Chaplet of the Holy Face of Jesus: How to Pray It

The Chaplet of the Holy Face is a short devotion of thirty-nine beads that honors the suffering Face of Jesus and makes reparation for blasphemy, given to the Church through Sister Mary of St. Peter, a Carmelite nun of Tours, France, in the 1840s. Its thirty-three small beads recall the thirty-three years of Christ’s life, and its six large beads honor His five senses and the wounds of His Face. Below is how to pray the Chaplet of the Holy Face step by step, the description given in the 1887 manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face, the Golden Arrow prayer, a prayer of reparation, and the history of the devotion.

How to pray the Chaplet of the Holy Face

The chaplet has a cross, six large beads, thirty-three small beads and a medal of the Holy Face. The thirty-three small beads are arranged in five groups of six, followed by one group of three, and each group begins with a large bead.

On the cross: Make the Sign of the Cross and say, “O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.” Then pray the Glory Be.
On each large bead: Say, “My Jesus, mercy!” The first five large beads honor the five senses of Jesus: touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste. The sixth honors all the wounds of His Holy Face.
On each small bead: Say, “Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let all that hate Thee flee from before Thy Face.”
After each group of small beads: Pray the Glory Be. With the Glory Be said on the cross, it is prayed seven times in all, in honor of the seven last words of Jesus and the seven sorrows of Mary.
On the medal: Finish with, “O God, our Protector, look on us, and cast Thine eyes upon the Face of Thy Christ.”

Many people also pray the Golden Arrow (below) before or after the chaplet. It takes about ten minutes.

The chaplet as described in 1887

The original description, from the Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face published at Tours in 1887:

The little chaplet of the Holy Face has for its object the honouring of the five senses of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of entreating God for the triumph of his Church. This chaplet is composed of a cross of thirty nine beads, six of which are large, and thirty three small, and of a medal of the Holy Face. It is well to recite it every day, in order to obtain from God, by means of the Face of His well beloved Son, the triumph of our mother the Catholic Church, and the downfall of her enemies. The Cross recalls to us the mystery of our Redemption; we must sign ourselves with it and make the invocation: Deus, in adjutorium meum intende: Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina; followed by the Gloria Patri. The thirty three small beads represent the thirty three years of the mortal life of our Lord. The first thirty recall to mind the thirty years of his private life, and are divided into five sixes with the intention of honouring the five senses of the touch, of the hearing, of the sight, of the smell and of the taste of Jesus, which have their seat principally in His Holy Face, and of rendering homage to all the sufferings which our Lord endured in His Face, through each one of these senses. Each of these sixes is preceded by a large bead in honour of the sense which it is intended to honour, and is followed by a Gloria Patri. The three small beads recall to mind the public life of the Saviour and have for their object the honouring of all the wounds of His adorable Face; the large bead which precedes them has the same object in view and is followed by a Gloria Patri. On each bead, must be said: My Jesus, mercy! (100 days of indulgence.) And on each small one: Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let all that hate Thee flee from before Thy Face.

The Gloria is repeated seven times, in order to honour the seven words of Jesus upon the Cross, and the seven dolours of the Immaculate Virgin. When terminating it, we must say over the medal: God, our Protector, look on us, and cast Thy eyes upon the Face of Thy Christ.

The two Scripture verses of the chaplet come from the Psalms (Psalm 67:2 and Psalm 83:10, Douay-Rheims; Psalms 68 and 84 in modern Bibles):

Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face.

Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.

The Golden Arrow prayer

Sister Mary of St. Peter wrote that Our Lord gave her this act of praise, which He called “the Golden Arrow,” to make reparation for blasphemy and to wound His Heart with love. From the 1887 manual:

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God, be for ever praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in heaven, on earth and in hell, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.

A prayer of reparation to the Holy Face

O Lord Jesus, after contemplating Thy features, disfigured by anguish, and after meditating upon Thy Passion, how can my heart not be consumed with love for Thee, and hatred for those sins which, even at this day, wound Thy adorable Face? Permit me not, O Lord! to feel merely compassion alone; make of me a worthy child of Mary, and accord me the grace, as Thou didst to Thy divine Mother, to follow Thee so closely on this new calvary, that the insults destined for Thee, O Jesus! may fall upon me, a member of Thy Holy Church and cause me to undertake with courage the duty of expiation and of love. Amen.

History of the Holy Face devotion

Sister Mary of St. Peter (1816–1848), born Perrine Eluere, was a Carmelite nun of Tours. Between 1843 and 1847 she reported that Christ asked for a work of reparation for blasphemy and for the profanation of Sunday, and that He gave His Holy Face as the object of this devotion: as the Face of Jesus was outraged in His Passion, so it is outraged again by blasphemy. She gave the Church the Golden Arrow and the Little Chaplet.
Venerable Léon Dupont (1797–1876), “the holy man of Tours,” kept a lamp burning before a picture of the Holy Face in his home from 1851 until his death, and many healings were reported there. After his death his house became the Oratory of the Holy Face.
The Archconfraternity. In 1885 Pope Leo XIII raised the Confraternity of the Holy Face at Tours to an archconfraternity for the whole world.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux took the religious name “Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face” and wrote prayers to the Holy Face. See the St. Thérèse prayer.
The Veil of Veronica. The devotion is closely connected with the sixth Station of the Cross, where Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus. See the Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus.

Devotees keep the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday as a day in honor of the Holy Face. See Shrove Tuesday.

Scripture: seeking the Face of God

My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.
Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.

Frequently asked questions

How many beads are on the Chaplet of the Holy Face?

Thirty-nine: thirty-three small beads for the years of Christ’s life and six large beads, with a cross and a medal of the Holy Face.

What do you say on the small beads of the Holy Face chaplet?

“Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let all that hate Thee flee from before Thy Face” (Psalm 67:2).

What is the Golden Arrow prayer?

An act of praise of the Holy Name of God, given to Sister Mary of St. Peter, prayed in reparation for blasphemy.

Is there a novena to the Holy Face?

Many people pray the chaplet for nine days as a novena, especially before Ash Wednesday.

More chaplets and devotions

Texts and sources

Abbé P. Janvier, Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face, trans. Mrs. A. R. Bennett (Tours: Oratory of the Holy Face, 1887), “Little Chaplet of the Holy Face,” “The Golden Arrow” and “Prayer of Reparation,” public domain (archive.org).
Psalm 67:2, Psalm 83:10 and Psalm 26:8–9 (Douay-Rheims).