The Face of World Youth Day

As the youth of the world gather in Sydney, Australia together with Pope Benedict XVI and many Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and Religious it seems that the world is becoming more united, more open to Jesus Christ. May this august gathering, and its associated assemblies, flourish and transform the hearts of many nations, to "throw open wide the doors to Jesus Christ" in the immortal words of Pope John Paul II. What follows is the special Prayer to Recognize the Face of Jesus which was composed by Pope Benedict XVI on September 1, 2007 the first anniversary of the Pope's own visit to the Holy Face of Manoppello.

Lord Jesus as the first apostles whom you asked, "What do you seek?", accepted your invitation to "Come and see", recognizing you as the Son of God, the promised Messiah for the world's redemption, we too, your disciples in this difficult time, want to follow you and be your friends, drawn by the brilliance of your Face, much desired yet hidden. Show us we pray you your Face ever new, that mirror, mystery laden, of God's infinite mercy. Grant that we may contemplate it with the eyes of our minds and hearts, the Son's face, radiance of the Father's glory and the imprint of his Nature, the human face of God that has burst into history to reveal the horizons of eternity. The silent Face of Jesus suffering and risen, when loved and accepted changes the heart and life. "Your Face, Lord, do I seek, do not hide your face from me". How many times through the centuries and millenia has not resounded the ardent invocation of the Psalmist among the faithful! Lord, with faith we too repeat the same invocation: "Man of suffering, as one from whom others hide their faces", Do not hide your Face from us! We want to draw from your eyes, that look upon us with tenderness and compassion, the force of love and peace which shows us the way of life and the courage to follow you without fear or compromise so as to be witnesses of your Gospel with concrete signs of acceptance, love and foregiveness. O Holy Face of Christ, Light that enlightens the darkness of doubt and sadness, Life that has defeated forever the force of evil and death, o inscrutable gaze that never ceases to watch over men and people, Face concealed in the Eucharistic signs and in the faces of those that live with us, make us God's pilgrims in the world, longing for the Infinite and ready for the final encounter when we shall see you Lord "face to face" and be able to contemplate you forever in heavenly Glory. Mary, Mother of the Holy Face, help us have "innocent hands and a pure heart", hands illumined with the truth of love and enraptured by divine beauty, that transformed by the encounter with Christ, we may give ourselves to the poor and the suffering whose faces reflect the hidden presence of your Son Jesus who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen!

Thanks to Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, O.F.M., Cap., Rector of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello for providing me with this prayer, and to Paul Badde for allowing the use of his photograph of the Holy Face.

Pope John Paul II and the Veil of Veronica at St. Peter's

Saverio Gaeta, journalist and author of L'Altra Sindone, in his talk entitled "Did the Veronica disappear in 1527" given at the 2006 Chieti Conference on the Holy Face had this interesting statement:
"and here I can reveal that John Paul II also, prior to the Great Jubilee of 2000, had wished to see the picture preserved in the Vatican. He asked that it be brought to his own apartment, he looked at it attentively, and after having become personally aware of the lack of any image, had it brought back to the pillar of the Veronica, without taking any further initiative".

Credo

The Church, the Body of Christ, Light to the Nations on pilgrimage in the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello


Christ the Head of the Church


Credo in unum Deum Patrem Omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen (visible and invisible)
Nicene Creed

From Paul's Letter to the Ephesians Chapter One Verses 15-22
"For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all."

Antonio Bini Discovers 1902 Comparison of Holy Face of Manoppello to the Shroud of Turin

The Italian journalist Antonio Bini writes to give witness to an article in the May 11, 1902 edition of "La Tribuna Illustrata" an Italian weekly. What follows is my translation of sections of his report appearing on the official website of the Shrine of the Holy Face www.voltosanto.it entitled "105 anni fa scrivevano del Volto Santo e della Sindone. Ritrovata un' interessante testimonianza del 1902 su 'La Tribuna Illustrata" (105 years ago they were writing about the Holy Face and the Shroud. Rediscovered an interesting testimony from 1902 in "La Tribuna Illustrata")

In these last 10-15 years a number of scholars have insisted on the relationship between the Shroud and Holy Face, with comparisons and overviews, while other researchers seem to deny any relationship, and still others admiting only partial elements of continuity between the two relics. Precisely in relation to such tendencies, I think it interesting to bring up an article appearing in "La Tribuna Illustrata" of May 11, 1902, entitled: "The Holy Shroud of Turin and the Face of Jesus of Manoppello", that I recently had the possibility, or rather, the fortune, of acquiring, in the process of my research of documentation regarding the Holy Face. The article, with a unifying title - appears in two distinct parts, the first dedicated to the Shroud, the second, following, to the Holy Face, which is presented as the "Face of Jesus". The large circulation periodical sought to show an immediate link with this image of Christ, at that time totally unknown. In those years the interest for the Shroud had exploded after the diffusion of the photographs taken by the lawyer Secondo Pia - in occasion of the exposition of 1898- which represented a fundamental moment for new research on the relic. We must remember that Turin at that time, although no longer the capital of the Kingdom for a little more than 30 years, was however a large city, with a strong influence from the House of Savoy, which remained always linked to the Shroud, having previously given it to the Church. The discovery of Pia gave new impulse to the studies and research and allowed at the same time for a better interpretation of the signs present on the cloth...The photographic images of the Shroud, relates "La Tribuna Illustrata" were exposed at Paris, with a notable number of people attending, up to ten thousand a day. The weekly concluded by announcing the upcoming initiative of the daily "Le Figaro" which in the following days would place on sale a photograph of the Shroud. The article followed dedicating itself to the Holy Face - reprinting the text of a letter which appeared in the "Corriere di Napoli", a daily newspaper founded and directed by the journalist and writer from Abruzzo, Edoardo Scarfoglio (1860-1917), happy to give space to a testimony linked to his native region. The writer, Clemente Rije by name, probably from Naples, refers to his trip to Manoppello with his own evaluations of the nature of the Veil, showing a particular historical-religious culture and above all a capacity of "reading" the relic for themes which would be developed only many years after... Let's take a look at the following precise text of the article, relating to the part regarding the Holy Face.

'The Corriere di Napoli published a few days ago a letter from Signor Clemente Rije, who says that in a little town in the province of Chieti, there is preserved the Face of Jesus. According to an ancient legend what is preserved at Manoppello would in fact be the cloth used by Mary Magdalen, and would have been brought there by a mysterious pilgrim coming from Palestine. The small cloth is made of silk of the finest weave, as large as the frame of silver in which it is kept in the church of the Friars Minor Conventual (sic), where each year the devout go on pilgrimage. The characteristics of the cloth would be surprising because there does not appear any traces of coloration, while the face of Jesus is bright and clear, the hair is long and falling to the shoulders, the features are pale, the eyes spent, just as Publius Lentulus describes in his letter to Caesar. The letter of Rije concludes by saying that this cloth should be a stimulus for serious studies, especially since today the discussions regarding the Shroud of Turin have rekindled such a legitimate interest. Could this therefore be the True Icon from which comes the name of that Veronica which tradition holds to be the pious jewish woman who wiped the face of Jesus on the way to Calvary?"

John's Witness

"A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me"

John 16:16

Year in Honor of St. Paul Begins

To commemorate the beginning of the year of St. Paul, here are several photos of the Holy Face of Manoppello taken by Paul Badde. It seems almost certain that St. Paul saw the cloth which is now in Manoppello.

Interview with Chiara Vigo Expert Weaver of Marine Byssus

Above is a copy of a page from the english translation of Paul Badde's historic first article from the Inside the Vatican magazine which was first published in the Die Welt newspaper in Germany. It shows a photograph of Chiara Vigo and also a photograph of her holding a small clump of marine byssus. Click on the article to magnify it so it can be read. To see the entire article of Badde, go to www.voltosanto.de and click on the word zeitschriften, then scroll down and click on the photo of the magazine Inside the Vatican.

What follows is a translation of an interview with Chiara Vigo regarding the fabric of the Holy Face of Manoppello which was originally broadcast on the Italian RAI television network. The original Italian can be found on the official website of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello.

Television interviewer: From your perspective as an expert, we ask you, is it possible that the relic is made of marine byssus?

Chiara Vigo: On the basis of the result of my studies, I would say yes. The cloth presents the characteristics typical of marine byssus.

Television interviewer: Can you give us some examples?

Chiara Vigo: Principally the transparency. Marine byssus is the only fiber that allows light to pass through: it is a bronze color in the dark and a golden color if illuminated. This peculiarity is compatible with the features of the Holy Face, that disappear when light shines against it.

Television interviewer: Surely the fact that the Face disappears when light shines against it is one of the most disquieting aspects of the relic. If we were dealing with a painting the image shouldn't be visible from both sides. This aspect has been looked into by a professor from Bari, right?

Chiara Vigo: Yes, that would be Professor Donato Vittore, who has found that on the cloth there are no traces of color. Thus we can exclude the theory that the Face had been drawn by a human hand. In that sense we can say that if one would paint on marine byssus, which is a smooth and impermeable fiber, the color would tend to run and form crusts, which he has not found to be on the cloth. Marine byssus could be dyed only by a carbon bath, but this can be excluded considering the era to which it dates and that we find ourselves in Mesopotamia.

Television interviewer: What are the alternative hypotheses?

Chiara Vigo: The Face could have been obtained with a sort of decolorization. It has been discovered that lemon has a lightening effect on fabric of marine byssus. This theory becomes even more interesting if one thinks that in ancient times an emulsion of oil and lemon was used to anoint the dead.

Television interviewer: Let's turn to the theory that we find ourselves in front of the veil offered by Veronica for the burial of Jesus.

Chiara Vigo: There is some possibility. Also because the relic presents some irregularities along the border that allow us to suppose that it was transferred from one frame to another, and we know that in the Vatican there is preserved a frame similar to the one of the Holy Face. If comparing them should show that they are compatible, than there would no longer be any room for doubt.

Television interviewer: Can we say that the question is more than ever open?

Chiara Vigo: Yes, there is need for greater seriousness in the studies. It is necessary to analyze all the possible fabrics, making use of the collaboration of the Universities of Urbino and Camerino. In fact, only after an accurate examination of the fibers will the contribution of persons like me, experts in the field, be useful.

Television interviewer: Do I detect a subtle vein of criticism in your words, or am I wrong?

Chiara Vigo: Let's say yes, as a Catholic I understand the mystical leap of faith, but the only way to verify a sound theory is to undertake a scientific study which may provide objective and concrete proofs.

Television interviewer: In point of fact what do you propose?

Chiara Vigo: That the church and local officials work together to form a committee that would concentrate solely on resolving the question of the Holy Face. I think that often we can get lost in the mixing of many matters, causing the fact to be forgotten that we are dealing with the patrimony of everyone, and first of all, that of the people of Abruzzo.