Mary of Saint Peter (; 4 October 1816 – 8 July 1848) was a

Discalced Carmelite The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catholic mendicant ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

who lived in

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, France. She is best known for starting the devotion to the

Holy Face of Jesus The Holy Face of Jesus is a title for specific images which some Catholics believe to be miraculously formed representations of the face of Jesus Christ. The image obtained from the Shroud of Turin is associated with a specific medal worn by s ...

which is now one of the approved

Catholic devotions Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church, described as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersec ...

and for ''The Golden Arrow prayer''. She also introduced the "Little Sachet" sacramental.

Life

Marie was born Perrine Éluère on 4 October 1816 in

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

, region of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, to Peter and Frances Portier Éluère, and baptized in the Church of St. Germain. Her mother died when she was twelve and she was sent to learn dressmaking with two of her paternal aunts. On 13 November 1839 she entered the Carmelite Monastery of Tours, France, which had a particular devotion to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

. Perrine had a special devotion to the Holy Infancy of Jesus. She was professed as a Discalced Carmelite nun under the name Mary of Saint Peter and of the Holy Family () on 8 June 1841.Janvier, Pierre Désiré. ''The Life of Sister Mary St. Peter, Carmelite of Tours'', 1884
/ref> On 8 August 1843

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI (; ; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846. He had adopted the name Mauro upon enteri ...

promulgated a

papal brief A papal brief or breve (from the Latin "''breve'', meaning "short") is a formal document emanating from the pope. History The introduction of briefs, which occurred at the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Eugene IV (3 March 1431 – 23 Februa ...

for the erection of a confraternity under the patronage of

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VI ...

for the reparation of blasphemy against the Holy Name of God. Louis IX, commonly revered as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. On 26 August

Leo Dupont Leo Dupont (24 January 1797 – 18 March 1876), also known as "the holy man of Tours" or "the apostle of the Holy Face", was a Roman Catholic layman who helped spread various devotions such as that of the Holy Face of Jesus and the nightly E ...

, the "holy man of Tours", distributed among several of the communities of Tours, a prayer in honor of the Holy Name of God. The prayers had been circulated among all the religious houses of the city, but despite being on friendly terms with the Carmelites, Leo Dupont apparently forgot them. Mary reported that eighteen days later, while commencing her evening prayer Jesus made her to understand that he would give her a prayer of reparation, a "golden dagger" for blasphemy against his

Holy Name In Catholicism, the veneration of the Holy Name of Jesus (also ''Most Holy Name of Jesus'', ) developed as a separate type of devotion in the early modern period, in parallel to that of the '' Sacred Heart''. The ''Litany of the Holy Name'' is ...

. He told her that the devotion He was entrusting to her was to have as its aim not only reparation for blasphemy, but also reparation for the profanation of the Holy Day of the Lord. She invariably declared that these "communications" were neither visions, nor apparitions; that the truths shown her were not exhibited under an eternal form, nor did she physically hear what she was commissioned to relate. From 1844 to 1847 Mary of Saint Peter reported that she had "communications" from Jesus about spreading devotion to his Holy Face. She reported that she experienced what her biographer, Janvier, terms "an interior vision". Repeatedly she describes that while at meditation "The Lord gave me to understand" particular insights. According to Marie of Saint Peter, Jesus told her that he desired devotion to his Holy Face in reparation for sacrilege and blasphemy, which he described as being like a "poisoned arrow." She wrote "The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion," which she said was dictated to her by Jesus. This prayer is now a well known

Act of Reparation to Jesus Christ Reparation is a Christian Christian theology, theological concept closely connected with those of Atonement in Christianity, atonement and Satisfaction theory of atonement, satisfaction. In ascetical theology, reparation is the making of amends f ...

. The devotion that she started was promoted by Leo Dupont. Dupont prayed for and promoted the case for a devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus for around 30 years. Documents pertaining to the life of Mary of Saint Peter and the devotion were kept by the Catholic Church. Eventually, in 1874 Charles-Théodore Colet was appointed as the new Archbishop of Tours. Archbishop Colet examined the documents and in 1876 gave permission for them to be published and the devotion encouraged. The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus was eventually approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. Almost 50 years later, another French

nun,

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin; 2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), religious name, in religion Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Carmelite who is widely v ...

wrote a number of poems and prayers in the 1890s that also helped spread the devotion to the Holy Face. In the 1930s, an Italian nun,

Maria Pierina Maria Pierina De Micheli (11 September 1890 – 26 July 1945) was a Roman Catholic religious sister who was born near Milan in Italy. She is best known for her association with devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and for introducing a medal bearin ...

De Micheli associated the image of the Holy Face of Jesus from the

Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin (), also known as the Holy Shroud (), is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a naked man. Because details of the image are consistent with depiction of Jesus, traditional depictions o ...

with the devotion and made the first

Holy Face Medal The Holy Face of Jesus is a title for specific images which some Catholics believe to be miraculously formed representations of the face of Jesus Christ. The image obtained from the Shroud of Turin is associated with a specific medal worn by s ...

. The first Holy Face Medal was offered to

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

who accepted it and approved the devotion in 1958 and declared the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus as Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) for all Roman Catholics.

The Golden Arrow prayer

"The Golden Arrow prayer" is based on reports of interior conversations of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

by Mary of Saint Peter, of the Carmel of

, in 1843.Cruz, Joan Carroll, OCDS, ''Saintly Men of Modern Times'' (2003) pages 194-197 It is a prayer of reparation in praise of the Holy Name of God. It is also a reparation for the profanation of Sunday and the Holy Days of Obligation. On March 16, 1844, Jesus reportedly told Mary: "Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, Admirable is the Name of God, in a spirit of reparation for blasphemy." Mary stated that Jesus told her that the two sins which offend him the most grievously are blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday. He called this prayer the "Golden Arrow", saying that those who would recite it would pierce him delightfully, and also heal those other wounds inflicted on him by the malice of sinners. Mary of Saint Peter saw, "streaming from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, delightfully wounded by this 'Golden Arrow,' torrents of graces for the conversion of sinners". In her book she wrote that in her visions Jesus told her that an act of sacrilege or blasphemy is like a "poisoned arrow", hence the name "Golden Arrow" for this reparatory prayer. Words of the prayer: :''May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable,'' :''most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God '' :''be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored'' :''and glorified in Heaven, on earth,'' :''and under the earth, '' :''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.'' Another version: :''May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable,'' :''most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God '' :''be praised, blessed, loved, adored'' :''and glorified in heaven, on earth,'' :''and in the hells, '' :''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.''

The Little Gospel

The "Little Gospel", "Little Sachet" or the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

of the

Holy Name of Jesus In Catholicism, the veneration of the Holy Name of Jesus (also ''Most Holy Name of Jesus'', ) developed as a separate type of devotion in the early modern period, in parallel to that of the ''Sacred Heart''. The ''Litany of the Holy Name'' is ...

, is a Roman Catholic devotion that according to tradition, was mystically revealed by

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

to Mary of Saint Peter in 1847, in a monastery in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It consists of a tiny leaflet on which are printed the short Gospel of the

Circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

, consisting of

Luke Luke may refer to: People and fictional characters * Luke (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Luke (surname), including a list of people with the name * Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luk ...

2:21 which mentions the giving of the name "

"; a picture of Christ; the initials

IHS IHS may refer to: Religious * Christogram#IHS, Christogram IHS or ΙΗΣ, a monogram symbolizing Jesus Christ * ''In hoc signo'', used by Roman emperor Constantine the Great Organizations * Indian Health Service, an operating division of the US D ...

representing the

; and some invocation together with the lines, "When Jesus was named — Satan was disarmed." This leaflet is folded into a small square, enclosed in a small pouch, and distributed to the faithful, who are encouraged to frequently say: "Blessed be the Most Holy Name of Jesus without end" while wearing it.

References

Sources

* * ''The Golden Arrow: The Autobiography and Revelations of Sister Mary of St. Peter'' by Mary of St. Peter and Dorothy Scallan (May 1, 2009) * Dorothy Scallan. ''The Holy Man of Tours.'' (1990) * ''The Golden Arrow: The Autobiography and Revelations of Sister Mary of St. Peter (1816-1848 on Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus'' by Dorothy Scallan (May 1, 2009) *

External links