The Manoppello Image. In 1999, Father Heinnrich Pfeiffer announced at a press conference in Rome that he had found the Veil in a church of the Capuchin monastery, in the small village of Manoppello, Italy, where it had been since 1660. Professor Pfeiffer had in fact been promoting this image for many years before.[17]
According to local tradition, an anonymous pilgrim arrived in 1508 with the cloth inside a wrapped package. The pilgrim gave it to Dr. Giacomo Antonio Leonelli, who was sitting on a bench in front of the church. The doctor went into the church and opened the parcel containing the Veil. At once he went out of the church but he did not find the bearer of the packet. The Veil was owned by the Leonelli family until 1608. Pancrazio Petrucci, a soldier married to a female member of the family, Marzia Leonelli, stole the Veil from his father-in-law’s house. A few years later, Marzia sold it for 4 scudi to Doctor Donato Antonio De Fabritiis to pay a ransom demand for her husband who was then a prisoner in Chieti. The Veil was given by De Fabritiis to the Capuchins who still hold it today. This history was documented by Father Donato da Bomba in his “Relatione historica” following researches started in 1640.
Professor Pfeiffer claims that the image is the Veronica itself, which he suggests was stolen from the Vatican during rebuilding that took place in 1506, before the Sack of Rome. He further suggests it is the cloth placed over Jesus' face in the tomb and the image was a by-product of the forces unleashed by the resurrection, forces he also believes formed the image on the Shroud of Turin. Additionally he has suggested a history of the veil going back to the first Century. His narrative though is unsupported by evidence and is indistinguishable from fiction. There is no official evidence connecting the cloth with Rome. However, some have observed bits of glass embedded in the cloth, suggesting a connection between it and its former glass container in St. Peters, said to be smashed open when the cloth was stolen. Nevertheless, the cloth has received much publicity in recent years and Pope Benedict XVI visited the veil on 1 September 2006.
The cloth is made of a rare fiber called byssus, which is linen woven from a fine, yellowish flax referred to as sea silk, and used by ancient Egyptians and Hebrews.[18] According to Paul Badde, the Vatican Correspondent for Die Welt, this is a kind of fabric which is usually only found in the graves of Egyptian pharaohs.[19]
Some feel that, despite claims of divine origins, the face on the veil at Manoppello conforms in appearance to the characteristics of a man-made image.[citation needed] Stylistically it is similar to images dating to the late Middle Ages or early renaissance; typical of representations of the human form from this period, it is imperfectly executed, with numerous stylised features, showing that the artist either did not understand, or did not wish to comply with the basic principles of proportion that apply to realistic renderings of the human form.[citation needed] However, some features, such as the crooked nose, might show the beaten, bruised and human Christ that people would expect to see in an actual divine image.
Indeed, it is far from certain that the face depicted has any connection with Jesus at all - one writer suggests that it is in fact a lost self portrait by artist Albrecht Dürer (article).
A further objection, advanced by Ian Wilson, is that because the image does not bear a familial resemblance to known copies (see above), it cannot be the version of the Veronica that was venerated in the Middle Ages.[17] However, author Paul Badde in his 2010 book The Face of God, shows that Wilson's claim is incorrect. He shows illustrations of images made prior to 1608 of an openned eyed and open mouthed man just like the Manoppello image. After, 1608 most copies of the image changed to show closed eyes and a closed mouth. Badde contends that around this time is when the true image was stolen from the Vatican while it was to be moved to a new chapel which was under construction. Badde also points out that the original case with broken glass is on display at the Vatican museum and that it had glass on both sides. Only the image of Manoppello is visible from both sides of the cloth, thus the original case must have contained a like cloth to be visible from both sides.[20]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_of_Veronica

The Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium (Latin for sweat-cloth), often called simply "The Veronica" and known in Italian as the Volto Santo or Holy Face (but not to be confused with the carved crucifix Volto Santo of Lucca) is a Catholic relic, which, according to legend, bears the likeness of the Face of Jesus not made by human hand (i.e. an Acheiropoieton).
The most recent version of the legend recounts that Saint Veronica from Jerusalem encountered Jesus along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary. When she paused to wipe the sweat (Latin suda) off his face with her veil, his image was imprinted on the cloth. The event is commemorated by one of the Stations of the Cross. According to some versions, Veronica later traveled to Rome to present the cloth to the Roman Emperor Tiberius and the veil possesses miraculous properties, being able to quench thirst, cure blindness, and sometimes even raise the dead.
The story is not recorded in its present form until the Middle Ages and for this reason, is unlikely to be historical. Rather, its origins are more likely to be found in the story of the image of Jesus associated with the Eastern Church known as the Mandylion, coupled with the desire of the faithful be able to see the face of their Redeemer. During the fourteenth century it became a central icon in the Western Church – in the words of Art Curator Neil Macgregor – “From [the 14th Century] on, wherever the Roman Church went, the Veronica would go with it.”[1]
There is no reference to the story of Veronica and her veil in the canonical Gospels. The closest is the miracle of the woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment (Luke 8:43-48); her name is later identified as Veronica by the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate". The story was later elaborated in the 11th century by adding that Christ gave her a portrait of himself on a cloth, with which she later cured Tiberius. The linking of this with the bearing of the cross in the Passion, and the miraculous appearance of the image was made by Roger d'Argenteuil's Bible in French in the 13th century,[2] and gained further popularity following the internationally popular work, Meditations on the life of Christ of about 1300 by a Pseudo-Bonaventuran author. It is also at this point that other depictions of the image change to include a crown of thorns, blood, and the expression of a man in pain,[3] and the image became very common throughout Catholic Europe, forming part of the Arma Christi, and with the meeting of Jesus and Veronica becoming one of the Stations of the Cross.
On the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem there is a small chapel, known as the Chapel of the Holy Face.[4] Traditionally, this is regarded as the home of St Veronica and site of the miracle.[5]
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the name "Veronica" is a colloquial portmanteau of the Latin word Vera, meaning truth, and Greek Icon meaning "image"; the Veil of Veronica was therefore largely regarded in medieval times as "the true image", and the truthful representation of Jesus, preceding the Shroud of Turin.[6]
[edit] History of the Veronica
While the story has no basis in written history prior to the Middle Ages, there is no doubt that there was a physical image displayed in Rome in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which was known and venerated as the Veil of Veronica. The history of that image is however, somewhat problematic.
It has often been assumed that the Veronica was present in the old St Peter's in the papacy of John VII (705-8) as a chapel known as the Veronica chapel was built during his reign, and this seems to have been the assumption of later writers. This is far from certain however as mosaics which decorated that chapel do not refer to the Veronica story in any way. Furthermore, contemporaneous writers make no reference to the Veronica in this period. It would appear however that the Veronica was in place by 1011 when a scribe was identified as keeper of the cloth.[7]
However, firm recording of the Veronica only begins in 1199 when two pilgrims named Gerald de Barri (Giraldus Cambrensis) and Gervase of Tilbury made two accounts at different times of a visit to Rome which made direct reference to the existence of the Veronica. Shortly after that, in 1207, the cloth became more prominent when it was publicly paraded and displayed by Pope Innocent III, who also granted indulgences to anyone praying before it. This parade, between St Peter's and The Santo Spirito Hospital, became an annual event and on one such occasion in 1300 Pope Boniface VIII, who had it translated to St. Peter's in 1297, was inspired to proclaim the first Jubilee in 1300. During this Jubilee the Veronica was publicly displayed and became one of the "Mirabilia Urbis" ("wonders of the City") for the pilgrims who visited Rome. For the next two hundred years the Veronica, retained at Old St Peter's, was regarded as the most precious of all Christian relics; there Pedro Tafur, a Spanish visitor in 1436, noted:
On the right hand is a pillar as high as a small tower, and in it is the holy Veronica. When it is to be exhibited an opening is made in the roof of the church and a wooden chest or cradle is let down, in which are two clerics, and when they have descended, the chest or cradle is drawn up, and they, with the greatest reverence, take out the Veronica and show it to the people, who make concourse there upon the appointed day. It happens often that the worshippers are in danger of their lives, so many are they and so great is the press.Pedro Tafur, Andanças e viajes.
When the Sack of Rome occurred in 1527, some writers recorded that the veil had been destroyed: Messer Unbano to the Duchess of Urbino say that the Veronica was stolen and passed around the taverns of Rome.[8] Other writers however, testify to its continuing presence in the Vatican and one witness to the sacking states that the Veronica was not found by the looters.[9]
Many artists of the time created reproductions of the Veronica, again suggesting its survival, but in 1616, Pope Paul V prohibited the manufacture of further copies unless made by a canon of Saint Peter's Basilica. In 1629, Pope Urban VIII not only prohibited reproductions of the Veronica from being made, but also ordered the destruction of all existing copies. His edict declared that anyone who had access to a copy must bring it to the Vatican, under penalty of excommunication.
After that the Veronica disappears almost entirely from public view, and its subsequent history is unrecorded. As there is no conclusive evidence that it ever left St Peter's, the possibility exists that it remains there to this day; this would be consistent with such limited information as the Vatican has provided in recent centuries.
[edit] Images traditionally connected with the Veil of Veronica
There are at least six images in existence which bear a marked resemblance to each other and which are claimed to be the original Veil, a direct copy of it or, in two cases, the Mandylion. Each member of this group is enclosed in an elaborate outer frame with a gilded metal sheet (or riza in Russian) within, in which is cut an aperture where the face appears; at the lower extreme of the face there are three points which correspond to the shape of the hair and beard.

The Vatican Veronica.

The Holy Face of Vienna.

The Holy Face of Alicante.

The Holy Face of Jaén.
[edit] St. Peter's Basilica
There is certainly an image kept in St Peter’s Basilica which purports to be the same Veronica as was revered in the Middle Ages. This image is stored in the chapel which lies behind the balcony in the south west pier which supports the dome.
Very few inspections are recorded in modern times and there are no detailed photographs. The most detailed recorded inspection of the 20th century occurred in 1907 when Jesuit art historian Joseph Wilpert was allowed to remove two plates of glass to inspect the image. He commented that he saw only "a square piece of light coloured material, somewhat faded through age, which bear two faint rust-brown stains, connected one to the other".[10]
Nevertheless, the face is still displayed each year on the occasion of the 5th Sunday of Lent, Passion Sunday. The blessing takes place after the traditional Vespers at 5.00 pm. There is a short procession within the basilica, accompanied by the Roman litany. A bell rings and three canons carry the heavy frame out on the balcony above the statue of St. Veronica holding the veil (Photograph). From this limited view no image is discernible and it is only possible to see the shape of the inner frame.
[edit] The Hofburg Palace, Vienna
This is an important copy of the Veronica, identified by the signature of P. Strozzi in the right hand corner of the inner frame. He was the secretary of Pope Paul V, and a man referred to by Vatican notary Jacopo Grimaldi as making a series of six meticulous copies of the veil in 1617.S[11]
The outside of the frame is relatively modern, while the inner frame is roughly made and corresponds to the cut-out pattern of earlier copies. The face within is very unclear, more a series of blotches in which only the bare elements of a nose, eyes and mouth can be identified. This argues for the authenticity of the copy as there is clearly no attempt at artistic enhancement. Furthermore, the fact of its being copied from the Vatican copy after the Sack of Rome in 1527 suggests that the original image may have survived that event.
It is kept in the Schatzkammer of Sacred and Secular Treasurers of the Habsburg dynasty in the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.
[edit] Monastery of the Holy Face, Alicante, Spain
This relic was acquired by Pope Nicholas V from relatives of the Byzantine Emperor in 1453. This veil was given by a Vatican cardinal to a Spanish priest, Mosen Pedro Mena, who took it to Alicante, in southern Spain, where it arrived in 1489, at the same time as a severe drought. Carried in a procession on 17 March by an Alicante priest, Father Villafranca, a tear sprang from the eye of the face of Christ on the veil and rain began to fall. The relic is now housed in the Monastery of the Holy Face (Monasterio de la Santa Faz), on the outskirts of Alicante, in a chapel built in 1611 and decorated between 1677 and 1680 by the sculptor José Vilanova, the gilder Pere Joan Valero and the painter Juan Conchillos. The chapel is decorated with paintings depicting the miraculous termination of the drought, local personalities associated with the founding of the chapel and religious themes of judgment and salvation. The Monastery was extensively restored between 2003-6, together with the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas and the Basilica of St Mary in the city centre, and the three buildings housed an exhibition in 2006 about the relic under the name of The Face of Eternity.[12]
[edit] Jaén Cathedral, Jaén, Spain
The cathedral of Jaén in Jaén, Southern Spain has a copy of the Veronica which probably dates from the fourteenth century and originates in Siena. It is kept in a shrine by the high altar and is annually exhibited to the people on Good Friday and on the Feast of the Assumption.
It is known as the Santo Rostro and was acquired by Bishop Nicholas de Biedma in the 14th Century.[13]
[edit] Similar images connected with the Mandylion
[edit] Holy Face of Genoa

The Holy Face of San Silvestro, now in the Matilda chapel in the Vatican.
This image is kept in the modest Church of St Bartholomew of The Armenians, Genoa, where it was given to the city’s 14th Century Doge Leonardo Montaldo by the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologus.
It has been the subject of a detailed 1969 study by Colette Dufour Bozzo, who dated the outer frame to the late 14th Century,[14] while the inner frame and the image itself are believed to have originated earlier. Bozzo found that the image was imprinted on a cloth that had been pasted onto a wooden board.[15]
The similarity of the image with the Veil of Veronica suggests a link between the two traditions.
[edit] Holy Face of S. Silvestro
This image was kept in Rome’s church of S. Silvestro up to 1870 and is now kept in the Matilda chapel in the Vatican. It is housed in a Baroque frame donated by one Sister Dionora Chiarucci in 1623.[16] The earliest evidence of its existence is 1517 when the nuns were forbidden to exhibit it to avoid competition with the Veronica.
Like the Genoa image, it is painted on board and therefore is likely to be a copy.
It was exhibited at Germany’s Expo 2000 in the pavilion of the Holy See.
[edit] The Manoppello Image

The Manoppello Image.
In 1999, Father Heinnrich Pfeiffer announced at a press conference in Rome that he had found the Veil in a church of the Capuchin monastery, in the small village of Manoppello, Italy, where it had been since 1660. Professor Pfeiffer had in fact been promoting this image for many years before.[17]
According to local tradition, an anonymous pilgrim arrived in 1508 with the cloth inside a wrapped package. The pilgrim gave it to Dr. Giacomo Antonio Leonelli, who was sitting on a bench in front of the church. The doctor went into the church and opened the parcel containing the Veil. At once he went out of the church but he did not find the bearer of the packet. The Veil was owned by the Leonelli family until 1608. Pancrazio Petrucci, a soldier married to a female member of the family, Marzia Leonelli, stole the Veil from his father-in-law’s house. A few years later, Marzia sold it for 4 scudi to Doctor Donato Antonio De Fabritiis to pay a ransom demand for her husband who was then a prisoner in Chieti. The Veil was given by De Fabritiis to the Capuchins who still hold it today. This history was documented by Father Donato da Bomba in his “Relatione historica” following researches started in 1640.
Professor Pfeiffer claims that the image is the Veronica itself, which he suggests was stolen from the Vatican during rebuilding that took place in 1506, before the Sack of Rome. He further suggests it is the cloth placed over Jesus' face in the tomb and the image was a by-product of the forces unleashed by the resurrection, forces he also believes formed the image on the Shroud of Turin. Additionally he has suggested a history of the veil going back to the first Century. His narrative though is unsupported by evidence and is indistinguishable from fiction. There is no official evidence connecting the cloth with Rome. However, some have observed bits of glass embedded in the cloth, suggesting a connection between it and its former glass container in St. Peters, said to be smashed open when the cloth was stolen. Nevertheless, the cloth has received much publicity in recent years and Pope Benedict XVI visited the veil on 1 September 2006.
The cloth is made of a rare fiber called byssus, which is linen woven from a fine, yellowish flax referred to as sea silk, and used by ancient Egyptians and Hebrews.[18] According to Paul Badde, the Vatican Correspondent for Die Welt, this is a kind of fabric which is usually only found in the graves of Egyptian pharaohs.[19]
Some feel that, despite claims of divine origins, the face on the veil at Manoppello conforms in appearance to the characteristics of a man-made image.[citation needed] Stylistically it is similar to images dating to the late Middle Ages or early renaissance; typical of representations of the human form from this period, it is imperfectly executed, with numerous stylised features, showing that the artist either did not understand, or did not wish to comply with the basic principles of proportion that apply to realistic renderings of the human form.[citation needed] However, some features, such as the crooked nose, might show the beaten, bruised and human Christ that people would expect to see in an actual divine image.
Indeed, it is far from certain that the face depicted has any connection with Jesus at all - one writer suggests that it is in fact a lost self portrait by artist Albrecht Dürer (article).
A further objection, advanced by Ian Wilson, is that because the image does not bear a familial resemblance to known copies (see above), it cannot be the version of the Veronica that was venerated in the Middle Ages.[17] However, author Paul Badde in his 2010 book The Face of God, shows that Wilson's claim is incorrect. He shows illustrations of images made prior to 1608 of an openned eyed and open mouthed man just like the Manoppello image. After, 1608 most copies of the image changed to show closed eyes and a closed mouth. Badde contends that around this time is when the true image was stolen from the Vatican while it was to be moved to a new chapel which was under construction. Badde also points out that the original case with broken glass is on display at the Vatican museum and that it had glass on both sides. Only the image of Manoppello is visible from both sides of the cloth, thus the original case must have contained a like cloth to be visible from both sides.[20]
[edit] Representative art

Sudarium of Saint Veronica, engraving by Claude Mellan (1649), a famous virtuoso piece consisting of a single line beginning on the tip of Christ's nose.

The Chapel of The Holy Face on the Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem.

Veronica's veil, painting by Domenico Fetti (c. 1620).
There are two main traditions for the iconography of the face depicted on the veil. One tradition (Type I), common in Italian art, shows the face of Christ as full-bearded, in pain, scourged and perhaps crowned with thorns. Another (Type II), common in Russian and Spanish art, shows Christ's face more often in repose, hair extending to shoulder length and a bifurcated beard, often surrounded by a halo quartered in a cross.
Type I
Veronica's Veil Domenico Fetti, circa 1620.
Holy Face Giambono, fifteenth century. Civic Museum, Pavia, Italy.
Holy Face Held by Two Angels Juan Sánchez Cotan, 1620-1625. Monastery of Cartuja, Granada.
Holy Face Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco). Convent of Capuchin Nuns, Toledo.
Veronica's Veil Francisco de Zurbarán, seventeenth century. Parish Church of St Peter, Seville.
Type II
Sudarium of Saint Veronica Claude Mellan, 1649.
Diptych of Saint Veronica with Christ and the Virgin Mary Bernardo Martorelli, fifteenth century. Museum of Mallorca.
Holy Face, anonymous, early 17th century. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Holy Face Simon Ushakov, 1678. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Miracle of the Tear Juan Conchillos, 1680. Lady Chapel of the Monastery of the Holy Face, Alicante.
Miracle of the Three faces Juan de Miranda, 1767. Alicante Ayuntamiento.
Saint Veronica Antonio Castillo Lastrucci, 1946. Basilica of St Mary, Alicante.
[edit] See also
Acheiropoieta
Black Madonna of Częstochowa
Image of Edessa
Relics attributed to Jesus
Shroud of Turin
Sudarium of Oviedo
[edit] Notes
^ ”Seeing Salvation” Images of Christ in Art, Neil MacGregor, ISBN 0563551119.
^ G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II,1972 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, pp. 78-9, ISBN 853313245
^ G Schiller, op. & page cit
^ The Via Dolorosa - Jerusalem, Israel
^ אתר'ם- קבצ'ם
^ CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Veronica
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 175
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 112
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 113
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 63
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 157
^ Visitor's Guide to the Exposición La Luz de las Imagenes - La Faz de la Eternidad, Alicante 2006.
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 94
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 162
^ Wilson, ibid, page 88
^ Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 193
^ a b Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 161
^ Phyllis Tortora & Robert Merkel (Editors), 1996, Fairchild's Dictionary of Textiles, page 82
^ Inside the Vatican October 2004
^ The Face of God: The Rediscovery of the True Face of Jesus, Igantius Press, Paul badde, 2010.
[edit] References
Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places,Corgi, ISBN 0-552-13590-9
[edit] Further reading
Bennett, Janice (2001). Sacred Blood, Sacred Image: The Sudarium of Oviedo, New Evidence for the Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN0970568207.
Joan Carroll Cruz, OCDS, Miraculous Images of Our Lord. ISBN 0-89555-496-8
EEwa Kuryluk, Veronica and Her Cloth: History, Symbolism, and Structure of a True Image. ISBN 0631178139
[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Veil of Veronica
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
"St. Veronica and the Volto Santo"
official website of Capuchin Friars of Manoppello
St. Veronica in St. Peter's
"German website Volto-Santo.com"
"Polish website Volto Santo di Manoppello"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_of_Veronica

The Holy Face

A mysterious piece of cloth has been kept for centuries in a remote Franciscan church; the local people believe it is miraculously imprinted with the image of Christ's face

by Renzo Allegri

The 'Holy Face' of Manoppello

DURING THE EASTER celebrations, our thoughts may easily be led to the Shroud of Turin, the mysterious linen wrapping which, according to tradition, is said to have enveloped Jesus' body.
One of the inexplicable facts about the Shroud of Turin is that we simply do not know how the image of that body bearing all the signs of the Passion was impressed on the cloth: it was not painted because there are no traces of paint on it; nor was it drawn or printed in any way; finally, the image was not burnt-drawn.
The Shroud, however, is not the only cloth which purports to have touched our Saviour's body. John's Gospel does, in fact, mention two cloths: 'Then Simon Peter came... and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.' (Jn 20: 6-7) Thus John clearly differentiates between this smaller face cloth, the sudarium (sweat cloth) and the larger linen that had wrapped the body.
Which is the true cloth?
While the Shroud of Turin is almost universally regarded as the larger linen, two smaller cloths (sudaria) make rival claims to represent the smaller face cloth.
One of these sudaria has long been kept in the Cathedral of Oviedo in Spain. This cloth measures approximately 33 in x 21 in, but there is no image on it. Only stains are visible to the naked eye. The other sudarium is of an altogether different quality, and will be the subject of this article. This most delicate and precious veil is kept in the church of the Capuchins at Manopello, near Pescara, in the Abruzzi region of central Italy, and is known as the Volto Santo (Holy Face) because it bears an impressive image of the face of a human being.
This month the little township of Manopello is celebrating 500 years of the presence within its walls of this enigmatic Veil.
Image of Resurrection?
The Veil of Manopello is drawing increasing interest from the scientific community, and many people are beginning to refer to it as a 'second' Shroud of Turin.
I had the great privilege of seeing the Veil at great length and at close range when I first saw it in 1978. It was then still relatively unknown and it had not yet been scientifically examined.
Fr. Luciano Antonelli, the then Guardian of the Convent, received me with kindness, and personally escorted me to the main altar where the Veil, kept within a large silver monstrance, was exhibited to the faithful.
On a very thin and delicate linen cloth, measuring about 14in x 16in, I saw the image of a face. The colours were soft and shaded, but the face emanated great serenity, despite the numerous signs of violence in the form of bruises, cuts and swellings. I took a long look at it from many different angles.
The Veil bears the bearded face of a man with side-curls (Jewish peyoth) whose nose has been hit. The right cheek is swollen, the beard partly ripped off. The forehead and lips have on them hints of pink, suggesting freshly healed wounds. Inexplicable peace fills the gaze out of the wide open eyes. Amazement, astonishment, surprise. Gentle compassion. No despair, no pain, no wrath. It is like the face of a man who has just awakened to a new morning. His mouth is half open. Even his teeth are visible. If one had to give a precise phrase to the word the lips are forming, it would be just a soft 'Ah'.
Scientific enigma
'The Veil is protected by two sealed glass panes,' Fr. Luciano told me. 'It is so thin that it is almost transparent. One can read a newspaper placed behind it.' The Franciscan friar then added, 'Naturally, various hypothesis have been put forward to explain this mysterious phenomenon. At first it was thought the work of a very talented artist, but this possibility was soon ruled out by a team of scientists and painters. In fact, some artists even tried to reproduce the image onto a similar-type cloth, but all these attempts failed miserably. This cloth is a real scientific enigma. Besides the mystery of its transparency, that image is like a slide, in other words, it is the same whether you look at it from the front or from behind.'
Fr. Luciano then turned the Veil around and the image remained identical. 'This phenomenon has been carefully studied, the most powerful microscopes have been used, and no difference whatever on the two sides has been found. In other words, if the image had been painted, even the slightest microscopic blur appearing on only one side would cause the image to appear differently from the other side. These and other aspects of the Veil reveal its unique character.'
A long time has passed since that last visit, and the Veil continues to be kept in the same silver monstrance.
An Italian journalist
To collect more information on the enigmatic Veil I decided to visit Saverio Gaeta, a Catholic journalist who has recently authored a book on the Holy Face of Manopello called L'altra Sindone (The Other Shroud) published by Mondadori. Unfortunately, the book has yet to be translated into English. Besides writing numerous books on Christianity, Gaeta is the executive editor of Famiglia Cristiana , Italy's leading Catholic weekly.
'Many details about the history of the Veil are still unclear, and will probably remain so for ever. However, the information uncovered so far is highly indicative,' Gaeta told me, and then added with a certain emphasis, 'There is no longer any doubt about it: that image was held in the great veneration since the first centuries of Christianity. Even when it was in Rome at St. Peter's, before ending up in Manopello, it was the object of the highest veneration, drawing pilgrims from all over Europe. It was the blueprint for all the paintings of Christ. This was until the horrifying Sack of Rome, which occurred in May, 1527.' The writer then continued with a description of that ghastly episode, 'For several months the Holy City suffered the worst assault it had ever known. Nothing was spared, sacred or profane, and the Veil also disappeared.'
Let's start from the beginning. What background information do we have on the cloth?
Not much. The history of the Veil is rather complicated and fragmented. My book is a product of synthesis, and a lot of work went into it. We only have circumstantial evidence about the origins of the Manopello Veil; it is all based on tradition. The Evangelists and the Early Church Fathers often talk about the 'relics belonging to Jesus' Passion'. From the second to the fourth centuries there is much documentary evidence of people claiming they saw and revered the 'cloths' which had enveloped Jesus' body. These cloths were carefully guarded because they were seen as proof of Jesus' Resurrection.
'Most of these sources speak of more than one cloth. Some specify them as being a 'sheet' (the Shroud of Turin), and a sudarium (a sweat cloth for the head only). This last item was generally made of precious material. The Veil of Manopello appears to be made of byssus, a super-fine silk made from the 'beard' that mussels use to attach themselves to rocks. This material was used in the ancient world to make the finest cloths for pharaohs and Jewish high priests. Tradition has it that the Veil was a present from Nicodemus to the Virgin Mary, who placed it over her son's face in compliance with Jewish funeral tradition. This Veil was always spoken of in the first centuries of Christianity, and its presence was recorded in Jerusalem, in Memphis (Egypt), and in Turkey.
According to a very ancient tradition, Jesus himself gave his own image as a gift to one of the pious women who were following Him on His path to Mount Calvary - that woman's name was Veronica. This tradition has been incorporated into Catholic practice as the 6th station of the 14 Stations of the Cross, but the Gospels do not mention any woman by the name of Veronica. The name 'Veronica' is probably a lexical alteration of the Medieval Latin vera conica, which means 'true icon' (true image), and so the whole story could be a metaphor to indicate that the image on the Manopello Veil is a faithful (true) reproduction of the Saviour's countenance.
What happened to the Veil after the first centuries?
In 574 the Veil was transferred to Constantinople by order of Emperor Justin II, and used as a labarum, the military standard or banner used to encourage armies during battles.
The seventh-century historian Theophylact Simocatta wrote that it was an image that 'was neither painted nor woven, but produced by superhuman craftsmanship'. At the beginning of the 8th century, when the iconoclasts started destroying all religious images in Constantinople, the Holy Veil was in danger so the Patriarch of Constantinople, Callincus I, despatched it to Rome via a mysterious route.
Once in the Eternal City, the relic soon became a focal point for increasing numbers of pilgrims, including kings and emperors. It was taken out in processions, and shown to the faithful in St. Peter's during the most important religious festivals. Even the famous poet, Dante Alighieri, mentions it in the Vita Nova (The New Life) and in the Divine Comedy .
And then it disappeared from Rome...
Exactly; it suddenly disappeared. We have contradictory versions of this disappearance. On the basis of research I personally carried out it seems that the Veil was stolen from St. Peter's during the Sack of Rome. During that tragic event, the Eternal City was savagely looted by the German Landsknechts and by Spanish mercenaries at the service of Emperor Charles V - thousands of innocent men women and children were brutally killed in the mayhem.
The Pope, Clement VII, only managed to save his life by repairing to the fortified bastion of Castel Sant'Angelo, from whence he later fled to the nearby town of Orvieto.
Letters have been found from a certain Urbano, the Roman agent of the Duchess of Urbino, who, in the interval of a month and a half, writes three letters to the Duchess with information on the Veil. In the first letter he writes that the Veil has been stolen, in the second that it was on sale in the taverns of Rome, and in the last that the Veil had simply vanished.
I recently came upon some very interesting documents. The commander of the Spanish garrison besieging Castel Sant'Angelo when the Pope was there, was a certain Larcon. A year before the Sack this man had been nominated by the Emperor Charles V 'Marquis of the Sicilian Valley in Abruzzo'. That area included the little town of Manopello, and was part of the Kingdom of Naples. It was therefore not under the control of the Vatican.
During the Sack of Rome that commander may had transferred the precious item to the 'Sicilian Valley in Abruzzo', and his descendants may have donated it to the Capuchin Friars who were building a church in Manopello. This occurred around 1609.
This month Manopello is celebrating the 500 year centenary of the arrival of the Holy Face. Is it true that there is a written document which proves that the Veil was donated to a noble in that region in 1506?
Yes, that document does exists. It is a reconstruction of the events that eventually brought the cloth to Manopello. It was, however, written in 1645, that is, 139 years after the purported time of arrival. Probably the Capuchin Friars, who were aware of the importance of the item, were afraid that the pope would reclaim it as his own. With that document they were therefore trying to prove that the 'Holy Face' in their possession had been in Manopello since 1506, and that it therefore could not be the Veil stolen during the time of the Sack of Rome.
What scientific research has been performed of the 'Holy Face' so far?
Not much. However the research carried our so far proves that the image could not have been performed by human hands. The actual material has not yet been examined because it is feared that, if the two sealed glass panes holding the Veil are opened, the air might damage the tissue. This has actually occurred in the past. In 1703 Friar Bonifacio d'Ascoli tried to remove the cloth from its wooden frame to place it in a more elegant one made of silver, but as soon as the Veil was removed from the old frame the image disappeared. This event, which lasted a few days, was described in detail by a report signed by various witnesses. The image reappeared only when it was returned to its old wooden frame, much to everyone's astonishment.
This strange phenomenon occurred again 11 years later, when a second attempt was made to place the cloth in a silver frame. The image again disappeared until it was returned to the original frame.
For this reason, no one has ever again ventured to separate the Veil from the two sealed glass panes protecting it.
Has an attempt been made to see if there are similarities with the Shroud of Turin?
The two faces have very different expressions. The Shroud of Turin bears the expression of a man who is clinically dead, whereas the Manopello Veil is that of a man who is alive. However, at a closer look, experts were able to come up with striking similarities. The eyes, the nose, the mouth, and the dimensions of the face are identical: the morphological indexes of the two faces coincide completely. All the cuts bruises and swellings, along with the blood clots under the skin also coincide.
Was the 'Holy Face' ever seriously examined by scientists?
Three researchers have conducted important studies on it so far. The first is Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, SJ, professor of History of Christian Art at the Gregoriana University of Rome, and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. Then Fr. Andreas Resch, Redemptorist, two university degrees and a long and acclaimed career as a researcher and university professor. Finally, Sister Blandina Paschalis Schloemer, Trappist nun and painter.
Fr. Pfeiffer, the author of numerous publications on the 'Holy Face' of Manopello, has conducted much in-depth historical research on the cloth which proved that it was know and venerated since the earliest times in the history of the Church.
Sister Blandina's starting point was the following: if the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Face of Manopello are a gift from Jesus, a memorabilia that He Himself has left us, then the face impressed on the Shroud and the one on the Veil of Manopello must be identical. If the two are superimposed, they must coincide. So she started to make various tests. She was helped in this by Fr. Resch's scientific skills. Fr. Resch brought computers to their aid and superimposed the two images.
Fr. Resch summarised their findings in the following five points. 1) The two faces coincide perfectly. 2) The two faces must therefore belong to the same person. 3) None of the two images were created by human hands. 4) Their formation was probably caused by a photo-chemical process. 5) The origin of the two images, and their exact likeness, can only be defined as paranormal, or in other words, as completely inexplicable.
Fr. Resch then applied Sr. Blandina's idea to the images of Christ in the 4th century frescos in the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus in Rome, and obtained the same results.
'This proves,' Fr. Resch notes, 'that even in those times there were precise and fixed parameters used by painters whenever they had to portray the face of Jesus. These parameters were taken from the Shroud of Turin and from the 'Holy Face' of Manopello. This would also suggest that from the earliest times the two items were considered sacred images of the face of Christ by the Christian community'
The scientific research so far performed, along with scrupulous historic research, therefore suggests that the image we admire in the 'Holy Face' of Manopello is a 'sign' from Heaven.
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Manoppello is a comune in Abruzzo, in the province of Pescara, Italy.

Church of the Volto Santo di Manoppello, housing an image which has been suggested to be the Veil of Veronica.
It is famous for having a church which contains an image which has been suggested to be the Veil of Veronica.
Also notable is the Romanesque abbey of Santa Maria Arabona.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manopello