Posted on 06/09/2006 3:31:39 PM PDT by NYer
Almost four centuries after its mysterious disappearance, Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer reported that he has rediscovered one of Christendom's most intriguing relics: the Veil of Veronica, the cloth with which Jesus wiped His face on the road to Calvary.
Fr. Pfeiffer, a professor of Christian Art History in Rome, found the relic in the Abbey of Manoppello, Italy. The German Jesuit invested 13 years of searching through archives to prove that this is the same cloth that disappeared from the Vatican in 1608. Stolen, Sold and Donated The Same Face as the Shroud
Manoppello is a small, ancient town in the Abruzzo region of Italy, about 150 miles from Rome in the Apennine Mountains. The Capuchin friary there is appropriately named the Sanctuary of the Holy Face. A piece of stained, pale cloth kept in this tiny village has long been regarded by the Capuchin monks as a sacred icon with wondrous properties.
The story of St. Veronica and her veil appears in various early Christian writings. Most notably, the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate" from the sixth century, identifies Veronica with the hemorrhaging woman who was cured by touching the hem of Jesus' cloak. Veronica is described as a pious matron from Jerusalem, and numbered among the holy women who accompanied our Lord to Calvary.
During the Passion, she is said to have wiped sweat from His brow. Jesus rewarded Veronica for her charity by leaving her an imprint of His face on the "veil." She later traveled to Rome, bringing with her this image of Christ, which was long exposed to public veneration.
The almost transparent white veil measures about 6-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches and bears dark red features of a serene bearded man with long hair and open eyes, patiently enduring suffering. Bruises and other scars are apparent on his forehead. Clotted blood is on his nose, and one pupil is slightly dilated.
The sacred veil is so thin one can easily see through it. In fact, the image becomes invisible depending on the angle from which the cloth is viewed, something that was considered a miracle in itself in medieval times.
Documented history of the mysterious relic dates back to at least the fourth century. On the occasion of the first known Jubilee year, 1300, we know that the veil was kept in the Vatican Basilica as a popular goal of pilgrims, as it is mentioned in Canto XXXI of Dante's Paradiso. Fr. Pfeiffer believes the sacred relic was stolen during the restoration of the Basilica in the year 1608., when the chapel housing the veil was demolished. Shortly thereafter, the veil appeared in Manoppello.
Ten years later, in 1618, Vatican archivist Giacomo Grimaldi drew up a list of the sacred objects held in the old St. Peter's Basilica. The reliquary containing the Veil of Veronica was on that list, but Grimaldi indicated that the reliquary's crystal glass was broken.
According to records at the monastery written in 1646, the wife of a soldier sold the veil to a nobleman of Manoppello in 1608 in order to ransom her husband from prison. Thirty years later, the nobleman donated the relic to the Capuchins. In 1638, it was placed in a walnut frame adorned in silver and gold between two sheets of glass. It remained in the monastery ever since.
"There are few such objects in history," Fr. Pfeiffer explained to Rome's Zenit News Agency a few years ago. "This is not a painting. We don't know what the material is that shapes the image, but it is the color of blood."
Ultraviolet examinations of the cloth confirm that the image is not paint, and the fibers of the veil do not have any type of color. Thus, it was not woven with dyed fibers. Particularly noteworthy are several small flecks of reddish brown — presumably drops of blood from the wounds caused by the Crown of Thorns.
Enlarged digital photographs of the veil reveal that the image is identical on both sides of the cloth — a feat impossible to achieve by ancient techniques, and extremely difficult to achieve even today. These photographs have also been used to compare the veil with the face on the Shroud of Turin. Striking similarities are apparent: the faces are the same shape and size, both have shoulder-length hair with a tuft on the forehead, the noses are the same length, and the beards match. The only difference is that on the veil the mouth and eyes are open. Those who carried out the tests concluded that the two relics bear the image of the same face, "photographed" at two different times.
For those interested, the Veil of Veronica remains on display at the Capuchin Abbey of Manoppello.
OMG!! THANK YOU!!!
Forgive me for being a skeptic, but how certain are they that this is the real Crown of Thorns? Don't other churchs have various bits of this?
If you collected all the splinters of the True Cross you'd have enough to build the SuperDome.
I thought one couldn't even tell that a body was visible on the Shroud of Turin until about 100 years ago....x-ray? .....the two look remarkably alike.....I'm not buying the artist bit. I am going by the two side by side pictures, not the one that looks like it was a Raphael.
Double OMG!! Great work!! I won't even ask how you did that!!
I don't know about the Cross, but I do believe the Crown of Thorns. The Catholic Church is a very skeptical Church, they do a tremendous amount of investigation. There was an order of nuns and priests that see after the Crown, they have it's provenance, and it's in an area all by itself in Notre Dame..it's in red velvet in a glasscase....and it wasn't all that big. I believe it with all my heart.
The Shroud of Turin has always showed both the frontal and dorsal images of a crucified man, head to head. These images were very hard to see close up... in fact, you couldn't. You had to be standing at least 10 feet away to start seeing the pale images. Blood stains were apparent at both close and far distances.
In 1898, Secondo Pia, an Itallian amateur photographer, took the first photographs of the Shroud and found that his glass plate negative was actually a positive picture... implying that the Shroud itself was a negative! This discovery of the "photographic" nature of the Shroud triggered a wave of scientific investigation that has yet to abate, 108 years later.
The image of a face in the "Veronica's Veil" that is held by the Vatican (the one in the side-by-side picture with the Shroud) is VERY hard to see...
"A present-day liturgic artist, Isabel Piczek from Los Angeles, who saw the Veronica in 1950 while she was working on a fresco for the Papal Biblical Institute, described it to me in the same way, adding resolutely “you couldn’t discern any face or features, not even the smallest sign”."The Vatican has not allowed any scientific examination of the St. Peter's Veil, so it is hard to say. Again, I would like to see much more investigation into that veil. Some VERY good exact size photos need to be taken of the Veil for one to one comparison of any features and bloodstains.
Ian Wilson, Shroud Scholar and author
I think that the Moneppello Veil has been pretty much "busted" as a pious mistaken identity. I also think the Vatican one has a better chance of being the "Real" veil... if there is one.
As I said earlier, most Shroud scholars are of the opinion that both the Veronica and Mandylion Traditions are remnants of the way the Shroud was displayed in its early years with only the face showing. Early pictures of both the Veronica and the Mandylion show a face on an oblong horizontal cloth surrounded by a latticework... folding the Shroud four times in two lengthwise results in the face showing. Put that folded cloth into a frame with a lattice you get something that looks like the early pictures of the Veronica and Mandylion.
I believe the Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus. Don't know enough about the Veil.
Check out Freeper Shroudies website on the Shroud:
http://www.shroudstory.com/
He has the best, most accessible website for non-scientists.
For scientists, the best is my friend Barrie Schwortz's site:
http://www.shroud.com/
I think it is...
Thank you for that information. I had never heard of this cloth ... just amazing. To think that 2000 year ago, they could weave cloth so thin and today, there is only one person alive who has that skill.
the image on the cloth at Matoppello is hardly an exact match for the image on the Shroud... there are some distinct differences... for example, where is the mustache?
Even more importantly, where are the puncture wounds from the crown of thorns?
Longer than that... Tutankhenamen funery face shroud was Byssus.
Urban legend.
I was learned Vera Icon, True Icon, was the source of her name "vernonica"
I happily admit I am a member of the Cult of Christ. I do so because I am
Thanks for the ping!
Is that a photo of the veil itself, or some other icon?
The picture is an illustration, right?... it looks very cartooney.
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