Priests of the Holy Face is a Roman Catholic religious order

Religious order

A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...

. It was canonically erected on December 8, 1876.

The order was started in 1876 by Archbishop Charles-Théodore Colet

Charles-Théodore Colet

Charles-Théodore Colet was a French Roman Catholic Archbishop.He was born in Gérardmer in France and was ordained a priest in 1831. He was appointed Bishop of Luçon in 1861 and the Archbishop of Tours in 1874....

 of Tours in order to administer the Oratory of the Holy Face

Oratory of the Holy Face

The Oratory of the Holy Face is a Roman Catholic prayer oratory in Tours France. It is the site where devotions to the Holy Face of Jesus started in Tours by Venerable Leo Dupont based on messages reported by Sister Marie of St. Peter...

, where prayers to the Holy Face of Jesus

Holy Face of Jesus

The Holy Face of Jesus is a title for specific images which some Catholics believe to have been miraculously formed representations of the face of Jesus Christ...

 are recited. Father Peter Javier was its first director.

The oratory started based on the devotion of Venerable Leo Dupont

Leo Dupont

Venerable Leo Dupont , also known as "The Holy Man of Tours," or the "Apostle of the Holy Face", was a religious figure in the Roman Catholic faith who helped spread various Catholic devotions such as the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and nightly Eucharistic Adoration...

, the Apostle of the Holy Face. By the end of the 19th century Priests of the Holy Face also had a residence in Rome.

Sources

• Joan Carroll Cruz, OCDS. "Saintly Men of Modern Times." (2003) ISBN 1931709777 page 195