St. Joseph's Missionaries of the Holy Face

To bring adoration of the Holy Face of Jesus to the whole world and promote reparation for sins against the first three Commandments.

Composed on November 11, 2023 “The Feast of St. Martin of Tours”

There are so many other websites and videos that cover the history and purpose of the Holy Face Devotion. So I am not going to do that. If you want to read or know about that, then a good place to start is one of these 3 websites; https://holyfacedevotion.org/ ,  https://hisholyface.com/  or  https://holyfaceadoration.com/ . Instead, what I want to do is give the reader a personal testimony of how this devotion has impacted both my wife and I.   

          About 20 some years ago, a very good friend and mentor gave me a prayer pamphlet with a Holy Face medal. The pamphlet had a picture of the Face of Jesus from the Shroud of Turin, the promises of the devotion, a little write up about Sr. Marie Pierina, and the prayer of the Golden Arrow.  Wow! I thought this is beautiful, the promises are amazing, and the prayer short. So, I did the prayer every day for maybe six months or a year, I cannot remember exactly how long. Anyway, it faded from my memory and that was it.   I never did any investigation into the reparation or the devotion.  So years flew by and I never thought of it again, except occasionally coming across the pamphlets and medals, but never really taking an interest.

           Over a year ago, I cannot even remember the events or how things got moving in my heart, something happened and I really felt the need to promote this message.  At the same time as this, we were regularly doing prayer rallies with a friend of ours. He had this idea to get Holy Face Billboards going etc… He asked me to do some investigating, and contact some distributors of Holy Face materials.  So I did, and I started investigating the devotion, watching videos and reading up on the Holy Face. What I uncovered just blew me out of the water. I was just in awe that this Devotion was about fighting the enemies of Christ, especially Communism. I shared what I was learning with my wife, and eventually we both became convinced that we really needed to promote this. So, we started buying up pamphlets and Holy Face medals, then handing them out at rallies.  What I soon discovered was that this devotion being promoted from different suppliers was more about Jesus’ Face on the Shroud. What I discovered is that a lot of these prayer groups and associations that used these materials were missing 100 yrs. of history prior to the Shroud, and that there was this incredible Archconfraternity established around the original miraculous image of the Veil of Veronica. Needless to say, my wife and I were a little bit confused. To this day, we still do not quite understand how the revelations to Sr. Pierina in 1936 to 1945 seemed to have hijacked an already established devotion. Maybe that is a little harsh, but it seems odd that she never mentioned anything about Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, who preceded her by 100 yrs. Nor did she mention anything about the Archconfraternity. Please do not misunderstand me. I love the shroud of Turin, and in fact I promote the Holy Face medal. I believe it is a good thing. But during our investigation, and watching videos especially by Fr. Lawrence Carney, an American priest who has dedicated his priesthood to spreading the Holy Face Devotion, I felt more and more convinced that people really need to know the whole story of this devotion and why it was established. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to get into the history as there are many excellent videos out there.

Near about October 2023, we had given some medals to friends at our Parish.  A few weeks later, these friends gave us a Manual of the Holy Face from the Archconfraternity. Wow, this just set me on fire! I could not put it down.  The prayers in this manual were just incredible, and my heart was just set ablaze for the Holy Face of Jesus and Veil of Veronica. My wife also started to catch on fire for this new found information on the devotion. We were convinced that we had to start a prayer group.  So we started talking to friends in our Parish, and coincidently my mentor from 20 yrs. ago was also attending this Parish. To our surprise and delight they all agreed and said let’s do it!  My wife and I had already contacted Fr. Carney and asked if we could establish a league of St. Martin’s (a prayer league under his guidance for the Holy Face Devotion) Father gave us an interview over the phone and his blessing to start a group. So I put an email to our Parish priest and he gave us the green light. Our first Tuesday night devotion started on March 21, 2023. We (my wife and I) did a small talk on the devotion and prayed the Litany to the Holy Face, the Chaplet of the Holy Face, The Golden Arrow and a few other prayers. What an evening! Both of us felt like we were walking on cloud nine. I tease the wife of the devoted and loving couple that gave us the Manual of the Holy Face, “see what happens when you give a man directions” (referring to the manual).  Since that first night our group has grown, and it seems like the devotion has been really capturing the hearts of those who attend the prayers as well as other friends that we have witnessed this devotion too. I cannot begin to explain how this devotion has impacted my life and that of my wife, but I shall make an attempt.  It really came at a time when my faith was growing weak. I was suffering from mild depression, feeling anxious and quite hopeless as to what was going on in the world. This devotion has really rekindled my faith, and has given me an unquenchable joy. It has also given me so much peace in a world that has completely gone bonkers (as Fr. Mark Goring CC so aptly puts it). It has given me a great trust in our Lord Jesus, and a firm belief in the imminent Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It has given me the desire to jump into that battle with the heavenly angelic army.  It has given me hope for conversions or reversions of loved ones.  It has increased my desire to read Holy Scripture. In fact, it is as if I now look at Scripture through a different lens. When my wife and I read the daily morning prayers and Mass readings, we now see the mention of the Face of Christ jumping out at us from the pages and connecting dots in Scripture.  I truly believe that all of these are spiritual gifts from the Lord that come when one begins to adore His most holy Countenance, reflect on His passion and make reparation through the Holy Face prayers.  I sincerely believe that if you are reading this testimony and desire with all your heart to take on this devotion that the Lord will do the same in each and every one of you.

 May “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord show His face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn His countenance to thee, and give thee peace” Numbers 6:24-26.

Sincerely the little pilgrim of His Holy Face. 

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My Holy Face Testimony

Composed on November 11, 2023 “The Feast of St. Martin of Tours”

There are so many other websites and videos that cover the history and purpose of the Holy Face Devotion. So I am not going to do that. If you want to read or know about that, then a good place to start is one of these 3 websites; https://holyfacedevotion.org/ ,  https://hisholyface.com/  or  https://holyfaceadoration.com/ . Instead, what I want to do is give the reader a personal testimony of how this devotion has impacted both my wife and I.   

          About 20 some years ago, a very good friend and mentor gave me a prayer pamphlet with a Holy Face medal. The pamphlet had a picture of the Face of Jesus from the Shroud of Turin, the promises of the devotion, a little write up about Sr. Marie Pierina, and the prayer of the Golden Arrow.  Wow! I thought this is beautiful, the promises are amazing, and the prayer short. So, I did the prayer every day for maybe six months or a year, I cannot remember exactly how long. Anyway, it faded from my memory and that was it.   I never did any investigation into the reparation or the devotion.  So years flew by and I never thought of it again, except occasionally coming across the pamphlets and medals, but never really taking an interest.

           Over a year ago, I cannot even remember the events or how things got moving in my heart, something happened and I really felt the need to promote this message.  At the same time as this, we were regularly doing prayer rallies with a friend of ours. He had this idea to get Holy Face Billboards going etc… He asked me to do some investigating, and contact some distributors of Holy Face materials.  So I did, and I started investigating the devotion, watching videos and reading up on the Holy Face. What I uncovered just blew me out of the water. I was just in awe that this Devotion was about fighting the enemies of Christ, especially Communism. I shared what I was learning with my wife, and eventually we both became convinced that we really needed to promote this. So, we started buying up pamphlets and Holy Face medals, then handing them out at rallies.  What I soon discovered was that this devotion being promoted from different suppliers was more about Jesus’ Face on the Shroud. What I discovered is that a lot of these prayer groups and associations that used these materials were missing 100 yrs. of history prior to the Shroud, and that there was this incredible Archconfraternity established around the original miraculous image of the Veil of Veronica. Needless to say, my wife and I were a little bit confused. To this day, we still do not quite understand how the revelations to Sr. Pierina in 1936 to 1945 seemed to have hijacked an already established devotion. Maybe that is a little harsh, but it seems odd that she never mentioned anything about Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, who preceded her by 100 yrs. Nor did she mention anything about the Archconfraternity. Please do not misunderstand me. I love the shroud of Turin, and in fact I promote the Holy Face medal. I believe it is a good thing. But during our investigation, and watching videos especially by Fr. Lawrence Carney, an American priest who has dedicated his priesthood to spreading the Holy Face Devotion, I felt more and more convinced that people really need to know the whole story of this devotion and why it was established. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to get into the history as there are many excellent videos out there.

Near about October 2023, we had given some medals to friends at our Parish.  A few weeks later, these friends gave us a Manual of the Holy Face from the Archconfraternity. Wow, this just set me on fire! I could not put it down.  The prayers in this manual were just incredible, and my heart was just set ablaze for the Holy Face of Jesus and Veil of Veronica. My wife also started to catch on fire for this new found information on the devotion. We were convinced that we had to start a prayer group.  So we started talking to friends in our Parish, and coincidently my mentor from 20 yrs. ago was also attending this Parish. To our surprise and delight they all agreed and said let’s do it!  My wife and I had already contacted Fr. Carney and asked if we could establish a league of St. Martin’s (a prayer league under his guidance for the Holy Face Devotion) Father gave us an interview over the phone and his blessing to start a group. So I put an email to our Parish priest and he gave us the green light. Our first Tuesday night devotion started on March 21, 2023. We (my wife and I) did a small talk on the devotion and prayed the Litany to the Holy Face, the Chaplet of the Holy Face, The Golden Arrow and a few other prayers. What an evening! Both of us felt like we were walking on cloud nine. I tease the wife of the devoted and loving couple that gave us the Manual of the Holy Face, “see what happens when you give a man directions” (referring to the manual).  Since that first night our group has grown, and it seems like the devotion has been really capturing the hearts of those who attend the prayers as well as other friends that we have witnessed this devotion too. I cannot begin to explain how this devotion has impacted my life and that of my wife, but I shall make an attempt.  It really came at a time when my faith was growing weak. I was suffering from mild depression, feeling anxious and quite hopeless as to what was going on in the world. This devotion has really rekindled my faith, and has given me an unquenchable joy. It has also given me so much peace in a world that has completely gone bonkers (as Fr. Mark Goring CC so aptly puts it). It has given me a great trust in our Lord Jesus, and a firm belief in the imminent Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It has given me the desire to jump into that battle with the heavenly angelic army.  It has given me hope for conversions or reversions of loved ones.  It has increased my desire to read Holy Scripture. In fact, it is as if I now look at Scripture through a different lens. When my wife and I read the daily morning prayers and Mass readings, we now see the mention of the Face of Christ jumping out at us from the pages and connecting dots in Scripture.  I truly believe that all of these are spiritual gifts from the Lord that come when one begins to adore His most holy Countenance, reflect on His passion and make reparation through the Holy Face prayers.  I sincerely believe that if you are reading this testimony and desire with all your heart to take on this devotion that the Lord will do the same in each and every one of you.

 May “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord show His face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn His countenance to thee, and give thee peace” Numbers 6:24-26.

Sincerely the little pilgrim of His Holy Face. 

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Ted & Joanne Sabourin