity”. Fill out the form to request to become a perpetual member of the Arch-confraternity of the Holy Face, free of charge.
Download and complete this PDF-FILLABLE FORM then email it to: sainteface.tours@gmail.com. (Alternatively, devotees can mail it to France on the address listed on the form.) It takes about 4-6 weeks to get your enrollment acknowledgment if you email it.
Join the company of some great saints and holy souls like St. Therese of Lisieux all her sisters and her father St. Louis Martin as well . All which were members of the Archconfraternity.
Please also consider enrolling in the Confraternity of the most Holy Rosary. https://visitationproject.org/pages/what-is-the-confraternity-of-the-most-holy-rosary
Pope Leo XIII Established the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in Tours, France, 1885
BRIEF OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIII :Establishing THE ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY FACE
For a perpetual remembrance. According to the usages of Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, we are accustomed to decorate and enrich with special honors and privileges the pious associations instituted for the practice of works of piety and charity. Our beloved sons, the directors and associates of the pious Confraternity known as that of the Holy Face, canonically established in the sanctuary of the same name, in the town of Tours, and enriched by us and the holy See with numerous privileges, have expressed to us the desire, that making use of the plenitude of our apostolic power, we should honor his association with the title of Archconfraternity and with the preeminence which is it’s due Desirous of giving to each and all of those in whose favor these letters are delivered a special mark of our benevolence, and only as regards the present case, considering them has absolved, and to be absolved from all sentences of excommunication and interdict, and from all the censures and ecclesiastical penalties which they may have incurred and which may have been inflicted on them in any manner or for any cause whatsoever, we, by our apostolical authority, in virtue of these presents, establish and constitute as a perpetual Archconfraternity, with the accustomed privileges, the so-called Confraternity of the Holy Face, established in the town of Tours. And by the same our authority, in virtue of these letters, we concede in grant in perpetuity, to the directors and colleagues present and future of the Archconfraternity, the power, validly and lawfully, to aggregate to itself, throughout the whole world, excepting in our glorious city, all the other Confraternities existing in the same name and having the same object, observing always the form prescribed by the Constitution of Pope Clement VIII, our predecessor of happy memory, and the other apostolical ordinances drawn up on the subject, as well as to communicate to all and each the Indulgences, remissions of sins and dispensations of penance, which have been granted by the holy apostolical See to the association so erected by us into an Archconfraternity, and which are susceptible of being communicated to others. We decree that are present letters shall be, for the present and the future, fixed, valid and efficacious; that they shall obtain and possess their full and entire effects, that they shall fully favor all and for all, whom they concern and shall concern hereafter in accordance with what has been previously enumerated, and shall be judged and defined by ordinary judges and delegates, whoever they may be, even the auditors of the suits of the apostolic Palace, the Nuncios of the holy See, the Cardinals of the holy Roman Church, even legates a latere and all other personages, whatever their dignity and their power may be; entire power and authority to judge and interpret otherwise being withdrawn from them in general and in particular, so that if any one, whatever be the authority with which he is invested, attacks any of these clauses knowingly or through ignorance, his act shall be null and void. And this notwithstanding the Constitutions and Apostolic ordinances, and, in as far as is necessary, the statutes, customs and uses contrary to the above named Confraternity and all others soever, even when they have been confirmed by apostolic oath or any other decision whatever.
Source: Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face.