Secondo Pia as Simon Peter, Part Four

"Why then didn't Peter hurry outside to go with John to the Roman Governor? why then didn't he cry out 'they have taken away the Lord'. When didn't he immediately look for the other apostles to decide with them what to do, or to go to the Sanhedrin to complain with all the force he could muster, 'it's not possible! You first put to death our Teacher and afterwards take away in secret his body. He is a Jew like us. Doesn't he at least have the right to the peace of the dead? What other sacrilege do you still want to commit?' Was he too afraid to do this? Why didn't he run with John to Joseph of Arimathea and to Nicodemus who had placed Jesus in the tomb and had arranged for the great stone to be placed before the entrance. Why not? Because the thread of the story continues very differently from what the Madalen had said regarding her experience and observation. 'They have taken away the Lord from the tomb and we don't know where they have laid him'. Peter himself didn't show himself to be wiser or more prophetic than the Magadalen. There was no other possibility other than the fact that Jesus had been taken away. In what way? Perhaps by the Romans, perhaps by thieves or by who knows what other persons. But one thing was certain -- he was no longer there! He had simply vanished.

This is how the women interpreted what had happened and also Peter as well, but with one difference. He 'saw the wrappings unfolded and the sudarium that was placed around the head of Jesus', we read in the Gospel, 'but (the sudarium) was not with the wrappings, rather folded in a separate place'. Let's not forget that it was still very dark when Mary Magdalen arrived. The entrance to the tomb opened towards the east, towards the walls of the city. There the dawn rises very slowly. A weak morning light succeeds in penetrating through the opening of the rock in that hollow of small dimensions. This was the difference. Peter unexpectedly recognized something else in the dark on the pavement."

by Paul Badde
from the official publication of the Shrine of the Holy Face Il Volto Santo di Manoppello, Dec. 2009