My Witness to the Holy Face 2002 to 2008

Witness to the Holy Face
by Raymond Frost

This article originally appeared in 2008 in the official journal of the Shrine of the Holy Face. It relates my experience of the Holy Face of Manoppello up until that time. The story of my efforts since 2008 to promote the knowledge of the Holy Face is to be found in the totality of the blog itself.

During the summer of 2002, I read in the Italian journal Cristianita’ Francesco Barbesino's review of the book by Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, S.J. , Il Volto Santo di Manoppello. I was amazed because I had never heard of the story of this image according to Pfeiffer connected to Veronica and the resurrected Jesus. It was for me a story much more than interesting, it was something that I had to look into and get to the bottom of the matter.

I looked for further news on the internet and in the library of the University of San Francisco. I spoke with colleagues about this subject. There was little enough in English to find, and not even very much in Italian. There was the website of the Capuchin Fathers of Manoppello and some articles that spoke of Father Pfeiffer, nothing else. No colleague had ever heard of the Holy Face.

I decided to translate the review of Barbesino and spread it among friends and colleagues. I sent the translation, through the internet, to the editors of Cristianita' who included it on their website. It was a first step for me. Unfortunately there were not many people, including friends or colleagues who believed or wanted to appear to believe in the case of Father Pfeiffer.

I sent an e-mail to Father Germano di Pietro, the guardian of the shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello, with a copy of the translation and quite soon there arrived at my house a copy of the book by Father Pfeiffer and Father Germano’s own pamphlet on the Holy Face. After reading both I translated some parts of each. The desire to visit Manoppello grew in me, but it was not possible for the moment.

In September of 2004 there appeared in the American magazine Inside the Vatican the first article of Paul Badde with some wonderful photographs of the Holy Face of Manoppello. These photographs aroused in me an even greater desire to know the history of the Holy Face and share the story with others. With the help of Father James Blaettler, S.J. assistant pastor of the Jesuit church of St. Ignatius where I am the sacristan, I made copies of the photographs of the Holy Face and I began to disseminate them among friends, colleagues and relatives. I bought quite a number of copies of the copy of the journal in which the article by Badde appeared, also to disseminate them.

Every now and then I looked on the internet for news about the Holy Face. I found an article in the Messenger of St. Anthony written by Renzo Allegri in which he spoke of the Holy Face with journalist and author Saverio Gaeta. I sent an e-mail to Gaeta, who answered me right away.

In this period the book by Paul Badde appeared, but unfortunately I do not know German. I wanted to immediately know if it was possible to print an English translation, but at that moment I could not make contact with the author. A few months later I received the book in Italian by Saverio Gaeta on the Holy Face. I read the book during the summer of 2006. My wish was that as soon as possible the books of Badde and Gaeta would be published in English.

In late summer of 2006, after the visit of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the Shrine of the Holy Face, I spoke of the Holy Face more at length with the pastor of Saint Ignatius, Father Charles Gagan, SJ, showing him photographs of Holy Face and the visit of the Holy Father to Manoppello. He encouraged me to persevere in the pursuit of my study of the Holy Face and gave me permission to mount a copy of the Holy Face in the sacristy of the church and speak and disseminate images of the Holy Face among the parishioners.

In recent years more and more I wanted to visit the Shrine of the Holy Face. Finally in 2007 the chance came. I wrote to Father Carmine Cucinelli, the guardian, and Saverio Gaeta with the news of the visit. Both encouraged me. In November I arrived in Rome to meet Saverio in his office and spoke about the Holy Face. He invited me to dinner at his house with his wife and son, a beautiful moment.

With his help I arrived in Manoppello and met Father Carmine and Sister Blandina. I thank Father Carmine warmly because I spoke at length several times with him during my three-day visit to Manoppello and he patiently answered all my questions. At the end of my stay in Manoppello he gave me quite a number of leaflets and prayer cards of the Holy Face in English. I also thank Sister Blandina for her generosity with me because I could listen to her
experience of the Holy Face closely.

I was enchanted by my visit to the Shrine, beginning with the beauty of nature in the surrounding countryside. The interior of the church impressed me very much. It seems that everything about it is very well done. The Holy Face was much more impressive than I thought it would be before my visit to the shrine. Seeing the Face close to me was a very intense experience of prayer. I can only compare this experience to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I was touched very deeply by the changes and the fluidity of the image of Jesus – the colors, its transparency, and especially from the wounds on the face of Jesus that seemed to me almost phosphorescent at times.

Many many thanks to the citizens of Manoppello and to the Capuchin friars for the help which they gave me during the visit. The Shrine of the Holy Face is a great gift for the Church and for the world. I hope that many people can mount the steps of the shrine to see and speak with their Divine Redeemer and friend Jesus.

At the beginning of 2008, it came to my mind to start a blog on the internet regarding the Holy Face. I began with the posting of the Holy Father's prayer to seek the Face of Jesus. I informed Father Carmine and I received his blessing. After several weeks I received an e-mail from Paul Badde with photographs. In recent months we have continued to correspond and he has helped me a lot to know more about the Holy Face.

With the blog I would like to help those who speak English to know about the Holy Face, through articles, photographs and testimonials. I would also like to emphasize that the Holy Face is a great source of prayer, spirituality and Christian inspiration that would give everyone a new experience and knowledge of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. I believe that the knowledge of the Holy Face gives people an intimate knowledge of Jesus and that everyone has the right to this knowledge.

Until now I have received comments on the blog and e-mails from Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox from Europe, America and New Zealand. They have many questions. Some scientists do not want to take seriously the arguments in favor of the Holy Face. First, they want to have "evidence". But many other simple people, as well as from the educated class, are truly fascinated by the story of the Holy Face.

Recently I received permission to prepare an exhibition of photographs of the Holy Face in a parish of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I hope that this exhibition can make visits in other parishes of the archdiocese, and beyond, in the future.

Man of Sorrows Watches Over Us

Juliusz Maszloch from Poland has produced a very interesting Youtube video on the Holy Face http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQGRP77f1QA using color enhancement software in order to help better visualize the precious blood of Jesus -- what He suffered for our sake. Juliusz also has an english language website on the Holy Face of Manoppello which is well worth visiting.http://manoppello.eu/eng/http://manoppello.eu/eng/

A Conversation Between Our Lady and Francis in Assisi

I remember all the faces of my son -- joyful, sorrowful, glorious, luminous. Will you reveal them to everyone around the world, especially in every hill top town, so that peace might reign in their hearts. Yes, Mother. Photos (except for the Shroud of Turin) by Paul Badde

The Consoling Beauty of That Face

Raffaella Zardoni, in an article

http://raffackfav.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/notiziariomeeting.pdf

entitled The Consoling Beauty of that Face

written as an introduction to the exhibit at the Rimini Meeting 2013 held August 18 to 24
The Rediscovered Face: the Unmistakeable Features of Christ

said in regards to the Holy Face of Manoppello

"No photo conveys the consoling beauty of that countenance which has all the characteristics of the faces of Christ but can not be compared to any painting whatsoever. It carries the signs of the Passion: the dislocated nose, the swollen and bloody lips, the blow on the cheek. Encountering his gaze one experiences what it means that God has made himself man's mirror, assuming to Himself all our depravity; while man, by this encounter, regains his life: in 1200 the Church assigned an indulgence to the recitation of a prayer in front of the Veronica (the first indulgence connected to an image)."







Eucharistic Adoration at the Basilica of the Holy Face of Manoppello

all photos by Paul Badde

"All our fathers came to Rome to see the Holy Face"

Raffaella Zardoni, organizer of the exhibit "The rediscovered face: the unmistakeable features of Christ" was interviewed during the exhibit. The video of the interview (in Italian) can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ09fD55q2A&feature=youtu.be This video shows the beautiful scope of the exhibit. Raffaella's description of the place of the Veronica in the life of Europe is quite striking and full of energy. One quote in particular "all our fathers came

to Rome to see the Holy Face" was quite memorable. Links to other news regarding the exhibit can be found at http://raffackfav.wordpress.com/rimini_rassegna_stampa/

Antonio Bini Reporting from Rimini Meeting 2013 on the Exhibit "The Rediscovered Face"

The image of Christ has come back into history

Considerations on the exhibit "The Rediscovered Face: The unmistakable features of Christ"

text and photos by Antonio Bini





"The image of Christ has come back into history.", author Paul Badde (The Holy Face, Ignatius Press 2010 and The True Icon, Ignatius Press 2012) emphatically said while meeting visitors to the exhibit "The Rediscovered Face: The unmistakable features of Christ". The exhibit, held as part of the 2013 Meeting of Rimini, retraces the vast iconographic research on the Veronica that formerly was believed to have been lost yet in recent years has been identified as being the Holy Face preserved at Manoppello. The exhibit of Rimini is an event that is rooted in the Year of Faith.

the journey toward Manoppello

The exhibit was visited by 3-4 thousand visitors a day, who waited in line at the entrance to enter on a journey along two thousand years, summarized and organized in various historical phases, with guides who accompanied to explain the fascinating history of the face of Christ through the centuries. The young guides from various parts of Italy deserve sincere appreciation, because with passion and clarity they shared with the numerous visitors the message of the exhibit and of the Holy Face itself, which all the guides had come to know by visiting Manoppello.

People entered in groups of around 30 to 40 at a time. At the end of the exhibit there was a section dedicated to the Holy Face of Manoppello, which Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer in 1999 had affirmed to be the Veronica. From that time the Holy Face has been at the center of further studies and research, which led to the visit by Benedict XVI to Manoppello on September 1, 2006. One screen showed a sequence of images of the Holy Face including some of which were superimposed over the face of the Shroud of Turin. Then there appeared theme music from the Italian national television network RAI TG1's nightly news program of May 31, 1999. On the screen is seen one of the headlines for that evening's program: "After hundreds of years the Veronica has been found in Abruzzo", followed by a report by a Vatican expert Fabio Zavattaro which included an interview with Father Pfeiffer in the course of a news conference held at the Italian foreign press association. Each visit to the exhibit ended with young people applauding and deep in thought while leaving the area to the next group which immediately followed.

from left: Raffaella Zardoni, Father Carmine Cucinelli, OFM, Cap., Antonio Bini, Valeria Mangione, Paul Badde

The German writer began his talk by asking the audience what they think will be remembered in the future regarding the history of Benedict XVI. Someone says, "his resignation." Badde responded that the 2006 visit to Manoppello, along with his resignation following the example of Celestine V, will probably be the only historical moments of the pontificate of Benedict XVI destined to be remembered in the future. "With this visit to Manoppello a pope returned after almost five centuries to kneel in front of the Veronica", said Badde, who pointed out that after his visit to Manoppello the pope frequently inserted in his talks a reference to the "human face of Christ."

"When he came to Manoppello," said Badde, "he already knew all about that face. The then Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became pope, was my neighbor. I had kept him informed regarding all my research on the Holy Face and he was the first to whom I gave a copy of my book on the Holy Face as soon as it was published in Germany in 2004. It was inevitable for him to become a pilgrim in Manoppello."

Pope Benedict XVI speaking at the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello

The meeting with the young people, was opened by Raffaella Zardoni, the main organizer of the exhibition, who explained how after having come to know the Holy Face she felt the need to search for images of Veronica, especially those from prior to the sixteenth century, by means of the project "Veronica-Route". She encouraged everyone to report on the web from anywhere in the world such frescoes, paintings and illustrations on this theme which are found in churches, museums and collections, in order to ascertain the progressive importance and extraordinary diffusion of the Veronica in the history of Christianity.

"Presently," she admits, "I find it difficult to update the site with over a thousand images that are waiting to be put on the website http://raffackfav.wordpress.com." But the quest is sure to continue.

Then it was the turn of Father Carmine Cucinelli, Rector of the Shrine of the Holy Face, who told with great simplicity of his personal relationship with this amazing image. In thanking the organizers, he recalled how the title of the exhibit is not all that different from that of the story told in comic book form "The Veronica Rediscovered", of which he is editor of the text. He expressed his wish that the exhibit held at the Meeting might be repeated in other cities in Italy and abroad. It appears that some such requests have already been made.

Badde in answering some questions about the importance of this image, stated that it "is not a myth, an abstraction, but a real face" which, in his opinion, constitutes "the greatest treasure for humanity and for Christians in particular." In this respect, he continued, "it is not easy to understand the attitude of hostility towards the Holy Face coming from a number of sindonologists (experts on the Shroud) and, unfortunately, also from some members of religious societies."

Finally there was a request for a further explanation regarding the thesis put forth by Fr. Pfeiffer at the international press conference held in Rome on May 31, 1999 --that the Veronica and the Holy Face are one and the same.

I (Antonio Bini) was invited to answer having been the organizer of that press conference where the hypthoses on the Holy Face were communicated to the world, along with research on the inexplicable nature of the veil based on the images analyzed by Professor Donato Vittore of the University of Bari.

I pointed out that that the conclusion of the German professor Fr. Pfeiffer was based on his years of research which were devoted to the search for the prototype which inspired the depiction of Christ through the centuries. That face he discovered in the Face of Manoppello, which at that time was known only locally. It is the "rediscovered face", in fact, that does not belong to any school of art.

People waiting to enter the exhibit being greeted by Paul Badde

From the Rimini Meeting Website on the Exhibit of the Rediscovered Face

My translation of the Rimini Meeting website page regarding the Exhibit "The Rediscovered Face, the Unmistakeable Features of Christ"

"



The original italian text is at http://www.meetingrimini.org/default.asp?id=673&item=5680

The theme of this year's Meeting is "The Human Person, A State of Emergency"


See the information below on a day trip from the Meeting to the Shrine of the Holy Face on Thursday August 22




The exhibit aims to document how the desire to see the face of God, which characterized the Old Testament, remained present in the Church.
Starting from the fifth century the exhibit will retrace the history of the oldest images of Christ, called acheropiti (not made by human hands), authoritative models of a face with unmistakable features, recognizable throughout history in the West as well as in the East.

In particular, it provides space for "Veronica", the veil on which - according to tradition - Christ himself left an imprint of his face, and that was the main relic of Rome, goal and prize of medieval pilgrimages: "In that time numerous people went to see the blessed image, which Jesus Christ left us for an example of his beautiful figure "(Dante, La Vita Nuova). The pilgrim to Rome, in fact, at the end of his long journey not only worshipped at the tombs of the apostles but met the face of Christ through contemplation of Veronica, that is, His "true image" (vera-Eikon).

Devotion to what Dante called "our Veronica" is testified by countless reproductions along the pilgrimage routes, reproductions that are presented, arranged historically and geographically in the exhibit, through an interactive map made with Google Earth.

From the sixteenth century the memory of this face begins to be lost, but regarding which modern man continues to have a deep nostalgia: "Men have lost a face, a face unrecoverable, and everyone wants to be the pilgrim to Rome who sees the veil Veronica and murmurs of faith: Jesus Christ, my God, the true God, so it was, therefore, your face? "(Borges, The Artificer).

In our time there has resurfaced in the light of the Veil of Manoppello, a face of Christ on a light veil, which for four centuries has been preserved in a corner of the shrine at the foot of the Maiella.
The image, light and translucent as a photographic slide, makes itself one body with the fabric and is formed by the variations of a single color which in different light conditions appears red or gray-green.
The exhibition, in collaboration with the Capuchins who are the guardians for the Face of Manoppello, presents the unedited Relatione Historica of Father Donato da Bomba, written in 1648, regarding the arrival of the Veil in Abruzzo.

On Thursday, August 22 a day trip to Manoppello is planned. To Book your visit to Manoppello see information below
Visit in person the relic preserved in the Shrine in the province of Pescara

On the day of Thursday, August 22 there will be a tour to Manoppello.
The initiative is part of the cultural itinerary of the exhibition "the Rediscovered Face. The unmistakable features of Christ. "
Departure by bus from Rimini Fiera at 08.00 returning at 18:30, about 60 seats available.
For info and reservations : tel. 0541-1832502, email segreteria2.mostre @ meetingrimini.org
The cost of the trip will have a price of 15 euro.
During the week of the Meeting, at the booth BOOK EXHIBITS in the South Hall, you can buy a ticket for the trip.



The exhibit is under the Patronage of the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at the Pontifical University Antonianum; Order of Friars Minor Capuchin Province of Pescara; the Association "Cult and Culture in Abruzzo The Way of the Apostle Thomas”
With the collaboration of Paul Badde, Arianna Petraccia, Heinrich W. Pfeiffer, SJ, Davide Rondoni, Marco Rossi, Silvana Tassetto, Paola Vismara.
• Exhibit organized by Paul Badde, Emanuele Colombo, Paolo Martinelli, Paola Moretti, Giovanna Parravicini, Cristina Terzaghi and Raffaella Zardoni