Here is a photograph of the newly re-discovered Veronica image from the Monastery in Manoppello, Italy, about 60 miles North of Rome. This is apparently the original Veronica that was stolen from St. Peter's Basilica in the early 1600s. Tradition has it that "angels brought it to the monestary" but it is suspected that a few demons (theives) were mixed into the pot.
This image is pictured THROUGH the veil from the back.
This image also appears (according to several articles) to not have any pigments. It is impressed on a diaphonous material called byssus:
(Called) the gold of the seas . . . (Raw byssus) shine like bronze in the sun. The material is produced from threads a certain kind of sea mussels (“pinna nobilis”) generate to cling to the (sea bed). (divers dive) five meters deep in the sea to collect and harvest them – (then) the (threads) are combed, then spun and woven into a most precious fabric.Byssus was the most costly fabric in the ancient world. It has been found in the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs, and it is mentioned often in the Bible, where it is said to be obligatory for the carpets of the Holy of Holies and for the "Ephod", the vestment of the high priest. Steeped in lemon, it becomes golden. In former times, soaked in cow's urine, it became paler and brighter.
The image itself is said to be visible from both sides of the nearly transparent cloth, but only appears when the light falls on the cloth correctly, fading to invisiblity at some angles of light. It almost reacts like a hologram. The facial measurements exactly match those of the face on the Shroud of Turin.
The following image is from Barrie Schworz's Shroud.com website and is the regular "negative" image of the Shroud of Turin face:
The final image is the Veronica image superimposed atop the Shroud image . . . note the faint blood "3" on the forehead...
I think Veronica's veil, however it was created was an early copy of the Shroud image... but what happened to the moustache?
