O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become “the most abject of men, a man of sorrows”, I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men.

The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, whose adorable face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face 1873-1897

St Therese read the book on the life of Sr. Marie de Saint Pierre, given to her by her older sister (Pauline) and she carried a locket of hair, and kept a small picture of Sr. Marie de St. Pierre. She composed canticles and prayers to the Holy Face.

“Oh, I would wish to tell everybody to study and venerate an Image of the Holy Face as He left it on Veronica’s Veil. When sorrow strikes, it will be the only consolation. No matter what our grief, surely it will never be as fearful as was His!” (The Whole World Will Love Me. p 207)

“Look at His adorable Face, His glazed and sunken eyes, His wounds. Look Jesus in the Face. There you will see how He loves us.” St Therese of Lisieux

“Your Veiled Gaze is Our Heaven…” St Therese of Lisieux

St. Therese’s sister Celine (Sr. Genevieve of the Holy Face), also wrote: “Devotion to the Holy Face was, for Therese, the crown and complement of her love for the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord. The Blessed Face was the mirror wherein she beheld the Heart and Soul of her Well-Beloved. Just as the picture of a loved one serves to bring the whole person before us, so in the Holy Face of Christ Therese beheld the entire Humanity of Jesus. We can say unequivocally that this devotion was the burning inspiration of the Saint’s life… Her devotion to the Holy Face transcended, or more accurately, embraced, all the other attractions of her spiritual life.” taken From the Whole world will Love Me by Dorothy Scallan.

St Therese, her siblings and her Father were all registered members with the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in tours France.