Holy Face Medal

The Holy Face Medal

The Holy Face Medal is associated especially with Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli, who helped spread this devotion as a visible reminder of the suffering Face of Jesus and His hidden Eucharistic presence.

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Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli

Sister Marie of St. Peter

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

A medal of reparation and confidence

The Holy Face Medal places before the faithful a simple but profound message: look at Jesus, remember His Passion, honor His Holy Name, and live in His Eucharistic presence. Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli, an Italian religious sister, became closely associated with promoting this medal in the twentieth century. The medal helped bring the devotion from chapels and religious communities into the hands of ordinary Catholics.

The image used for the medal is traditionally connected with the Holy Face of Jesus and devotion to the Holy Shroud. Its purpose is not decoration. It is a call to prayer. It asks the person who wears or venerates it to make reparation, to avoid irreverence, to love the Holy Name, and to remember that the suffering Face of Jesus is also the Face hidden in the Eucharist.

Blessed Maria Pierina and the spread of the medal

Blessed Maria Pierina understood the Holy Face devotion as a way of consoling Jesus and drawing souls to Him. In her life of prayer, teaching, and religious service, she promoted devotion to the Face of Christ as a path of reparation and trust. The Holy Face Medal became a portable reminder of this mission.

Like all Catholic medals, the Holy Face Medal is a sacramental, not a magic object. Its value lies in the faith, prayer, and conversion it encourages. A medal should lead the soul to confession, Mass, adoration, reverence for the Holy Name, and works of mercy. It should make the wearer more conscious of Christ’s gaze and more ready to bear His image in daily life.

How to use the medal devotionally

A person may wear the medal, keep it near a place of prayer, or use it as a reminder to pray the Golden Arrow Prayer. Families can place a Holy Face image or medal near a home prayer corner. The sick and suffering may hold it while asking Jesus to look upon them with mercy. Those praying for conversion can use it as a visible sign of confidence in the Savior’s wounded love.

The most important thing is that the medal leads to Jesus Himself. The Holy Face is not merely an emblem; it is a call to encounter the living Christ.

A reminder of Eucharistic reparation

The Holy Face Medal also reminds the faithful that the Passion and the Eucharist belong together. The Face that was struck and covered with blood is the Face of the same Lord who remains with the Church under the appearances of bread and wine. Reparation to the Holy Face therefore naturally leads to Eucharistic adoration and reverence for the Mass.

A good way to use the medal is to pair it with a daily prayer: “Holy Face of Jesus, restore Your image in me.” In this way the medal becomes a small school of holiness, calling the soul back to humility, purity, reverence, and trust.

Continue learning about the Holy Face

Return to the main Holy Face devotion page to explore the chaplet, novena, Veronica’s Veil, the Holy Face Medal, and the saints who promoted this devotion.

Back to Holy Face Devotion

Sources and further reading

This Chasing Saints guide was written from a Catholic devotional perspective and is intended to be reverent, useful, and source-aware. Suggested sources for deeper study include: