The Treasury of Paul Badde's Photos of the Holy Face Of Manoppello

 

Photo by Alan Holdren - EWTN

The late Paul Badde was a prolific author and journalist who during the last quarter century of his life   devoted his talents to the Holy Face of Manoppello, becoming in some sense the world's foremost spokesman for the promotion and development of the knowledge of the precious veil showing the face of Jesus which had been overlooked for nearly half a millennium. 

What is more, though not a professional photographer, he probably took more photos of the Holy Face of Manoppello than anyone else in history, many of which have become iconic in their own right.  I personally witnessed him alongside the Holy Face throughout the procession in May 2011 from the Shrine of the Holy Face to the Church of San Nicola, snapping photos all the time.  He said to me "Stay close to the Holy Face" and "Follow the Holy Face".  

He generously shared many of his photos with many people, including me, over the years.  I consider them a great gift from a great man, and although I have posted a number of them on the blog over the years, there are many more that I would like to post.  So I am beginning a series of posts to make Paul Badde's photos of the Holy Face available on the internet to as many people as possible.  

I consider the veil of the Holy Face a kind of miraculous screen onto which is projected an almost infinite number of images of the Holy Face comprising all the possible human and divine dispositions which our Savior wishes to communicate to His people, starting with the simple fact of His presence among us, as He said, "Behold I am with you always to the close of the age" (Mt. 28:20)  

Feast of Omnis Terra to be Celebrated at the Shrine of the Holy Face on Sunday January 18

The annual celebration of the Feast of Omnis Terra will take place this Sunday at the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello with Holy Mass beginning at 11am.  The presider is Archbishop Bruno Forte with concelebrants Fr. Simone Cavalrese, OFM Cap., provincial minister of the Capuchins of central Italy, and Fr. Antonio Gentili, OFM Cap., Rector of the Shrine. 

The feast of Omnis Terra has a strong symbolic significance, recalling the ancient procession established by Pope Innocent III in 1208, during which the Veronica was solemnly carried from Saint Peter's Basilica to the nearby hospital and church of Santo Spirito in Sassia on the Second Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany.

The rite was re-introduced on January 16, 2016 with a pilgrimage from Manoppello to Rome.  A copy of the Holy Face, enclosed in an ancient silver reliquary, was venerated on January 16 and 17 by a multitude of people in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia.  The rite has been repeated at the Shrine of the Holy Face each year since on the Second Sunday after Epiphany.