The Holy Face

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.