“Contemplating the face of Jesus is equivalent to contemplating the very face of God! With this certainty in their hearts, believers throughout the ages have worshipped, with deep devotion and filial love, the Holy Face of the One who, out of Love, and Love alone, sacrificed himself for the salvation of each person and the redemption of all humanity” (Cardinal Angelo Comastri).
This can be the key to drawing closer to devotion to the Holy Face, celebrated this year on February 21 (the Tuesday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday), and to experiencing it as still relevant, just as the love Jesus has for each of us is always relevant.
The mystery of the Holy Face of Jesus holds a secret of love. Let us discover its history and relevance together!
The story
Christians have always sought the face of Christ. In this regard, the tradition of the face impressed on Veronica’s veil, to which the sixth Station of the Cross refers, is well known. The Image of Edessa is said to have had a similar origin: it was supposedly imprinted on a linen cloth by Jesus himself and sent as a gift to King Abgar V, ruler of the kingdom of which Edessa was the capital. That cloth, known in Greek as mandylion, was preserved and venerated in that city for a long time. After many vicissitudes, it was transferred to Constantinople, where it remained until 1204, when it disappeared following the city’s sack. As early as the ninth century, it was known that an image of Christ was preserved in St Peter’s Basilica, but devotion to the Holy Face, with the legend of the “Veil of Veronica,” emerged in the West only later.
The veneration of images depicting the face of Christ and considered acheiropoietic, that is, not made by human hands, first developed in the Churches of the East, which prefer to depict Christ's face with open eyes, in its regal aspect, without the humiliating signs of the Passion, while the Western Church has preferred to depict Christ's face as captured in a moment of suffering and utmost humiliation, with closed eyes and all the signs of his Passion.
The medal
On the night of May 31, 1938, Blessed Mother Pierina De Micheli, a nun of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception, while immersed in deep adoration before the tabernacle, saw the Blessed Virgin holding a medal which, on one side, bore the image of the Face of Jesus who died on the cross, surrounded by the biblical words: «May the light of your face shine upon us, Lord»; on the other side appeared a radiant host surrounded by the invocation: «Stay with us, Lord».
The Mother of God said: «It is a pledge of love and mercy that Jesus wishes to give to the world in these times of sensuality and hatred toward God and the Church… Diabolical snares are being laid to tear faith from hearts… A divine remedy is necessary. And this remedy is the Holy Face of Jesus».
In 1958, Pope Pius XII declared the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus to be celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday).
