We are all Christ bearers father Carmine Cucinelli In this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy we thought it fitting that a special issue of the Volto Santo magazine be made available in the English language to devotees and pilgrims from around the world who come to our Shrine and to all who follow from a distance the Shrine’s events, research and testimonies of faith. It is the first time that this has been done in the 110 years of life of the magazine founded in 1906 by Father Francesco da Collarmele. In the first lines of the Papal Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Pope Francis writes “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in him. “ In the weeks preceding the Fifth Convention of the Italian Church held in Florence in November of 2015, Pope Francis returned to the figure of Jesus, in continuity with the final message of John Paul II at the end of the Great Jubilee of

2000, which aimed to encourage the search for the Face of Jesus (Tertio Millennio Ineunte). “We can talk of humanism” affirmed Pope Francis - “only starting from the centrality of Jesus discovering in him the characteristics of the true face of man. It is the contemplation of the face of Jesus who died and rose that puts back together our humanity, even of that which is fragmented due to the hardships of life, or marked by sin. We must not tame the power of Christ’s face. His face is the image of his transcendence. It is ‘the face of mercy’”. On January 30, at the first papal audience of the Jubilee, Pope Francis, meeting pilgrims and the faithful and elaborating on the theme of mercy, expressed an additional concept regarding the role of each believer: “Every Christian is a Christopher, that is a Christ bearer”, and further, “encountering Jesus means encountering his love”, recalling that: “This love transforms us and makes us capable of transmitting to others the strength that he gives us”. 1

This last reflection helps us to understand the spirit and the energy that moves so many people who have encountered Jesus in our Shrine during the course of their lives, becoming spontaneously missionaries of Jesus’ face, bringing the knowledge and devotion of the sacred image to every corner of the world. A phenomenon which is growing in recent years, especially after the visit of Benedict XVI to the Shrine on September 1, 2006. There are so many people who deserve to be remembered, starting with my fellow Capuchins and the rectors of the Shrine who came before me, but it is especially necessary to recall the initial small group animated by Mrs. Daisy Neves, an American lady of Filipino origin, which led to the organization of three international missions in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016. A small group – as it used to be called – which grew day by day, and favored the creation, in various cities, of prayer groups, and also was involved in the organization of the individual stages of the various missions that have ended up involving thousands and thousands of people. Beyond their contribution to the expenses and the organization of these initiatives, I want to especially emphasize the generous enthusiasm they have shown, precisely of a genuine missionary spirit, 2

which the Shrine itself has made its own. Other extraordinary people are spoken about in the articles of this special issue, among them Sister Blandina Paschalis Schlömer, Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, SJ, Paul Badde, Raffaella Zardoni, Saverio Gaeta, Donato Vittore, Raymond Frost, Paul MacLeod, Giulio Fanti, Pietro Baraldi, Ewa Pasko, Fr. Andreas Resch, CSsR, Jan S. Jaworski, Karolina Aszyk, Zbigniew Treppa, Lorenzo Bianchi, Rev. Daren J. Zehnle, Sister Petra-Maria Steiner, Antonio Bini and Walter Teti who have become witnesses and disseminators of the Holy Face. These articles represent a selection of the recent writings of Antonio Bini, researcher and attentive chronicler of the sacred image for close to twenty years, which have been translated into English by Raymond Frost of San Francisco, competent and passionate devotee of the Holy Face, who in 2008, after a trip to Manoppello, created the first documented blog in the United States of America dedicated to the Holy Face of Manoppello. This special issue is also an opportunity for the Shrine to express its gratitude to all of them. Father Carmine Cucinelli, Rector of the Basilica of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Pescara) Italy

Premise: The Joy of Sharing the Holy Face of Manoppello with People Around the World Since I first learned of the Veil of Manoppello, through Francesco Barbesino’s review of Fr. Pfeiffer’s book, many opportunities have arisen to deepen my knowledge of this special icon of the Holy Face of Jesus and to share it with people around the world. Among those who helped me before or during my first visit to Manoppello in 2007 I would like to thank Capuchin Fathers Germano di Pietro and Carmine Cucinelli, Sr. Blandina, Saverio Gaeta, and the good people of Manoppello. Since January of 2008, when I began my blog - http://holyfaceofmanoppello. blogspot.it/ - directed to English speaking peoples of the world, I am particularly grateful to Paul Badde and Antonio Bini who have been the blog’s main pillars through their articles and photos. Seeing the Face of Jesus, the Face of the Father’s mercy, fulfills the deepest longing of every person. Throughout history the Holy Face of Manoppello has been a most efficacious means for seeing the Face of Jesus.

In recent years millions of people around the world have learned of the Holy Face of Manoppello. Missions of the Holy Face directed to the USA, Canada and the Philippines under the guidance of Mrs. Daisy Neves have brought about joy and a deeper commitment to Christian living.

From left Paul Badde, Raymond Frost, Antonio Bini (2011)

In future years Manoppello and its surrounding countryside will blossom with ever more pilgrimages to the Holy Face and people around the world will be filled with joy. Raymond Frost, University of San Francisco.

3

Shrine of the Holy Face: The Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy Opens

Today at the beginning of the New Year, several thousand people attended the opening of the Holy Door of the Shrine of the Holy Face -- the one at the left side of the Basilica which is usually closed. At 4pm devotees and pilgrims from various parts of Italy and from abroad gathered together in the area in front of the Shrine. At approximately 4:30pm a number of priests came out in procession from the hall of San Damiano, to take

4

their place at the head of the people present directing them to face the front of the Holy Door. Among the ministers was the Protopresbyter Anatoliy Grytskiv, head of the Abruzzo and Molise region for the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Prior to opening the holy door, the rector of the basilica, Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, commissioned by Archbishop Bruno Forte, pastor of the diocese of Chieti-

Vasto, read from the papal bull of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which emphasizes the centrality of Christ, continuing the great Jubilee of the year 2000. Pope Francis himself chose as the first words of the bull- entitled “Misericordiae Vultus” “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” “We are touched by this expression” - stressed p. Carmine - “which along

true image of Jesus, the face of the Father’s mercy. “ Fr. Carmine briefly reviewed the historical origin of the jubilee, explaining the meaning of compassion, of forgiveness and therefore, of the door. In this perspective, he explained how at the entrance of the Holy Door there is affixed a rectangular brass plate, engraved with a Latin cross in relief, with the inscription

with the one uttered by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2006: “This is a place for meditating on the divine by contemplating the icon of the Holy Face” “- encourages the assertion that here in Manoppello, in this church, we have the

in Latin “Iesus Christus Deus Homo”. Inside the circular crown it reads “Vivit Regnat imperat MCMI”. Thus the entire script there reads “Jesus Christ, God and man lives, reigns, conquers 1901”

5

“Hic est Domus Dei et Porta Caeli --Here is God’s House and Heaven’s Door A.D. January 1, 2016” This “Cross of indulgences”, as it is called, was designed by the architect Edward Collamarini of Bologna for the Jubilee of 1900. The first casting of the cross was blessed by Pope Leo XIII at the end of the

Jubilee. It is a reminder that passing through the door is a symbolic sign of belonging to Christ. The celebration was enlivened by the choir of the Basilica of the Holy Face, conducted by Nicholas Costantini. Among the hymns performed by the choir was the official anthem of the Jubilee of Mercy, composed by Paul Inwood (music) and Eugenio Costa (text). Many pilgrims, who failed to find a place in the church, were able to follow the solemn celebration on a giant television screen in a large hall adjacent to the sanctuary. Among those present were

6

Paul and Ellen Badde along with several television crews. Fr. Carmine thanked all participants, men and women religious, and in particular Fr. Paolo Palombarini who directed the event, the military and civil authorities present, including a dozen mayors of Manoppello and surrounding villages, those who have ensured the safety of the pilgrims, the volunteers and all those who in various ways have contributed to the successful opening of the Holy Door which will remain open until November 20, 2016.

From Manoppello to Rome January 16 to 17, 2016 – Pilgrimage-Commemoration of the Procession of the Holy Face instituted by Innocent III

Starting from Manoppello, home of the Shrine of the Holy Face, a large group of religious pilgrims and volunteers accompanied by the choir of the local church, will set out on Saturday January 16, 2016 on a pilgrimage to Rome, in the year of the Extraordinary Jubilee. These pilgrims will be retracing a path following the ancient procession of the Veronica which was instituted by Pope Innocent III in 1208, carrying in procession a copy of the Holy Face which many scholars identify with the Veronica (vera icona

“true icon”). Beginning at the end of the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square at 4pm the pilgrims will move towards the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia. Exposition and Veneration. At 6:30pm Holy Mass will be celebrated there by Archbishop Georg Gänswein with music led by the choir of the Basilica of the Holy Face. The image, enclosed in the reliquary which from 1902 to 1949 was used to hold the Holy Face in Manoppello, will remain on

7

display in the Santo Spirito church also on Sunday Jan. 17, until 8pm. At 6:30pm a solemn closing Mass will be celebrated there by the Most Reverend Edmond Y. Farhat - Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to Austria and Canon of St. Peter’s Basilica on the 17th with music led by the parish choir of the Church of Saint Ignatius of Antioch in Rome. The idea for the pilgrimage came about during the National Conference of the Rectors of Italian Shrines which took place in Rome from November 22 to 27, 2015 and which had as its theme “Jubilee of a history: a welcome, nearby, prophetic memory”. In fact it was the grandeur of history which was the basis for the plans to organize the pilgrimage, discussed by Msgr. Josef Bart, rector of the Shrine of the Santo Spirito in Sassia, and Fr. Carmine Cucinelli,

Rector of the Shrine the Holy Face of Manoppello, in the presence of the author Paul Badde. The homilies of the Archbishops George Gänswein and Edmond Y. Farhat – shown here in their full text - are documents of significant historical and religious importance. Thousands of people were able to venerate the Holy Face during the procession and the two days when the sacred image was displayed in the church of Santo Spirito. On Sunday evening the reliquary was carried in a small procession to the general headquarters of the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face who kept vigil through the night. The morning of Monday the 18th, at 7 am, Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Beniamino Stella to conclude the three days in Rome of the Holy Face.

Entering Holy Door at St. Peter’s

8

The origins of the cult of Veronica: the procession to Santo Spirito di Sassia “Over the centuries Rome was enriched with notable relics. One in particular acquired an exceptional prestige: the sudarium of Christ known and revered by the name of “Veronica”. So wrote just prior to the Jubilee of 2000 the influential French medievalist Jacques Le Goff. The image, which came to Rome in unknown circumstances, is mentioned for the first time under Pope John VII (705-707). A significant turning point in the cult of Veronica came in 1208 when Pope Innocent III established a special procession - on the Sunday following the Octave of Epiphany – which started at St. Peter’s and arrived at the nearby Church of the Holy Spirit (Santo Spirito in Sassia) and

its adjoining hospital. The image of the Holy Face was accompanied by a solemn procession “With hymns and canticles, psalms and lit candles”, wrote an anonymous contemporary biographer (Gesta Innocentii III).

First Page of the Liber Regulae Sancti Spiritus in Saxia

Crowds of pilgrims took part in the procession which was an extraordinary opportunity for faith for recuperating patients and perhaps an opportunity to solicit funds for the support of the hospital operation which, according to the wishes of Innocent III, was then rebuilt and expanded, on the crumbling foundations of the “Schola Saxonum “,

9

shows Innocent III holding the Veronica in his right hand and the rule of Santo Spirito in his left - particular from the Liber regulae S. Spiritus

the original structure which was founded in the year 727 by Ina, Queen of the Saxons, as a hotel, hospice, hospital, seminary and cemetery. Sassia (or Saxia) still today recalls those distant origins. It was precisely in the course of this important work of reconstruction that the Church was built - wedged into the middle of the hospital structure assuming the name of the ancient hospital considered the oldest in Europe. These circumstances constituted one of the historical precedents that led Pope Boniface VIII to proclaim the first Jubilee in 1300. For centuries the hospital, in addition to aiding the sick, took steps to assist the poor and for the care of

10

abandoned children, becoming a true bastion of charity. At the end of the sixteenth century Saint Camillus de Lellis undertook there for nearly three decades his tireless work of assistance to the sick. Even before that Saint Philip Neri distinguished himself there as well. Innocent III gave the first rule of the hospital organization which he placed under the direct supervision of the papacy. The precious manuscript “Liber Regulae Sancti Spiritus in Saxia “, published around 1350 is preserved in the State Archives in Rome. Accompanying the text containing the rules of the hospital

is a rich iconography that provides an interesting pictorial description of what was then the religious life and practical assistance to the sick and needy. At the bottom of the first page of the Liber is one of the oldest illustrations of the Veronica, which shows Pope Innocent III with the Veronica in his right hand and the Rule granted to the brothers in the hospital in his left. The historical and documentary value of the manuscript, which for centuries was ignored or neglected, resurfaced on the eve of the Great Jubilee of 2000, which, with the strong encouragement of John Paul II, gave an extraordinary thrust to recovering two thousand years of history, starting again from the centrality of the historical figure of Christ. The Liber was in fact displayed in the important exhibition “Rome & Jubilees: the medieval pilgrimage to Saint Peter’s “, held at the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, from October 29, 1999 to February 26, 2000. The document was shown again during the exhibition “The Face of Christ” - the final exhibition of the Jubilee - staged at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, from December 9, 2000 to April 16 2001. In both exhibitions, which saw the direct involvement of the Vatican Library, the issues related to the historical reconstruction of Veronica or the Holy Face was revived after centuries of silence, with a series of extraordinary documents

and exhibits, in many cases shown to the public for the first time, as it is claimed in the respective catalogs, which for the importance of new contents and authority of the scholars involved, represent publications of extraordinary historical value. The historian Gerhard Wolf, who collaborated on both exhibitions, in the catalog for the first show described Innocent III as being “the founder of the cult of Veronica “, emphasizing, also just how “precious” the miniature contained in the Regulae is in order to understand “the cult and the external appearance of the Veronica.” A few months later the German historian continued the same theme in the catalog of the final exhibition of the Jubilee, raising the question as to whether or not the famed image might be present in Abruzzo. A question that probably arose in the mind of many visitors to the exhibition, who, like me, meditated in front of the precious empty reliquary, from the “Treasury of St. Peter’s”, which -donated by three Venetian nobles in Jubilee of 1350 - once held between the two panes the Veronica, a sign of the visibility of the image from both sides. In any case, the rediscovery of the ancient miniature allows us to exclude definitively that the Veronica can be identified with the Shroud, as some scholars claimed a few years ago. Returning to Pope Innocent III, it must

11

be remembered that he manifested his deep true devotion to the image also by writing a special prayer: Deus qui nobis signatis lumine vultus tui memoriale tuum ad instantiam Veronicae sudario impressam imaginem relinquere voluisti per passionem et crucem tuam

venerate and honor you, in mystery and as through a mirror on earth, so that we might be able to certainly see you, face to face, when you come as our judge”. In the wake of Innocent, about a century later, Pope John XXII composed the famous hymn “Salve sancta facies” that

tribue nobis quaesumus, ut ita nunc in terris per speculum et in aenigmate ipsam adorare et venerari valeamus, ut facie ad faciem venientem iudicem te securi videamus. “O God, who has marked us with the light of Thy Face as your memorial, and at the request of Veronica, left us Thy Image imprinted on the sudarium; grant we pray, that by your passion and death, to adore,

pilgrims sang during the expositions of the Veronica and during the Jubilee of 1350. During the sack of Rome (1527) the destructive fury did not spare the Church of Santo Spirito nor even the sick who were recuperating in the adjacent hospital who were all put to death. In those dramatic days experienced by the Eternal City the Veronica also disappeared. In an interview in 2001, the Austrian Redemptorist

12

Andreas Resch, an expert on paranormal phenomena, supported the hypothesis that the extraordinary image would have been brought for safekeeping to Abruzzo and specifically to Manoppello. Also after Innocent III later popes always followed closely the conditions at Santo Spirito Among those who distinguished themselves were especially Eugene IV (1431-1447), who didn’t hesitate to take on the direct leadership of the hospital, and Sixtus IV (1471-1484) as well. Both popes undertook significant works of reconstruction and expansion. In his rather brief pontificate, Celestine V (1294) also distinguished himself. He exempted the friars of the Santo Spirto from having to pay the customary church levy and greatly increased indulgences. It’s quite probable that he was implicitly thinking of Santo Spirito when he founded the

order of the Brothers of the Holy Spirit (later Celestini),in the hermitage of the same name on the Maiella. The centuriesold ties of the glorious hospital with the popes was interrupted in 1870, with the fall of the temporal power of the papacy. The hospital and the church became part of the then Kingdom of Italy. The pilgrimage on January 16 and 17, 2016 also intends to remember Innocent III eight hundred years after his death. Considered great for his reconstruction, expansion and support of the hospital of Santo Spirito, the pope is also noted for his approval of the Franciscan and the Dominican orders and for his vast work concentrating on the spiritual renewal of the church of his time. The church of Santo Spirito during the papacy of John Paul II became the Shrine and spiritual center of the Divine Mercy, tied to Sister Faustina Kowalska, canonised in 2000. In the Shrine are

pilgrims approaching Santo Spirito

13

present some relics of St. Faustina and St. John Paul II also. A recent bond between Santo Spirito in Sassia and the Shrine of the Holy Face is to be found in the person of Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, who for nearly a quarter century, until his death on November 22, 2014, was cardinal deacon of Santo Spirito. The Cardinal, who in 1997 founded the International Institute for Research on the Face of Christ, was among the first to authoritatively support the thesis of Professor Heinrich Pfeiffer regarding the identification of the mysterious image of Manoppello. Particularly linked to the Shrine of Abruzzo, where he often went on pilgrimage, the Cardinal entrusted to the Holy Face “the present and the future of the beloved Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of Reparation of the Holy Face “, for whom he became their spiritual mentor following the death of their founder Venerable Ildebrando Gregori.

pilgrims approaching Santo Spirito

14

“Philippine Ambassador to the Vatican Mrs. Mercedes Tuason with Fr. Carmine Cucinelli and sister Petra-Maria Steiner – Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia”.

Holy Face at St. Peter’s

document

This ancient face today in an almost miraculous way has returned to Santo Spirito in Sassia Homily in Santo Spirito of His Excellency The Most Reverend - Archbischop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household - 16 January 2016 Dear sisters and brothers! Sunday today is called “Omnis Terra” in the words of Psalm 65 that we heard at the beginning of the Mass: “Omnis terra adoret te, Deus, et psallat tibi!” (“Let all the earth adore you, O God and sing psalms to you”). This Sunday was also called this eight hundred years ago ; and even then, as now, in all Catholic churches the Gospel of the wedding at Cana was proclaimed. Since then empires have fallen, swept away like autumn leaves; the Church has seen the succession of ninety popes; violent revolutions and wars have shaken Europe; fatal divisions have torn Christianity. So it seems almost a miracle the tranquility with which, in this Sunday’s liturgy, we

sing today as then: Praise the Lord, all you nations! With this praise, however, today we also remember the fact that here 808 years ago, for the first time, Pope Innocent III carried in procession the Holy Sudarium of Christ from St. Peter’s to Santo Spirito. It was the holy veil that shows “the human face of God”, which Pope Benedict XVI will never get tired of speaking about; and “the living face of the Father’s mercy” to which Pope Francis has dedicated this Jubilee Year. And also back then, in January of 1208, the divine face of God here in this church, was connected to the concrete mercy of men; this church which much later, in 1994, St. John Paul

15

II dedicated to the “Divine Mercy”, in age processions and expositions of the honor of Saint Faustina Kowalska, whose Holy veil have never ended. Soon there relics we venerate here. The Polish Pope were countless pilgrims to Rome who was also a visionary and once more we wanted to contemplate the face of God. experience that here today. Later, it was in one of these processions In fact, 808 years ago, in that very first that Dante learned to know the face of procession, Pope Innocent III decreed God. It is the face before which he ends that the holy image was not brought the “cosmic excursion” of his Divine to the nobles of Rome, but to the sick Comedy, as Pope Benedict XVI said pilgrims and ten years ago, the poor of when he the city, whose presented his most important encyclical abode back Deus Caritas then was this Est. It is the hospital of face of the love Santo Spirito. that “moves He also ordered the sun and the that the papal other stars”, as Fr. Paolo Palombarini, Fr. Carmine Cucinelli and Archbischop chaplain, Dante wrote in Georg Gänswein (Manoppello, 2015) drawing from the best known Peter’s Pence, should distribute three passage in Italian literature. coins to each of the three hundred sick It is the love of God who rejoices in us as and the thousand poor who were invited “the bridegroom to the bride,” as we have to attend the ceremony and who came just heard in the words from the prophet from all over the city: one for bread, Isaiah; and the strength of the Holy one for wine and the third for meat. He Spirit of whose various gifts St. Paul has also connected substantial indulgences once again made us aware in this church to visiting the “true image” and for of Santo Spirito. And yet, nowhere else participating in its procession. does this Spirit speaks more clearly and In fact it was an anticipation of the Holy with more evidence as in the silent face Year, which only later, in 1300, was of Christ, before whom we are gathered introduced to Rome by Boniface VIII. here today. This all began right here! From that time to the present modern Because “this is the vocation and the joy

16

of every baptized person: to bring and give Jesus to others”, as Pope Francis said on January 3. And this is exactly what today is given to us - to become witnesses, in the moment when the good Capuchin friars of Manoppello here “bring and give Jesus”, in whose face God himself shows his face. In conclusion I would add just one thing on the Gospel of the wedding at Cana, about which so many instructive things have been said: who, in fact, could still wonder that Jesus worked his first public miracle exactly in favor of marriage and the family which are in such danger today that Pope Francis has dedicated synods to each of these! Indeed, in this time of Christmas in which we are still, we can understand perfectly that first miracle as a necessary extension of the mystery of the incarnation of God. For it is only within a family that we become human! With a mother and a father and - if we are lucky - with brothers and sisters. For this reason Christian artists have always portrayed the face of Jesus referring to his mother’s, and vice versa. Because if God is the father of Jesus, his face should and can only look like hers. And it is this most ancient face that today in an almost miraculous way has returned to Santo Spirito in Sassia, that face which seems to be almost identical to the face of the Divine Mercy which has been venerated here for more than

two decades. It is a copy of that ancient original that Pope Innocent III showed the pilgrims and which for four hundred years has been kept in Abruzzo, on the Adriatic, in an outlying area of Italy, which today for the first time has been brought back to where its public worship began. From here, countless copies brought all over the world the true face of God that Christians knew. Precisely in this lies the deeper meaning of this moment. Before coming to Rome, the Holy Veil was kept in Constantinople, earlier in Edessa and even before in Jerusalem. It is not possible, in fact, that this face could be the property, could be the treasure of anyone, not even of the Pope. It is the signature of Christians. Only we know that God has a face - how and who he is. For this reason, the face of Christ is the first, the most noble and most precious treasure of all Christendom, even more: of all the earth. Omnis Terra! Before this face we ought to open ourselves again and again. Always as pilgrims; always to the outlying areas; and always having before our eyes one goal: that moment when we will be before him face to face. Thanks to Fr. Daren J. Zehnle for the translation of Archbishop Farhat’s homily

17

document

The icon of Manoppello is a definitive sign Homily of His Excellency The Most Reverend Edmond Y. Farhat - Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to Austria - 17 January 2016 We have accompanied with hymns and songs, invocations and thanks, the icon of the Holy Face of Manoppello to venerate it and, through it, to praise the Lord Jesus Christ for his wonders. The Holy Mass was celebrated. The people of God prayed, the priests and ministers offered thanksgiving, prayers, and supplications. In the Face of Christ, impressed on the veil of Veronica, preserved in the sudarium of Manoppello, we venerate the Lord God of mercy, Savior of the world. Today, brothers and sisters, right now, we return to the temple of the Holy Spirit to venerate the Holy Face and all it means. We celebrate the Eucharist, we confess our sins, and we announce the Good News. The Good News of today is the invitation to the wedding at Cana. Jesus was invited, invited by his Mother because the guests were friends of his mom. She invited her Son, and at a certain point, said, “They have no wine.” “My hour,”

18

responded the Son, “has not yet arrived.” “Do that which he says,” said his mom. Jesus, obedient to his Mother, saved face for the groom and his family. The feast was beautiful and the joy was great. They drank and sang. The feast was transformed into a unique occasion. It was the occasion of the first sign of his manifestation, of the manifestation of his divinity. It was the beginning of the signs carried out by Jesus, because of which they believed in him. Better still, it is the first sign that reveals his personality. He came that they might have life, and have it in abundance. At Cana, Jesus manifested his authority. “Fill the jars,” and they filled them. Cana was the very first sign of the divine authority of Jesus, this authority that developed during his mission until it became known in the passion and in a true image, living, in the hands of Veronica. Cana was the first visible sign of the divinity of Jesus. It is a provocative sign now, the icon of Manoppello that is a definitive sign. Cana was the first,

and the face of the sudarium is the her Son], “and contemplate the face definitive sign. It is a provocative sign bequeathed to you” [to the men of our and insignificant, discrete and quiet, but time]. And we contemplate the face of most eloquent, always old and always Jesus. It speaks to us and nods to us, it is new. Discussed and venerated, look at it good, it is merciful. Therefore, we have with your eyes, accompany it, follow it, brought it from Manoppello to here, and let it guide your gaze. It is a concrete because his expression [word missing] sign, but it is not made by man; it is a wider goodness and mercy in this created, but no year of grace one knows in which God its origin, its reveals himself formation. with the name It is not an of mercy, as the object of Holy Father another time; Francis teaches. it is the icon Therefore, we of the eternal display it in the face, the face of church of the goodness and Holy Spirit so of friendship, that the Spirit of mercy and of may speak peace. The face to the heart, from left Fr. Ted Lopez, Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, OFM, Cap., that speaks, Archbishop Edmond Y. Farhat, Mons. Americo Ciani, Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, and suggest that examines, S.J., Fr. Jess Marano and (behind), Mons. Jozef Bart, Rector of Santo Spirito i n t e n t i o n s that asks, that of wisdom awaits a response. It seems to say: “Look and hope. Therefore we place it in the at me, you who are tired. Come to me and church looked after by Saint Faustina I will give you rest.” They have not seen, because she has been able to perceive they did not have to suffer humiliation, the dimensions of his face. the men of our time, as the friends of There are moments in which, in an Mary did not have to suffer humiliation even stronger way, we are called to keep at Cana. He had to reach out. our look fixed on mercy to become They do not have faith, the men of our effectively inserted into the action of time, but, as at the wedding at Cana: the Father, as Pope Francis says in his “Have mercy on them,” Mary says [to exhortation.

19

This, dear brothers and sisters, is a privileged moment. We fix our gaze on the Holy Face and we will be transformed by God’s mercy. The sign is not an end in itself; the sign is a pointer on the way of the return, the return to the Father. The sudarium [word missing] of Christ. Christ is Jesus that has transformed the water into wine to participate in the joy of his friends and relations. The transformation requires a change. Our transformation and our conversion from pointless spectators to collaborators in the work of Jesus and Mary, who kept all these things in her heart, and no one knows the son and Lord like her. She guides us on the journey to encounter her Son, through his face that we can physically contemplate. Yesterday we took it and venerated it to give thanks for so many benefits; today we greet it and honor it, asking him to accompany us on our new journey, the journey to the wedding of the Lamb, full of grace and mercy. We hold impressed in our minds and in our heart his image that speaks to us and examines us. It is the image of the Word become Incarnate so that we might have life. It accompanies us on our way so that

20

we might always remember that God is mercy. His mercy accompanies us. We remember that the people of God, going up to Jerusalem, in the Old Testament, always repeated during their pilgrimages: “God is good, he has given us goodness; he has given us faith because his mercy is eternal, because his mercy is eternal.” We from this Eternal City, city of saints, of Faustina; city of John Paul II, of Paul VI, of John XXIII, of popes and saints; we turn our thoughts to the Jerusalem of Jesus, to the Jerusalem of Mary; and we ask peace for Jerusalem, peace to all the people of Palestine and of Jerusalem, of the Middle East and of the Mediterranean. There is room for everyone; mercy has no limits. ** Eternal is the mercy of God, because he is good; he is great, may his face guide us, accompany us, and we will not be lost. **The final appeal for peace was repeated by Archbishop Edmond Y. Farhat also in Hebrew and Arabic

Thanks to Fr. Daren J. Zehnle for the translation of Archbishop Farhat’s homily

International Mission for the Holy Face of Manoppello (2015)

Vancouver, Los Angeles and Manila the most significant stops Vancouver, Canada, is where the new international mission of the Holy Face will begin, bringing to ever more people the knowledge of this extraordinary image venerated at the Shrine of Manoppello and considered the trueicon of Christ. On September 5, Father Carmine, rector of the Shrine of Manoppello, will be busy in the church of Saint Patrick at Vancouver, British Columbia. After the Mass, concelebrated by Fr. Bonifacio (Ted) Lopez, a priest originally from the Philippines, who will accompany Fr. Carmine for the entire mission, an artistic reproduction

of the Holy Face will be enthroned in the Church. This act will begin the reverence of the extraordinary image. Representing Archbishop Michael Miller will be Fr. Joseph Nguyen, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. This gathering will be preceded by a similar one to be held the day before in the city of Delta, followed by a meeting with Fr Abbot John Braganza in the Abbey of Westminster of Mission City, British Columbia. It must be recalled that in the early nineteen seventies it was the emigrants from Abruzzo who were the first to introduce the cult of the Holy Face in Canada, at Richmond

Ethelyn David, Corgie Bernardo, Leila Gueco e Norma Reyes The organizing team of Vancouver-2015

21

Hill, a town in the metropolitan area of Toronto, where every first Sunday of August is held a procession of the Holy Face. After the meetings in Canada the mission will continue on to the United States, to Duarte close by to Los Angeles on September 8 and the next day in the city of Los Angeles, as already announced on August 15 by the newspaper Asian Journal. A reproduction of the Holy

metropolis. The date coincides with the 165th anniversary of the admission of California as the 31st state of the United States of America. In the USA and Canada there are spreading Facebook pages and websites which are dedicated to the Holy Face, often drawing on the information and images on the blog http://holyfaceofmanoppello.blogspot. com/ started in 2008 by Raymond Frost

The Holy Face in the grand Cathedral of Los Angeles, filled with the faithful

Face, coming directly from the Shrine of Manoppello, will be honored throughout the day of September 9 at the Our Lady of Angels Cathedral of the American

22

of San Francisco. But it is mainly in the Philippines that the mission will develop intensively on the following dates: September 12:

Bulacan, Bethlehem House of Bread Orphanage Baliuag; September 13 Lipa, Batangas - Montemaria, “Mother of All Asia” Shrine; September 14 and 15 - Taguig, Enthronement of the Holy Face of Manoppello at Sagrada de Familia Church; September 16 Nampicuan, Nueva Ecija - September 17 - Quiapo, Basilica of the Black Nazarene, September 18 - Baclaran Church; September 19 - Manila, San Augustin and Manila Cathedral; September 20 - Bagumbayan, St. Martin Chapel Mahogany. Fr. Carmine and Fr. Bonifacio (Ted) Lopez, will be accompanied by Paul Badde, veteran journalist and writer, author of two books on the Holy Face published recently in the United States,

“The Face of God” and “The True Icon” ( both by Ignatius Press of San Francisco) who will illustrate for the public a historical outline as well as his own research of the Holy Face, which is identified with the legendary Veronica, and in close relationship with the Shroud of Turin. Paul Badde, who is currently on assignment in Rome for the American Catholic television network EWTN, will be accompanied by his wife Ellen, who collaborates with him in the historical research. The dioceses being visited were informed of the Mission by Bruno Forte, archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, the diocese to which the Holy Face shrine of the Capuchins of Manoppello belongs. Before departure Fr. Carmine Cucinelli stated “I remember with emotion the

23

Paul Badde signs copies of his books for readers with Mrs. Daisy Neves standing next to him.

previous mission in 2014, especially in the Philippines, for the warmth and the enthusiasm with which the Holy Face was greeted by thousands of devoted people. The organization of the program required the involvement of many volunteers to whom I extend my most heartfelt thanks. I can not forget the role played by Mrs Daisy Neves, an American of Filipino origin, to whom we owe not only significant financial support for the project but also the indefatigable network of relationships with host groups in the various cities visited by the mission, composed of people who are devotees of the Holy Face “. What do you consider the most significant stage of your journey? - we ask Fr. Carmine: “I think it is the town of Nampicuan,

24

where I will be present on September 16 to celebrate one year from last year’s visit, which turned the church into the Shrine of the Holy Face, the first in Asia honoring the image of Manoppello.” The shrine has become a pilgrimage site for people from throughout the Philippines and has established on May 31 a volunteer group “Servants of Holy Face” - as well as a website http:// www.holyfacenampicuan.com/ for purposes of spreading devotion to the Holy Face and welcoming pilgrims. “In recent months some miracles were also registered,” reports Fr. Carmine. “It ‘s amazing what is happening. It’s as if the Holy Face had decided the time and manner of dissemination of his image by involving people from different countries, each with their own participation and contribution of faith.” On the feast of the Holy Face of Nampicuan, which will see the presence of Mrs. Mercedes Tuason, Philippine ambassador to the Holy See, the use of a new precious reliquary for the image of the Holy Face will be inaugurated. According to writer Paul Badde “the mission will be a trip to the future. It’s very important to bring a copy of the image of the Holy Face, the true icon, to Los Angeles, which is the world metropolis of images and of the digital revolution, very close, by the way, to Hollywood and Silicon Valley. In my opinion, this

Mons. Vergara, fr. Danilo Flores, fr. Bonifacio Lopez

pilgrimage will be an essential step forward in the process of the rediscovery of the Most Holy Sudarium of Jesus Christ. It is really an “iconic turn” in the history of Christianity that makes one think of “the living image of the Father’s mercy”, as Pope Francis recalled during his announcement of the upcoming extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy “.

The initiative is promoted by the Shrine of Manoppello with the financial and organizational support of a group of devotees in the US and the Philippines. In addition to Mrs. Daisy Neves there can not be forgotten the spouses Lenlen and Ernest Alzate, all to be regarded as generous and tireless pioneers of the devotion of the extraordinary image in the world, which is registering the participation of hundreds of people in the organization of the events. The movement that is being created is the most obvious result of the international mission begun last year with the effects most pronounced in the Philippines, a country of reference for Catholics of the Asian continent. With a message of greeting on August 19, 2015 Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle expressed his satisfaction and Paul for the anniversary of the enthronement of the Holy Face at Nampicuan begun last year and stated his encouragement for the new mission of Fr. Carmine.

Univbersity of Manila

25

26

West Coast of the USA, and also the Philippines Visit of Rector of the Basilica of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Mission 2014) Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, O.F.M., Cap., Rector of the Shrine and Basilica of the Holy Face of Manoppello will be visiting several cities in the western United States of America over a five day period during the first week of September to give presentations on the Holy Face of Manoppello. He will arrive in Seattle on Sept. 2, followed by stops in San Francisco and Las Vegas. After giving talks accompanied by slide shows on the Holy Face in churches in these cities he will leave for the Philippines for a seven day mission. Fr. Carmine will be accompanied throughout his journey by Fr. Danny Flores, a priest from the Philippines, who will translate Fr. Carmine’s talks (which will be given in either italian or spanish) for english speaking people. Fr. Carmine has the blessing of the

Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, His Excellency Bruno Forte, for this mission. Among the churches to be hosting Fr. Carmine are. On Wednesday September 3 in the Seattle Area at St. Madeleine Sophie Church in Bellevue at 5:00 pm for Mass and Presentation by Fr. Carmine on the Holy Face. Thursday September 4: St. Francis of Assisi Church in East Palo Alto (half way between San Francisco and San Jose) for Mass at 7:30pm followed by presentation by Fr. Carmine on the Holy Face. Friday September 5: St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco for a presentation on the Holy Face at 10am given by Fr. Carmine. Following the presentation there will be Eucharistic Adoration and then Mass at 12:05pm. Saturday September 6: St. Sharbel Church in Las Vegas 5pm Mass followed

27

by presentation on the Holy Face by Fr. Carmine. Sunday September 7: Father Carmine is scheduled to be at St. Thomas More Church at Henderson in the Las Vegas area and then at 6:30pm he will be at Our Lady of Las Vegas Church for Mass followed by a presentation on the Holy Face. The Episcopal Conference of the Philippines, headed by Socrates B. Villegas, announced the mission of the Shrine of the Holy Face in the Philippines with a statement made public on September 5 on its corporate website:

Bishop Roberto Mallari, Nampicuan (Philipppines)

28

document

Cloth with ‘Christ’s face’ to visit PH

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Manila, September 5, 2014 The Filipino faithful will have a chance to venerate what many believe to be a piece of cloth containing an imprint of the Lord’s Face. Named “The Holy Face of Jesus from Manoppello”, the said sacred object is a sudarium, which is a veil or handkerchief customarily used by Jews to cover the face of their dead at burial. Also known as “The Veil of Manoppello”, it has been housed for 500 years in the Capuchin Friary in Abruzzo, Pescara, near Rome. The Veil has drawn pilgrims to the obscure hilltop village following the visits of then Benedict XVI to the shrine early in his pontificate. Amazing discoveries these papal visits have since called attention to the Veil’s significance in the history of Christ’s life on earth. The Manoppello image made it to the cover of Inside The Vatican magazine, in its August-September 2014 issue. While its origins are largely anecdotal, years of scientific study and historical research now report the Veil as having the following attributes:

1. The faces on the more famous Shroud of Turin and that on the Manoppello Veil coincide perfectly; 2. Both images are “acheiropoietas”, meaning they could not have been made by human hands; 3. The Veil—measuring a mere 7 x 10 inches—is dated between the time of the Lord’s Crucifixion and His Resurrection. 4. The Shroud of Turin shows the image of a man with closed eyes and fresh

29

wounds, while that on the Manoppello Veil features a face with open eyes and closed wounds. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was reported to have been drawn to Manoppello after receiving the first printed copy of The Face of God, a book by German author Paul Badde which covers ten years of intensive studies on the Veil by professors, scientists, iconographic experts, and authorities of the Catholic Church. The Manoppello veil will be coming to the Philippines on September 1017 directly from a tour of the US West Coast and Las Vegas. http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=40792

30

fr. Christian Magdalas -Nampicuan (Philipppines), with fr. Danny Flores

The Symposium Of European and African Bishops Concludes at Manoppello With a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the that will be useful for better cooperation Holy Face the second Symposium of the on issues of peace, immigration, religious Episcopal Conferences of Africa and freedom and combating prostitution. For the Hungarian Madagascar (SECAM) Cardinal Peter Erdo, and the Council of Episcopal Conferences “European and of Europe (CCEE)has African bishops want to face together the drawn to a close. “Evangelization today: challenge of the new evangelization, living communion and pastoral cooperation in a more intense “Bishops on the Via Crucis leading to the Shrine between Africa way our brotherhood of the Holy Face” and Europe” was in mission. A the theme of the Symposium which collaboration that is based on mutual began on February 13, 2012 in Rome exchanges. While in the past many at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina missionaries left Europe to go to Apostolorum in Rome, with discourses Africa, now we are seeing an opposite by Cardinals Polycarp Pengo and movement, with priests, nuns and lay Angelo Bagnasco, Chairman of the religious coming to Europe from Africa. Symposium of Episcopal Conferences We discovered many common concerns of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and we are committed to working and Vice-President of the Council together in the field of pastoral care, of European Episcopal Conferences health, education, and social problems. (CCEE)respectively. Moreover, our continent needs an The days of study and discussion were injection of ecclesial vitality and this intended to understand and reflect on the vitality can come from the young pressing problems of the Church on the Churches of Africa.” two continents, in a climate of friendship Along the same line, the Senegalese

31

Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr, who stated “The African immigrants will help Europe to discover for the future new youthfulness and freshness in the faith. Future exchanges between the bishops will address issues such as education, the fight against poverty, health, training of leadership teams, the dialogue between religions, the arms trade, human trafficking, external debt and the exploitation by the mining companies.” This path of commitment to communion and solidarity of people coming from so many different worlds comes from belonging to the same Church, united in Christ. This is the deeper meaning to be found in the final pilgrimage to Manoppello. It is the Pope himself who, the day before, while meeting with the bishops attending the Symposium who did not hide the complexity of the challenges facing the Church today, starting with that of religious indifference. Recalling the moral authority and credibility that must support them in their pastoral efforts, Benedict XVI said that the gaze of faith fixed on Jesus opens the mind and heart to the First Truth which is God. Benedict XVI sought to further strengthen this thought emphasizing that “a bishop must be in love with Christ.” The Shrine of the Holy Face was framed

32

with an unusual amount of pure white snow which however did not prevent the Bishops from climbing Tarigni hill, walking along the Via Crucis. At each station the reflections were led by a different bishop. Arriving in the Basilica, Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, prior to the solemn celebration of Mass, welcomed his brother bishops from Europe and Africa and spoke regarding the extraordinary image of the Holy Face in Italian, English and French. Referring to studies of P. Heinrich Pfeiffer, Sr. Blandina Paschalis Schlomer, Andrew Resch, Paul Badde and Saverio Gaeta he said that one can “respond positively and with sufficient moral certainty to two questions put by the Holy Face: Is this the Veil of Veronica once venerated in St. Peter’s? And ‘Is this the precious relic of the sudarium laid in the tomb on the face of the dead Christ, as attested by the Gospel of John (20, 6-7)?” These reflections were also been drawn up in a letter From Archbishop Forte personally delivered to the bishops present. These assessments are important, which also take into account, perhaps, that the Vatican last summer in a press release for the first time admitted (after 484 years), the disappearance of Veronica during the sack of Rome in 1527. The meeting was an opportunity to meditate and pray before the Holy Face, described in detail by the German writer and journalist

Paul Badde. Many bishops did not hide their emotion. A feeling that has united distant worlds, from that of the bishop of Iceland to that of South Africa. At the end of the celebration Archbishop Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle of Ghana, expressing gratitude for the welcome they had received, asked Bruno Forte on behalf of all, that each time he

pilgrimage to the Holy Face, he reflected deeply before replying that the impetus which comes from having known the Holy Face is to “proclaim the true Christ, a living Christ.” The Archbishop Bruno Forte, to whom I had asked what impressions he had received from the participants, confirmed to me that “all were deeply affected by the pilgrimage

returned to the Basilica of the Holy Face he might remember in his prayers the European and African bishops. When I asked the same Archbishop Palmer-Buckle, who was part of the core group organizing the Symposium, what was the meaning which he and the other bishops would attribute to the

to Manoppello”. Also present at the gathering was PetraMaria Steiner, who in recent years has dedicated herself to studies on the Holy Face, and who is engaged in a constant effort of promotion of the Holy Face in the German speaking countries. Lastly there should be noted the

33

greeting of the President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Jozef Michalik to Immaculata and Caterina, young nuns who arrived from Poland a few months ago and are now serving in Manoppello. Bishops who took part in the pilgrimage to Manoppello. EUROPE: Jozef Michalik, chairman of the Episcopal Conference of Poland; Ludwig Swartz, archbishop of Linz, Austria; François Garnier, Archbishop of Cambrai, France, Gerard de Foix, Archbishop of Lille, France; Senkiv Taras, Greek-Catholic church Bishop of Ukraine, Lucjan Avgustini, Albania, Duarte De Cunha, Portugal, Zef Gashi, Montenegro, Petru Gherghe, Romania, Pierre Bürcher, Iceland; Vjekoslav Huzjak, Croatia; Everard De Jong, Netherlands; AFRICA: Buti Joseph Tlhagale, Archbishop of Johannesburg, South Africa, Jean Gabriel Djarra, Mali; Touabli Youlo Alexis, Ivory Coast, Jude Thaddeus Ruwa’ichi, Tanzania, JeanNoël Diouf, Senegal, Denis Komivi Amuzu-Dzakpah, Togo; Gabriel Justice Anokye, Ghana; Maragde Mbonyintege, Rwanda, Frank Nubuasah, Botswana, Emmanuel Obbo, Uganda; Louis Portella Mbuyu, Congo, Benjamin Ramaroson,

34

Madagascar, Joachim Tarounga, Chad, Charles Kasonde, Zambia, Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle, Ghana.

Br. Crispino Valeri with Bishop of Zambia

The President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Jozef Michalik with Sister Immaculata

International workshop of the scientific approach to the acheiropoietos images Enea Research Center of Frascati - May 4 to 6, 2010 Brief Reflections regarding the International Discussion on the Most Famous Acheropite Images: ShroudTilma-Holy Face To promote a wideranging scientific discussion on the recent studies relating to the chemical, physical, mechanical, historical and forensic medical aspects of the most famous acheropite images (that is, not made by human hands): the Shroud of Turin, the Tilma of Guadalupe and the Veil of Manoppello, this was the objective of the International Conference organized by ENEA at its Center for Reseach in Frascati from May 4 to 6. Around 40 scientists and scholars hailing from the United States, France, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Israel, France, Poland, Spain and Italy shared and compared their different approaches to these scholarly disciplines. ENEA, the Italian national agency for Energy and the New Technologies, provided this initiative with its own dedicated website - only in English- to underline the international status of the event: www.acheiropoietos.info. The

conference was planned to coincide with the exhibition of the Shroud in Turin in order to take advantage of the presence in Italy of many foreign scholars. It could seem very unique that a national public agency which occupies itself at the scientific level of energy and new technologies should dedicated a conference to these topics, on a field very complex and apparently very far from its institutional activity. Actually, this interest is to be linked to the capactiy of ENEA to reproduce in their laboratory, thanks to special excimer lasers, a coloration similar to that of the Shroud, with the same characteristics of the superficial nature of the image in relation to the cloth. The result was obtained by focusing very powerful lamps of ultraviolet light upon linen fabrics. It was a casual circumstance in that the scholars were dedicated to research relating to industrial applications. The research was published in 2008 in the American journal Applied Optics. And it was Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, leader of the excimer laboratory of the center of Frascati to serve as chairman

35

of the international discussion that was developed along the following topics: characteristics of the images; hypothoses on the formation of the images; dating of the images; elaboration of the images; new instruments of analysis; restoration and conservation; comparison of the different acheropite images, historical aspects; forensic medical aspects. Most of the papers given at the conference had to do with the Shroud, with a healthy number of scholars, especially American, among whom was Diana Fulbright the director of the Center for Research on the Shroud of Richmond, Virginia. Much interest was generated by talks regarding forensic medical aspects, but the general impression given is that the discussion still revolved either directly or indirectly around the controversy surrounding the dating of the cloth by the Carbon 14 method, carried out in 1988 with the examination of three different samples at three different laboratories in Zurich, Oxford, and Arizona, and thus on the influence of environmental factors on the contamination of the cloth of Turin. In his paper Jose Carlos Esprella Godinez, member of the Mexican Center for the Study of the Shroud, described the acheropite characteristics of the Tilma of Guadalupe, furnishing elements to insert the miracle in the context of the history of Christianity in

36

Mexico. There was much interest shown in the Holy Face especially because of the images, some of very high quality and very moving, which were projected a number of times on the large screen. The extraordinary spread of the Holy Face in the last few years and the ever more frequent comparison with the more famous Shroud, found in the initiative organized by ENEA an implicit recognition of the scientific validity of the studies which have been carried out so far by a small number of reseachers, who had the chance to describe their theories before an international audience of recognized scholars. Professor Heinrich Pfeiffer, pioneer of studies on the Holy Face, went deeply into the history of art regarding the theme of the acheropite, emphasizing the most noted sacred images of antiquity, the Mandylion of Edessa and the image from Kamulia (or Camulliana). These images would correspond to the Shroud and the Veronica (Holy Face). Some inexplicable peculiarities of the veil were illustrated by Professor Giulio Fanti from the University of Padua. Professor Fanti is a well known expert on the Shroud who for some years has become more acquainted with the Veil of Manoppello. But the most interesting talks, also because of their novelty, were probably

those by the three Polish university instructors, recently coming to know the Holy Face. Zbigniew Treppa and Karolyna Aszyk, instructors of semeiotics of images at the University of Danzig, illustrated their studies on the suprising mutability of the image by emphasizing in particular the mouth which demonstrates with greater evidence their reflections on the mutability of the image, relating in particular to the teeth. Their thesis was more amply detailed in a book which came out last year in Poland with the title “Fotografia z Manoppello”. A significant contribution came from Jan S. Jaworski professor of chemistry at the University of Warsaw who has supported and documented the thesis

that the fabric on which the Holy Face appears is that of marine byssus and that it is to the peculiar properties of byssus that the extraordinary transparency of the Veil can be attributed. I recall that the hypothesis of marine byssus was supported on September 1, 2004 by Chiara Vigo, a native of the island of Sant’Antioco in Sardinia, who is held to be the last expert of this ancient textile art still living in the Mediterranean area. As is known, the extraordinary uniqueness of this most unique fabric, which derives from a large mollusk (pinna nobilis), is that it can be dyed but that it is not possible to paint upon it. The idea that it might be marine byssus came from Sister Blandina, after having held by chance between her

Enea Research Center of Frascati: from left Antonio Bini, Giulio Fanti, Sister Blandina Paschalis Schlömer, Zbigniew Treppa, Jan S. Jaworski, Lorenzo Bianchi, Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, SJ, Fr. Andreas Resch, Karolina Aszyk

37

fingers some fibers from shells coming from the Adriatic Sea. The research which followed and the involvement of Chiara Vigo is owed to the German journalist and writer Paul Badde. Roberto Falcinelli, roman photographer, detailed the results of his own research on the dating of the Opusculum of Jacopo Grimaldi, preserved in the Vatican, which documents how the Veronica appeared before its disappearance. As is known, the images (of the Opusculum) show the face of Christ with eyes open, contrary to the changed iconographic model imposed in the 1600’s. In the “Poster Session” Sr. Blandina Paschalis Schloemer and Professor Andreas Resch presented a thorough documentation to demonstrate that the Holy Face and the Face of the Shroud can be superimposed one upon the other. Their documentation was shared during the three days with the various scholars present who were able to ask for clarifications and to acquaint themselves with the techniques used by Sr. Blandina and Professor Resch. On the last day of the workshop a russian icon of the Mandylion of Edessa was also displayed. This icon, dating from the 1700’s, calls to mind the Holy Face of Manoppello. In closing the workshop, Professor Di Lazzaro, after referring to the lengthy course of scientific data, graphics, formulae and statistical tables, could

38

not hide his own “emotion for the fantastic experience of coordinating an international workshop on these extraordinary images” which favors a greater dialog in the international scientific community involved in these studies. Certainly the discussion on these topics will continue for a long time, but Frascati will remain an event probably without precedent, as the tendency has been to concentrate moments of study and of discussion to that of a single holy image. An event organized in a serious way, not open to the public, in order to avoid the simplifications and the easy sensationalism of the mass media, which neither the faith nor science need.

Puebla, Mexico - Conference on the Holy Face and the Madonna of Guadalupe Father Carmine Cucinelli, rector of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello, has been invited to participate in the Second Guadalupana Week which is being held from November 15 to 18, 2011 in the Mexican city of Puebla, capital of the region of the same name. Father Carmine’s conference -- awaited with great anticipation -- is scheduled for today, November 17, at the Popular Autonomous State University of Puebla (UPAEP). Prior to leaving for Mexico Father Carmine emphasized that the year 2011 will be remembered for the significant activities which brought together the Holy Face with the Madonna of Lourdes and of Guadalupe, which are the most visited Marian shrines in the world. The exhibit “L’image du Christ à travers le visage de la Vierge”, held at Lourdes from September 1 to October 2, 2011 -- at the request of the Bishop of the Diocese of TarbesLourdes -- Monsignor Philippe Perrier -- was visited by thousands of people, and coincided with the time of the year in which is recorded the greatest number of pilgrims. The level of interest raised by the exposition is shown by the distribution of more than 100,000

leaflets prepared by the Capuchin Fathers in the various languages. If the exhibit of Lourdes pertained to the relationship between the Holy Face and the Face of the Madonna in the variety of expressions of devotion and of faith which Lourdes and Manoppello share, the conference of Puebla -which opens new perspectives for the spreading of the knowledge of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Santa Faz) in South America -- will concentrate on a comparison of studies on the acheropite (“not made by human hands) origin of the two images, in a historical, scientific and religious perspective. Under this aspect, it should be remembered that the two images -- together with that of the Shroud of Turin -were at the center of the International Workshop on the Scientific Approach to the Ac h e i rop oi e t o s Images – held at the Research Institute of Frascati from May 4 to 6, 2010.

39

“The image of Christ has come back into history”. Considerations on the exhibit “The Rediscovered Face: The unmistakable features of Christ” “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

the Holy Face preserved at Manoppello. The exhibit of Rimini is an event that is rooted in the Year of Faith. The exhibit was visited by 3-4 thousand visitors a day, who waited in line at 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

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

40

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.

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.” 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

41

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

42

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 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. The exhibition was displayed also at the Manhattan Center in New York from January 17 to 19, 2014 as part of New York Encounter 2014, at Perugia in 2015, Como and Lugano (Switzerland) in 2016.

The Bishop of Lourdes Pilgrim to the Holy Face The bishop of the diocese of TarbesLourdes, Monsignor Philippe Perrier, has visited the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello, accompanied by a delegation which included Francois Vayne, editor of the Lourdes Magazine and Doctor Alessandro De Franciscis, director of the organism which documents and investigates miracles which take place in the french city. The french bishop was welcomed by the Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto Bruno Forte and by the rector of the Shrine, Fr. Carmine Cucinelli. At 10AM Bishop Perrier celebrated the Mass in French, remaining in prayer before the Holy Face. Among those present, unaware, were a small group of German pilgrims. In his message he stated that he had “seen in the suffering Face of Manoppello the sufferings of the Madonna of Lourdes”, inviting those present to “be worthy of this extraordinary treasure of grace”. The visit has a strong symbolic value for the Shrine of Manoppello in fostering that ideal connection with the most visited Marian shrine of Europe which Bishop Perrier himself has recalled in

his homily and in his inscription left in the guestbook of the shrine. September 1 - October 2, 2011 The Shrine of the Holy Face announces an exhibition titled “The IMAGE DU CHRIST A TRAVERS LE VISAGE DE LA VIERGE” (“The image of Christ through the face of the Virgin”), to be held in the exhibition hall of the famous Marian Shrine of Lourdes from September 1 to October 2, 2011. This is an extraordinary event which brings to fulfillment the proposal of the Bishop of the diocese of TarbesLourdes, Most Reverend Philippe Perrier, after his visit to the Shrine of Manoppello, which occurred in April

43

of last year. On that occasion, Msgr. Perrier was impressed by the encounter with the Holy Face. In the presence of Archbishop Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti, Bishop Perrier said he saw in the suffering Face of Manoppello the suffering of the Madonna of Lourdes. The exhibition will consist of a series of large multi-lingual panels - made under the direction of Prof. Heinrich Pfeiffer S.J. with the collaboration of Sr. Blandina Paschalis Schlomer - which illustrate the history and meaning of the Holy Face, comparing it with the Shroud and with the original iconography of the face of Christ in art as well as recount the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Manoppello. A significant part of the exhibition will focus on the relationship between the Holy Face and the Face of the Madonna in the various expressions of devotion and faith that are common to Lourdes and Manoppello, the faces of sick, suffering and pilgrims. The organizational phase of the exhibition was preceded by a visit to Lourdes by the Capuchin Provincial of Abruzzo, Padre Carmine Ranieri, inasmuch as the event - because of its importance - involves the whole community of Capuchins in the region. During the opening of the exhibition there will be meetings, conferences and film screenings. In France, the understanding of the Holy

44

Face is spreading thanks to the French edition of the book by Paul Badde, published in Paris in April of last year with the title “L’autre Suaire: enquête sur le secret de Manoppello” (The other Shroud: investigation of the secret of Manoppello). * From August 6 until September 30, 2013,there will be held at the Marian shrine of Lourdes the third edition of the exhibit “L’image du Christ à travers the visage de la Vierge.” (The image of Christ through the face of the Virgin. This exhibit, organized in collaboration with the Shrine of Lourdes, came about at the urging of the former bishop of the diocese Tarbes-Lourdes - Philippe Perrier - who came as a pilgrim to Manoppello in spring 2010. It was the French bishop to “see” in the wounded Face of Manoppello the suffering of the Madonna of Lourdes.

Bishop Perrier with Archbishop Bruno Forte

Lech Walesa a Pilgrim in Manoppello Yesterday June 14, 2013, Friday, June 14,the former Polish Prime Minister and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa visited the Shrine of the Holy Face where he was

Polish president, a practicing Catholic, went first to pray before the Holy Face and then attentively listened to the explanations regarding the Holy Face

welcomed by the Capuchin friars headed by their provincial Father Carmine Ranieri and also by the Polish nuns of the Holy Blood who recently established themselves in Abruzzo. Upon arriving at the Shrine the former

offered to him by Fr. Ceslao Gadacz, a Polish Capuchin friar who belongs to the community of Manoppello. Didascalia - In this photo taken in front of the Shrine – from the left Sr. Pia, Fr. Dariusz Stancryk, Fr. Ceslao Gadacz,

45

Lech Walesa, Sr. Immaculata and Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, Rector of the Shrine of the Holy Face with some of the miners standing behind. The priest remembers as a young seminarian meeting the Solidarity leader in the Capuchin monastery in Krakow during the troubled year of 1989. Walesa, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, asked Fr. Ceslao several questions about the origins of the Veil and its presence in Manoppello. He also asked the reasons why the Vatican does not recognize the historical authenticity of the Holy Face. In this regard, Father Ceslao outlined the studies leading to the identification of the Face of Manoppello with the Veronica, including the studies which in recent years have been contributed by Polish researchers. The Solidarity leader wished to know if John Paul II had been to Manoppello. He was told that the Pope had loved and visited Abruzzo and its mountains a number of times -- far beyond his limited official visits and that one could not completely rule out the possibility that the pontiff may have paid an informal visit to the the Shrine, on a weekday, just as any ordinary pilgrim might do. In the past rumors regarding such a visit were heard in various quarters. In fact the Shrine of the Holy Face in the countryside was visited very little until just a few years ago and thus was well

46

suited to visits that could have remained unnoticed, especially on weekdays, such as on a Tuesday,a day which was usually chosen for such excursions outside the Vatican palaces. After the death of Pope John Paul II his secretary Stanislaw Dziwisz who later became cardinal and archbishop of Krakow, revealed in his book “A Life with Karol” (published in Italy by Rizzoli, 2007) that the Polish Pope had taken refuge in Abruzzo more than a hundred times to pray, to walk in the mountains, and also to ski, using a ski pass just like any other skier. It should also be noted that John Paul II was informed of the thesis put forth by Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, the first scholar to publish his research on the Holy Face which began in 1991. According to what Saverio Gaeta related in his book “The Enigma of the Face of Jesus,” the Polish Pope, physically weakened, in the year 2000 requested from the Canons in charge of St. Peter’s Basilica that they bring to his apartment the reputed Veronica which is kept under their care. After having carefully

observed it he came to see for himself the lack upon it of any kind of an image, a circumstance which confirmed that, for centuries, the Veronica has not been at the Vatican. His encyclical letter “Tertio Millennio Ineunte” - at the end of the Great Jubilee of 2000 - can be read as the pressing invitation of the Pope, elderly and ailing, to seek the Face of Christ --tangibly present upon the Veil of Manoppello and the Shroud of Turin -- as his message delivered to the third millennium. These angles ought to be studied at greater depth following the valuable testimony of the Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. For Lech Walesa the inevitable recalling to mind of the great figure of the Polish pope appeared to be made even stronger when he discovered to his surprise the presence in Manoppello of other Polish members of religious orders. After hearing the warm greeting of Sr. Immaculata and Sr. Pia, of the order of the Holy Blood, who arrived about two years ago in Manoppello, “Szczesc boze panie Prezydencie” (“ May God welcome you Mr. President”) he remarked, “Even Sisters from Poland have come here.” He admitted his awareness that the Shrine of the Holy Face in recent years has become very popular among Polish pilgrims, but confessed that the close encounter with the Face was very

emotional for him, such that for a few minutes it seemed to him that he had been far removed from the numerous people who accompanied him. Among those who came to meet him in Manoppello was Father Dariusz Stancryk. Currently in Italy, Father Dariusz at the end of the eighties was a young priest and chaplain of Solidarity in the city of Skarżysko-Kamienna. His memory runs deep of the difficult years in which the Polish Episcopate, with the help of Pope Woityla supported as much as possible the Catholic trade union movement led by Walesa, also assisting those in prison who had been arrested as activists of the union. Before the visit to the Basilica, the former Solidarity leader wished to honor the memory of the miners who died in the Marcinelle mining disaster in Belgium, which took place on August 8, 1956, and who are buried a few meters away from the Shrine alongside the graves of the departed Capuchins. The victims of Marcinelle were 262 coming from many different European countries. 136 of the victims of the mining disasters were Italian immigrants with Manoppello paying the highest price with 22 deaths, while others came from neighboring towns such as Lettomanoppello, Turrivalignani and San Valentino. In fact San Valentino is the hometown of the family of the current Prime Minister

47

of Belgium, Elio Di Rupo, the son of a miner. A history was revealed of misery and pain, but sometimes also of far more decent and safe working conditions and social redemption for the children of the many “black faces” as the Italian immigrants who worked in the coal mines were derogatorily called. The tragedy struck other miners who had left their homeland in search of a job, including those emigrating from Poland and other countries. A mining disaster that seemed to repeat the tragedy which had occurred 49 years earlier, December 6, 1907 in Monongah, West Virignia, in the coal mine of the Fairmont Coal Company: the worst coal mining disaster in American history, with the total number of deaths remaining unknown. This tragedy, often labeled as the “American Marcinelle”, also caused the deaths of numerous emigrants, mainly Italians, Poles and Hungarians. Among those who welcomed Lech Walesa in a short, heartfelt ceremony were some former miners and relatives of the victims of Marcinelle, as well as the mayors of Manoppello and other municipalities in the district. During the day, the labor union UGL, on the initiative of Geremia Mancini, presented Walesa with the “Miner’s Lamp”, the recognition which for many years has been awarded to persons who

48

have devoted themselves to the memory of Marcinelle and to the struggle for work and for the safety of workers. The award recognizes the Polish leader Lech Walesa as an icon of the struggle of labor and trade unionism in defense of the working classes. In the small ethnographic museum which can be visited in the Sanctuary, next to the room containing the “ex voto” left in recognition of answered prayers, is displayed the helmet belonged to Geremia Iezzi, the last miner to come up from the bowels of the mine on that tragic August 8, 1956, just prior to the explosion in the Bois du Crazier coal mine of Marcinelle. Before Walesa’s departure the rector of the Basilica gave the illustrious guest the Polish edition of Paul Badde’s book and a video on the Holy Face. The deeply moved Walesa said farewell after writing in the visitor’s book this brief, simple yet strong message “I thank you Lord God for what I experience today.”

The fascinating story of the authentic Face of Jesus told in the book “The Face of God” by Paul Badde is hitting the shelves of American bookstores After five centuries of silence, during which the most important relic of the Christian world – the Veronica (true icon) – remained shrouded in mystery and almost forgotten, there emerges today the seemingly well founded hypothesis that this relic is to be identified as the Face kept in a small Italian shrine, in Manoppello, a locality set at the foot of the mountainous chain of the Maiella. “The Face of God: the rediscovery of the true face of Jesus” by the German journalist and author Paul Badde, which is about to appear in the USA in an edition published by Ignatius Press, San Francisco, recounts the tortured and complex story of this extraordinary image. Badde’s research is so totally convincing as to have influenced the decision of Benedict XVI to personally visit the shrine of Manoppello on September 1, 2006.

The images from that visit – which was opposed right up to the last minute by high Vatican officials and then simply classified as a “personal pilgrimage” – show the Pope profoundly moved, even to the point of tears, before the Holy Face. As Badde explains – the Vatican has never admitted the disappearance of the Veronica from St. Peter’s, an event which probably happened during the time of the construction of the new Basilica (1506 to early 1600’s) or during the Sack of Rome (1527). Badde himself was the one to discover that the present day image kept in Rome (of which little or nothing can be seen) can not be the Veronica. He accomplished this by comparing the Vatican image’s measurements to the measurements of the ancient reliquary of the Veronica, with its shattered glass

49

panes, now on public display in the Treasury of St. Peter’s. Even prior to the institution of the first Jubilee year proclaimed by Boniface VIII in 1300, large numbers of pilgrims poured into Rome to venerate the Veronica which came to be put on display on many occasions, even in ordinary years. Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of the Face of Manoppello: the image is present on an extremely fine material, with threads of the thickness of little more than a tenth of a millimeter and a space between one thread and another of two tenths of a millimeter. The image, which is transparent and visible from both sides, disappears in backlight and presents a masculine face with long hair and beard divided into two bands. On the forehead is seen a tuft of hair. The expression is sweet and suffering at the same time. The gaze, which is intense and profound, appears to be that of a living person. His encounter with this gaze made a great impression on the Pope, as can be deduced by the granting of the title of Basilica to the humble church just a few days after his visit and by the special prayer which he himself composed on the first anniversary of his pilgrimage to Manoppello. It is to Badde’s intuition that we owe the hypothesis of the nature of the material, marine byssus. He is supported in this intuition by the last weaver of this very

50

ancient “sea silk” coming from the hairs of the mollusk called “Pinna nobilis”. The Gospels speak of this byssus a number of times to underscore the precious workmanship of this fabric. Badde describes the incredulity of the weaver Chiara Vigo, who lives on the island of Sant’Antioco in Sardinia, when she saw the Holy Face and recognized thereupon the ancient fabric of marine byssus which can be dyed but upon which one can not paint. The circumstances are uncertain regarding the arrival of the Holy Face in Manoppello where tradition holds that it arrived “by the hand of an angel” in the year 1506, although the first written document – the Historical Report of Father Donato da Bomba attests that the presence of the image in Abruzzo dates from 1640. Until just a few years ago the knowledge and the cult of the Holy Face had been for centuries limited only to the devotion of the local population which certainly didn’t wait for the result of historical studies and scientific research to believe in the authenticity of this extraordinary image, cared for with humilty by the Capuchin friars – www. voltosanto.it. The studies of Professor Heinrich Pfeiffer, one of the greatest experts on Christian art, had attracted the interest of Paul Badde, as well as the research of the German iconographer Sr. Blandina Paschalis Schlomer, who demonstrated the affinity of the Holy

Face with the man of the Shroud. It must be kept in mind that the case which holds the image has not been opened ever since the time that Father Antonio da Poschiavo (1713), then guardian of the Shrine, saw the image of the Holy Face disappear when it was opened and then suddenly reappear only after he closed the glass panes of the reliquary which he had intended to replace. However thanks to the latest types of technology this does not constitute any limitation on scientific research which in fact has been carried out using various techniques (laser, infrared, etc.) and confirms the inexplicable nature of the image. Some of these studies were set forth this last May in an international scientific workshop – promoted by the Italian energy reserach institute ENEA -- which discussed the most important acheropite images (Shroud, Tilma of Guadalupe, Holy Face of Manoppello) and was attended by over 40 scientists and researchers coming from 13 countries, including a large American delegation. cfr. www.acheiropoietos.info – Badde, historian and journalist in Rome (and previously in Jerusalem) for the important German newspaper Die Welt, remembers that while on his way to San Giovanni Rotondo for the inauguration of the new church by Renzo Piano, he had been drawn by curiosity to make a

brief stop at Manoppello, of which he had heard some vague talk. That visit would have profound conseguences for his life. I remember having met him at the friary when he asked the then father guardian – Fr. Germano – to be able to stay for ten days as a guest in one of the monastic cells desiring to immerse himself for a brief period in the silent spirituality and simplicity of the Shrine, meditating on that image and beginning to gather documents and testimonies useful for his book. A period of extreme concentration, during which he limited himself to drink only water with a little bit of honey. The result of a complex and passionate effort, this book, often called “a historical whodunit” originally published in Germany and then becoming a bestseller in Poland, and later still in Italy, France and Holland, is attracting the interest of so many readers because of its fast paced narrative as well as for its intricate plot, between history and spirituality, following the tracks of a bimillenial quest for the true image of Christ.

51

Veronica Route - A World Project for the Year of Faith A grand map on the internet of the representations of the Veronica. Plans also for an exhibit on “The Rediscovered Face”. A unique initiative, significant for the Year of Faith being celebrated from October 2012 to November 2013, was launched some months ago by Raffaella Zardoni, an illustrator from Milan, who came to learn about the Holy Face of Manoppello in 2010 during the exhibition of the Holy Shroud in Turin. Her personal experience of the Holy Face of Manoppello and the hypothesis of the identification of the extraordinary image with the Veronica has brought her to imagine the creation of an exhibit which will be the fruit of a very wide searching out of the representations of the Veronica made during the years 1200 to 1600. The exhibit will be on display during next year’s Meeting (August 1824, 2013) the annual gathering held

52

“detail from the fresco by Tiberio da Assisi - Santa Maria degli Angeli- Assisi”.

each year in Rimini. At this time it is interesting to note that Zardoni has been progressively expanding her archive of images which come from throughout the world and are to be seen on her blog http://raffandcompany.wordpress.com/ category/veronica/ The ambitious objective of realizing a kind of planetary map -- called in fact Veronica Route -- has been taking shape in a surprising way with the

power offered for collaborative effort by the internet’s social media network. As I am writing there are a total of around 600 Raffaella Zardoni images which have been gathered between Veronica Route and Veronica Book, with the initial nucleus taken from the book by the scholar Karl Pearson (Die Fronica, 1887) The project aims to demonstrate the immense diffusion of these images which permits the rediscovery of how much the Roman Veronica was known and venerated in the past, a subject -writes Zardoni -- which although it has been almost entirely ignored by the field of art history has had and continues to have significant spiritual, cultural and historical meaning in addition to its artistic importance. It is appropriate for us to recall the reasons for the silence which lasted for centuries regarding this image, reasons laid out by Saverio Gaeta in his book L’Enigma del Volto di Gesu’ (The Enigma of the Face of Jesus) published by Rizzoli in 2010. The oblivion into which the Veronica had fallen for almost five centuries was brought to an end by the exhibit “Romei

e Giubilei: il pellegrinaggio medievale a Roma 350-1350” (Pilgrims to Rome and Jubilees: the medieval pilgrimage to Rome 350 to 1350) held at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome just prior to the opening of the Jubilee of the year 2000. Central to the exhibit were documents and objects coming primarily from foreign museums, which testified to the large numbers of pilgrims which came to Rome to venerate the Veronica, even prior to the proclamation of the first Jubilee in the year 1300. By a singular coincidence the important exposition took place less than five months time following the international news reporting on the studies of Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer regarding the possible identification of the Holy Face with the Veronica. As mentioned above, the research for Veronica Route has attracted the interest and involvement of a number of people. Among these, according to Zardoni, are an englishwoman who has documented a number of images of medieval pilgrimages, other persons from Finland who have sent photos of gold rings carrying the symbol of the Veronica and functioned as signs which rich pilgrims brought back to their country to demonstrate their penitential trip to Rome. Also a number of students have used part of their own free time to search out reproductions of

53

the Veronica, the legendary sudarium upon which was impressed the face of Jesus. This research will make a contribution to documenting and supporting the discussion which has been underway for some time on the Christian roots of Europe. The gathering together of these images will permit above all the verification of the correspondence between them and the Holy Face of Manoppello itself. For Raffaella Zardoni the Year of Faith represents an occasion to make known the Veil of Manoppello, defined as the “Rediscovered Face”, in the historic context of the Holy Years and of the pilgrimages to Rome. “The Rediscovered Face” will also be the title of the exhibit being prepared for Rimini in August, 2013. Collaborating in this project are a number of experts from various disciplines, among whom are Emanuele Colombo, history of Church art; Giovanna Parravicini, researcher from the Fondazione Russia Cristiana,

54

Paolo Martinetti, OFM, Cap, from the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome; Paul Badde, journalist and historian; Daniele Gomarasca, college dean, Silvana Tassetto, professor of art history, Cristina Terzaghi, history of contemporary art at Università Roma Tre. Also by means of this article we intend to encourage the opportunity to participate in this research without borders, which seems to be taking its cue from the prophetic words written by John Paul II for the third millenium in his apostolic letter “Novo Millennio Ineunte” by means of which at the end of the Grand Jubilee of the Year 2000, in recalling the historic foundation of the figure of Christ, the Pope invited the faithful to retake their ordinary path “with their eyes fixed more than ever on the face of the Lord”. An invitation which was taken up above all by his successor, Benedict XVI, pilgrim to Manoppello on September 1, 2006.

Shroud Effect on the Holy Face A few days after the conclusion of the period of display of the Shroud (24 June 2015) it is possible to make some assessment on the positive effects that it has had for the Holy Face of Manoppello. The German magazine Der Pilger (The Pilgrim) predicted in its December 2014 issue “there will be many pilgrims before or after a visit to the Shroud who will travel to Manoppello, seven hundred kilometers further south.” Also according to the Catholic magazine, “if literature on the Holy Face is not as extensive as that on the Shroud, it is likely that the small cloth of Manoppello, which is no less mysterious, has been revered for much longer than its counterpart in Turin “An obvious allusion to the Veronica. Many people did take the opportunity to visit the Shroud (19 April to 24 June 2015) together with the Holy Face. Certainly visits to Manoppello did not record the great numbers seen in Turin, where it is estimated the total flow to be a million and a half people, but the phenomenon of increased visits to the shrine in Manoppello, already perceived during the previous exposition of 2010,

occurred in even larger numbers in 2015, especially in regards to pilgrims from abroad. An effect probably unexpected by the Piedmontese organizers of the Exposition, who made use of large public and private contributions - something impossible for the Holy Face - for promotional advertising, publishing initiatives, conferences, etc. One such meeting was held in Vienna on March 17 and 18, with the title “Spuren vom Heiligen Antlitz: Sindon, Sudarium, Mandylion, Veronica, the Holy Face” (Traces of the Holy Face: Shroud, Sudarium, Mandylion, Veronica, Volto Santo) whose purpose seems to have been to make even more uncertain and confused the historical context referring

Pilgrimage from Manchester, Connecticut (USA)

55

to the images of Christ, even resorting to mocking and polemical assertions regarding the Volto Santo (Holy Face of Manoppello). I refer, in particular,to the controversy between the Prof. Karlheinz Dietz and the writer Paul Badde which ended up on the pages of the German newspaper Die Tagespost. So much hostility towards Badde seems to stem from the success of his books, rather than from a documented thesis by scholars who have never even seen the Holy Face of Manoppello. Even in many publications produced in Italy during the exposition and largely supported by the organizers there has even been found the deletion of references to the Holy Face of Manoppello, even where they were present in the same issue at the previous exposition of 2010. Singular the fact that many of these articles, pamphlets or magazine supplements referred back to the Shroud any known image of Christ, from Veronica to the Mandylion of

Pilgrims from Indonesia

56

Edessa, which some also identified as the Shroud. And yet respect and veneration is nurtured towards the Shroud by scholars who are interested in the Holy Face of Manoppello and by the Capuchins themselves, as is also demonstrated by the reproduction of the Shroud in the original size recently exhibited in the restored Exhibit Hall of the shrine where there were also already present reasoned comparisons between the two faces while a judgment has never been made on the results of the examinations performed in 1988 by three separate laboratories (Tucson in Arizona, Oxford and Zurich) on the Carbon 14 radiocarbon dating, which attributed the cloth as being from a late medieval period, but without ever being able to explain how the image was imprinted. Original Size Copy of the Shroud of Turin on Display at the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello Returning to the pilgrimages, significant, compared to 2010, is the presence of organized groups from the United States, with pilgrimages from Green Bay (Wisconsin), Tampa and Crystal River (Florida), Westerville (Ohio), Ypsilanti (Michigan), Hollywood ( California), etc. Worth highlighting is the pilgrimage of a large group of people from Manchester (Connecticut), who arrived on May 19

in Manoppello, before their visit to the Shroud. It was led by an American priest living in Rome who reported that it was Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke to suggest the trip to Manoppello. Cardinal Burke himself had visited the shrine on two occasions. The pilgrims from Connecticut were impressed by the Holy Face, expressing wonder and emotion. Many claimed to have seen the true face of Jesus. Various travel operators have offered focused itineraries, as is the case with “Catholic Journeys” of New Orleans which offers a tour called “The Passion of Christ”, with visits to Turin and Manoppello. Both destinations have also been offered by Mater Dei, Unitours and other operators. Groups from Poland, Germany and

Austria were noted, as well as the presence for the first time of groups from Burma, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, which confirm the emerging interest in the Holy Face among Catholics from Asian countries. Many young people, with enthusiasm and intense faith, have approached the mystery of the Holy Face. It is believed that these presences are a reflection of the mission of the Holy Face of September of 2014, in one country, the Philippines, a reference for other Asian countries in which the presence of Catholics is very small. When it was possible to personally meet these groups it has generally been able to verify that the Asian pilgrims who arrived in Italy during the period of the exposition of

Pilgrims from Poland

57

the Shroud had not included Turin in their itineraries. For many visitors and organizers of pilgrimages the Holy Face of Manoppello appears on the same level as the Shroud or otherwise the two images are perceived as complementary. This is similarly seen in some sources of information, such as the already mentioned German magazine Der Pilger, which link the two faces together, or, at times, seem to favor the Holy Face for the immediate visual perception that is laid without mediation before visitors whether devotees or not. A living image that expresses its apparent uniqueness, even without special scientific supports or interpretive aids, which nevertheless are not lacking. In this regard it seems interesting to note that on May 22, 2015, during the exhibition of the Shroud, the Pier Giorgio Frassati Cultural Center of Turin organized a conference with the title “1898-2006 - The Rediscovered Face” with the participation of Raffaella Zardoni, curator of the exhibition “The Face of Jesus: From That Gaze, the Human Person is Born”, which was held in the Manhattan Center of New York City from January 17 to 19, 2014 as part of the New York Encounter 2014. The conference, during which the Holy Face was spoken about for the first time in Turin, was eagerly attended by many

58

people among whom were volunteers at the Exhibition of the Shroud, demonstrating an attitude of openness among believers, including among those who are more connected to the Shroud, who are informing themselves about the Veil of Manoppello without prejudice. Among those in attendance was Mario Trematore the firefighter who rescued the Shroud from destruction during the fire of April 1997. The exposition of the Shroud ended June 24, while that of the Holy Face continues every day to welcome visitors from around the world at the Shrine of Manoppello.

Pilgrims from Sri-Lanka

Pilgrims from Burma (Myanmar)

Rediscovered a Comparison from 1902 of the Holy Face of Manoppello to the Shroud of Turin In these last 15-20 years a number of following, to the Holy Face, which is scholars have insisted on the relationship presented as the “Face of Jesus”. The between the Shroud and Holy Face, large circulation periodical sought to with comparisons and overviews, while show an immediate link with this image other researchers seem to deny any of Christ, at that time totally unknown. relationship, and still others admiting In those years the interest for the Shroud only partial elements of continuity had exploded after the diffusion of the photographs taken between the two by the lawyer relics. Precisely Secondo Pia - in in relation to occasion of the such tendencies, I exposition of 1898think it interesting which represented to bring up an a fundamental article appearing moment for new in “La Tribuna research on the Illustrata” of May relic. We must 11, 1902, entitled: remember that “The Holy Shroud Turin at that time, of Turin and the although no longer Face of Jesus of Manoppello”, that Sr. Blandina has studied for many years the relationship between the capital of the the Shroud and the Holy Face Kingdom for a little I recently had the possibility, or rather, the fortune, of more than 30 years, was however a large acquiring, in the process of my research city, with a strong influence from the of documentation regarding the Holy House of Savoy, which remained always Face. The article, with a unifying title - linked to the Shroud, having previously appears in two distinct parts, the first given it to the Church. The discovery of dedicated to the Shroud, the second, Pia gave new impulse to the studies and

59

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, Mister 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 historicalreligious 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 Mr. 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

60

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?”

The Veronica Illustrated and Described by Alberto Da Castello in 1521 A significant image of the Veronica dating from the time during which it was enshrined in Rome is contained in the “Rosary of the glorious Virgin Mary,” (Rosario della gloriosissima Vergine Maria) a sort of visual aid to prayer accompanied by fine woodcuts depicting scenes from the life of Jesus and Mary. The work was edited by Alberto Castellani (or Castellano), Venetian Dominican, and was printed for the first time in Venice in 1521 by Marco Sessa and Piero da la Serena. In a later edition from 1523 the accompanying illustrations are reproduced in color. The image shown above, measuring 10.4 cm. x 15.1 cm, was included in this edition which dates from just before the Sack of Rome in 1527.

The face corresponds to the features of the Veronica in the Opusculum of Jacopo Grimaldi, and to those in the reproductions contained in the “The Marvels of the City of Rome” (Mirabilia Urbis Romae). We are in the early decades of the printing press in Italy and, even with the simplicity of the lines, it is obvious that the eyes are open and that the face cloth can not be confused with other images, and in particular with that of the burial cloth of the Shroud. The Dominican friar, author of other publications, certainly spent some time in Rome, prior to his book on the Rosary, publishing the “Pontifical Book of the Roman Church” (Liber pontificalis della Chiesa romana) (1520), dedicated to Pope Leo X, thus

61

having the opportunity to personally observe the Veronica and venerate it together “with all the people”. As is deduced from the description “of the Sudarium of Veronica” which appears on the back of the image, excerpts of which are here provided from the text: “The sudarium of Veronica ... venerably preserved in the church of St. Peter, is shown on certain days of the year with the greatest reverence and devotion of all the people in praise of the Lord God: which He wanted to leave to His faithful Christians as a memory of his most holy passion on earth: the figure being of such fineness that upon being shown clearly to all the people it moves them to weeping and devotion.” Today it is widely documented that, following the disappearance of the Veronica, crudely modified copies were spread, usually with eyes closed, and even

62

declared authentic to the original which no longer was to be found in Rome. One of these authentic copies is also displayed at the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello. The description of such reverence for the Veronica, in line with that of many other authoritative sources (Dante, Stefaneschi, etc..), permits us to reflect on how over the centuries there has been dying out the veneration of pilgrims who once came en masse to the Eternal City to pray before the extraordinary image, even before Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Jubilee in 1300.

“The Veronica as it was”. The importance of the Opusculum of Jacopo Grimaldi The Great Jubilee of 2000 recently completed was not “just” an important religious event but also a media event without precedent, accompanied also by notable publishing activity, historical research, artistic expositions, etc. An extraordinary confluence of initiatives involving historians and other scholars from many different countries, committed to a reconstruction of the origins, and not just religious, of the phenomenon of the pilgrimage, and therefore of the character assumed following the Proclamation by Pope Boniface VII of the first jubilee in the year 1300, after the Granting of the Indulgence of Pope Celestine in 1294. The new millennium has emphasized more than just a little the search for a more profound and articulated analysis – from the point of view of the pilgrims – to see the phenomenon not only on the strictly religious plane, but integrated as it was in history, art, and culture, and not only European. These studies have brought us in particular to a rediscovery of the Veronica, which has definitively come out from the shadows of the past four centuries, in as much as for a long

time it had been the principal motivation for the pilgrims to undertake their trip to Rome, even before the introduction of the Jubilee. The Prefect himself of the Vatican’s Apostolic Library has admitted that the jubilee event has offered “for the admiration and interest of visitors and pilgrims an important amount of its immense cultural patrimony, normally reserved solely for research”, (recognizing also that “for the first time” there were on display “important and ancient manuscripts”!). A precious

63

contribution in this regard has come for example from the exhibit “Pilgrims to Rome and Jubilees: The medieval pilgrimage to St. Peter’s 350-1350”, held at Rome in the Palazzo Venezia from October 29, 1999 to February 26, 2000, which dedicated an entire section to the cult of the Veronica. At this exhibit there were on display for the first time together numerous badges of the Veronica, some of them in very fine detail, coming from a variety of European countries. These badges were worn by pilgrims to Rome upon their return home, as a visible sign of the cult of the Holy Face. As a result of the papal prohibition of making copies or representations of the Veronica (beginning with that of

64

Pope Paul V in 1616) and afterwards of the order to destroy those already existing, there remains hardly a trace of these artifacts in our country. But perhaps the most important surprise is to consider the publication for the first time of the cover page of the “Opusculum de sacrosanto Veronicae Sudario” (Opusculum of the Most Holy Sudarium of Veronica) prepared by the canon Jacopo Grimaldi, archivist and guardian of the relics of St. Peter’s, which page contains the representation of the Veronica. The document shows the date MDCXVIII (1618), even if the digits for the last three years seem added, in as much as they are written “in larger print and above all because they are shown extending beyond the graphic delimitation reserved for the text, a circumstance which contrasts with the general scrupulous precision. It is not to be excluded that the correction itself could have been added after the death of Grimaldi. The document is of extraordinary importance because it shows the Veronica actually as it was in its reliquary, constituting the fundamental reference for the work of so many artists (at least until 1600), although in its inevitable subjectivity of the pictorial expression, and for the same image carried in the various editions of the medieval “Mirabilia” (guides for the pilgrims coming to Rome).

The Veronica is not in St. Peter’s After almost five centuries the Vatican admits its disappearance in 1527. A circumstance which makes credible the hypothesis that it is identical to the Holy Face On May 31, 1999 at a crowded press conference held in Rome at the foreign press association Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer revealed the results of his study affirming that the Veronica and the Holy Face of Manoppello should be seen as one and the same. This news was reported by Italian and foreign television networks among their top stories for the day. Usually the coverage was linked to the classic stereotype of the mountainous Abruzzo region, so that Manoppello was described as a “forgotten village at the foot of the Maiella range”. Some of the journalists asked the Vatican for an opinion in this matter. The response was “total silence”, said the correspondent for the Spanish television

network Antenna 3’s news program of May 31, 1999, as he broadcast with the facade of the Basilica of St. Peter’s behind him. The Catholic press and church leaders showed indifference and kept their distance, effectively isolating Father Pfeiffer, director of the Course on Cultural Patrimony for the Gregorian University, who is considered to be among the world’s most authoritative scholars of Christian art. Some Italian scholars of the Shroud of Turin (sindonologists) didn’t hesitate to show their annoyance at the news, and in some cases gave their opinion that at best the Holy Face could only be a copy of the Veronica. On the same occasion the results of

65

Professor Donato Vittore’s research were also presented. Professor Vittore, who teaches at the University of Bari, demonstrated by means of a high intensity scanner that there was no pigment on the cloth. The problem was not so much the Holy Face itself, which had been at the center of a beloved and popular yet strictly local devotion centered in the mountains of Abruzzo, but rather the bringing up for discussion that the legendary Veronica was no longer to be found in Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica. Throughout the centuries the Veronica has been Christianity’s most important relic. Coming from the East, it was venerated at St. Peter’s from the eighth century, until it became the fundamental reason for pilgrimages to Rome, even prior to the first jubilee year proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. Among the pilgrims coming to Rome to venerate it were Dante and Boccaccio. After the 1500’s a great silence fell over this prodigious image. But as the great Jubilee for the Holy Year of 2000 approached two important exhibitions were organized at Rome with the collaboration of the Vatican’s Apostolic Library. Both exhibitions, the first on the history of the Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages (at the Palazzo Venezia) and the second on “The Face of Christ” (at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni) recalled to

66

mind the historic role of the Veronica by means of documents, medals, etc. from a number of foreign museums. From the two exhibitions there emerged the clear distinction between the reproductions and engravings of the Veronica prior to the 1500’s, which showed the image with eyes open, and the reproductions following which showed the image with eyes closed. In any case since the 1500’s there continued to be a persistent silence regarding whether or not the relic was present at St.Peter’s. The arrival of the Jubilee Year of 2000 was marked also by an extraordinary production of books and articles which involved historians, experts on the Middle Ages, theologians, art historians, etc. At the end of 1999 one of the many books of a historical perspective published a photo of the cover of the “Opusculum del Grimaldi” preserved in the Vatican archives and which up until then had been unknown. This document, dated 1618 (but which seems from every indication to have been changed from the original date) presents the image of the Veronica with open eyes and represents an important contribution compared to the overall confusion on the matter. The importance of this image was at the center of my article entitled “ La Veronica com’era” (The Veronica as it was) which I wrote for the pages of the Bollettino

del Volto Santo (Bulletin of the Holy Face -- official publication of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello). There followed a further reflection on this by Padre Germano Di Pietro, then superior of the Shrine, which had the title “E’ ancora in San Pietro la Veronica” (Is the Veronica still in St. Peter’s?) After the publication of these articles two Canons of St. Peter’s came to Manoppello to advise Padre Germano to stop bringing up this issue. When Pope Benedict XVI decided to go on pilgrimage to Manoppello his visit was announced and then denied for months. Contrary to the long advance notice which precedes the Pope’s public appointments it was confirmed by the Vatican press office only around ten days before September 1, 2006. We know that the visit was strongly opposed by the Canons of St. Peter’s, precisely for the significance that would be given to the event, with its implicit recognition of the thesis which had been advanced by Father Pfeiffer after years of research that the Holy Face is to be identified with the Veronica. The visit was then described as a simple “private pilgrimage”, a label which brought a smile to Pope Ratzinger himself at Manoppello. In the meantime other scholars, especially from foreign countries, began to draw closer to the Holy Face. Paul

Badde’s book published in Germany in 2006 caused the weekly Der Spiegel to describe it as “a cultural thriller, full of suspense and intrigue, similar to Dan Brown” Among the Italians the importance of Saverio Gaeta’s study “L’enigma del Volto di Gesu’” (The Enigma of the Face of Jesus) published by Rizzoli in 2010 must be emphasized. Gaeta in his book, among other things, puts forth an interesting hypothesis concerning several important people linked to Abruzzo who were involved in the Sack of Rome in 1527. His hypothesis is compatible with the arrival in Manoppello of the Holy Face, which according to the first document attesting to the presence of the relic in Abruzzo - the Relatione Historica (Historical Report) of Padre Donato da Bomba, came to the Abruzzi town “around the year 1506”. The imprecise phrasing used by the Capuchin suggests using due caution, considering that the report wasn’t published until 1640. Bruno Forte, Archbishop of the diocese of Chieti-Vasto, in whose territory Manoppello falls, on many occasions has shown that he trusts the reliability of the studies which have so far been conducted concerning the Holy Face. Pilgrims who arrive in Manoppello from the world over are not so much interested in this research, wanting

67

above all to pray and to meditate before this mysterious image with its profound and human gaze which no work of art is able to render. In April of 2011 an exhibit on the Holy Face opened in Lucca and another exhibit was held in September of the same year at Lourdes which was seen by over 150,000 people. The exhibit of Lourdes was strongly desired by Philippe Perrier, Bishop of the diocese of Lourdes-Tarbes who is very much devoted to the Holy Face. But the year just completed is particularly significant because after almost five centuries the silence regarding the disappearance of the Veronica from St. Peter’s came to an end. On December 6, 2011, with Christmas close at hand, L’Osservatore Romano welcomed an article by Paul Badde who on a number of occasions, in articles and in his book which so far has been translated into seven languages, had criticized the Vatican for their reticence. Badde was able to write for the first time in the press organ of the Holy See that the Veronica is for centuries in Manoppello, in as much as it disappeared during the so called Sack of Rome. This follows a press release from Rome dated July 14, 2011 concerning the announcement of the exhibit entitled “L’uomo, il volto, il Mistero” (Man, Face, Mystery).

68

The last segment of the exhibition, inaugurated in August in San Marino, was dedicated to the “Holy Face”. The surprise comes from the part of the press release where it affirms that the ancient relic of the Veronica “disappeared following the Sack of Rome of 1527”. In this brief phrase, there are two points to be gathered which are quite extraordinary. This press release, ascribable to Professor Paolucci head of the Vatican Museums, is the first document which refers, even if only incidentally to the necessary information connected to the announcement of the exhibit, that the Veronica is no longer present in St. Peter’s. It confirms an important series of hypothesis and doubts advanced by historians and other scholars, especially in recent years. But the press release offers a further element by indicating with precision that the disappearance of the Veil coincided with the Sack of Rome of 1527. Professor Paolucci, with his authoritative stature as a former Minister for Cultural Patrimony in the Italian government, has finally been able to shed light on the doubts and uncertainty which have dragged on for far too long. Regarding the Holy Face there will continue to be much discussion, but certainly it will no longer be able to exclude, a priori, the hypothesis that it is in fact the Veronica.

The mirache of the Holy Face told by padre Antonio from Poschiavo (1714) The testimony given to us by Padre Antonio from Poschiavo - written on August 12, 1714 - deserves to be remembered, not least of all in relation to the question of doing research by opening the reliquary which holds the Holy Face. Padre Antonio, the father guardian of the shrine at that time, wanted to render the reliquary more sumptuous by providing a new silver frame and so took up a collection of donations of money and objects of gold and silver which were given to the shrine by the faithful who had received graces. During the changing of the frame, Padre Antonio, who had been given permission for this work by his Ordinary (religious superior) and by the Bishop of Chieti, opened the little internal wooden frame which enclosed the Holy Face between two panes of glass, the one which

had been made by fra Remigio from Rapino, who must have been an expert artisan. Fra Remigio had been called to Manoppello by Padre Clemente from Castelvecchio, the first father guardian from the time when the convent of the Capuchins was still under construction. According to what is told in the Relatione Historica (Historical Report) of Padre Donato from Bomba, the Holy Face at that time (1618) was still in the possession of Antonio De Fabritiis, who had given his consent that Padre Clement should put in order the Holy Face which “was in the middle of a veil...maltreated and badly cared for, (which) was all wrinkled, lined and eaten by moths and worms”, eliminating the ruined surfaces around the face and placing it in between two panes of glass. Such a solution took into account not only some of the

69

exceptional characteristics of the image - the transparency of the extremely fine fabric and the fact that the face could be seen present on both sides of the cloth -- but also served to permit the veil to be laid out and secured after having been damaged by the rough folding which even today is able to be seen in part by the naked eye. Upon opening the internal frame Padre Antonio was thrown into a panic, according to what he writes in his report, as the image vanished and there remained only the silken fabric. In his confusion he tried to look a number of times at the veil which he held in his hands and not understanding what had happened he then decided to put everything back the way it was before. The image then reappeared, to the great relief of the father guardian who added that probably the Lord wanted to put him to the test, demonstrating for him “the divine nature” of the Veil, which he had previously thought “might have been a print”. It is also interesting the evaluation regarding the type of fabric - silk - which the religious perceived while holding the Veil and turning it in his hands, which reveals on the tactile plane, beyond that of the visible plane, the texture of the threads. Padre Antonio realized the urgency of documenting the episode for times to come -- drawing up the “relatione”

70

(report), which is described on the front cover of the document as “Relatione del Volto Santo - del miracolo fatto dal Volto S. in tempo della guardiana del P. Antonio da Poschiavo”, (The Report on the Holy Face -- on the miracle performed by the Holy Face during the time of the guardianship of Padre Antonio from Poschiavo), in which the names appear of some of the persons who had reason to be present, among whom was Nicola Valignani, belonging to the noble Teatine family. Certainly there was also present the goldsmith De Laurentiis of Chieti, who was dedicated to the production of the new frame. Padre Filippo from Tussio in his history of the Holy Face (1875) reports at length on the episode and also reports briefly on an event quite similar which happened in 1703, whose protagonist was Padre Bonifacio from Ascoli, of whom there is lacking at this time any trace among the documents of the archives of the Convent. It is a fact that since 1714 the Capuchins have not opened the internal frame of the reliquary; there is no reason to do so today for the irreparable damage that the extremely fine fabric might suffer. After three centuries of adhering to the panes of glass, the fabric may have become one with the glass. At the same time, the presence of the panes of glass does not impose any barrier to scientific

research through recourse to modern technologies, which it should be noted have been in recent years applied including the use of digital microscopes, laser machines, infrared photography, etc. There is little known about the life of Padre Antonio, the Capuchin who came down to Abruzzo from the valley of Grigioni in Switzerland, leaving the splendid alpine scenery of the Bernina for the spirituality of the Majella. We know that his family name originally was Costa, and that after Manoppello he was the the father guardian of the Convent in Chieti, the city where he died on July 16, 1742 at the age of 71, after 48 years in religious life. In the necrology of the Order of Friars Minor of Abruzzo, published in 1948, the Capuchin, whose swiss origin is there confirmed, is remembered as having been “charitable and prudent”. Thanks to some research which was done in the parish registers by the present day Pastor of the parish of Poschiavo, Don Cleto Lanfranchi, we learn that the family name Costa is common in the area and that the parish registers show that among the children baptized in 1671 there were four males with the last name Costa: Jacobus, Laurentius, Franciscus and Antonius. Unfortunately we don’t know the baptismal name that Padre Antonio left behind after having

taken his religious vows. For, ever since the earthquake of April 6, 2009 it has become extremely difficult to access the archives of the Province of the Capuchins following the transfer of their records from L’Aquila to Giulianova. In the long line of humble capuchin friars who have accompanied the extraordinary history of the Holy Face of Manoppello, Padre Antonio, the friar come from afar, should be remembered for his witness of profound human emotion -- which one finds in his “Relatione” -- and which we believe ought to be transcribed in its entirety in order to facilitate its reading -- in coming face to face with an event which still today should give us pause to reflect. Transcription Report on the silver frame of the Holy Face and how it was made I, Fra Antonio from Poschiavo, being guardian of this place of Manoppello in the year 1714, with the permission of my superiors and of his Excellency Monsignor Archbishop of Chieti, a collection for the Sacred Reliquary of the Holy Face was taken up among the faithful who donated some rings of gold and silver because of the many and varied graces which they had received. Through the efforts of the goldsmith Signore De Laurentiis from Chieti, they were turned into a silver frame which the goldsmith had arranged come from

71

Naples, a frame which presently adorns the Sacred Reliquary of the Holy Face. While the frame was being worked on, the Signore Camerlengo with some others of the governing council of Manoppello, said to me that the council would like to donate 60 ducats and as much as needed for the completion of the frame, also the members of the Preti family indicated that they would also each like to give a donation; while I was considering whether to accept these offerings, Signore Nicola Valignani also said that it would be for the greater propriety of the Holy Reliquary for the council also to provide and keep a special key for the door of the tabernacle where the Holy Face is kept. Having understood this, I refused all of their offerings, and thanked them for their good spirit and devotion. The frame in question was made with the simple donations taken from the rings of gold and silver, with the addition of twenty ducats from the offerings of the convent and thus was spent the sum of sixty three ducats for the frame and for the working in silver by the honorable goldsmith. After I had removed the Holy Face from the wooden frame where it previously had been between its two crystal glass panes, in order to put it in the silver frame, the figure disappeared, and there only remained the simple silken veil and

72

after looking and looking again many times I was not ever able to see the figure, then I remained confused and beside myself, not knowing whatever I might do nor with whom I could consult. But God then made me realize that this Sacred Image was not a human work but that it was truly divine, and to more strongly confirm me in the devotion to this Image as previously I had supposed that it might have been a print. As soon as I put the said panes of crystal glass back together upon it(the Image) appeared as beautiful as it can be seen at the present time. May all this be for His greater glory, and to confound me first of all I have set this down in the current year 1714. Manoppello, 12 August 1714 Fra Antonio from Poschiavo, Guardian of the Capuchins.

From left fr. Bartolomeo Poznanski, fr. Paolo Palombarini, fr. Mauro Johri, General Minister of the Friars Minor Capuchin, fr. Carmine Ranieri, Provincial Minister of Abruzzo

The Image of Christ from the Shroud to the Holy Face reflections on the Lucca conference

Immediately prior to the inauguration of the exhibit on the Holy Face at Lucca a conference was held on March 4, 2011 at the Agora’ Auditorium – formerly the Convent of the Servites. The gathering was opened by Umberto Palagi, scholar of the Holy Face of Lucca, who recalled the principal historic references to the crucifix preserved in the Cathedral of San Martin, as well as connections to the face of the man of the Shroud and that of the Veil of Manoppello. There followed a talk by Giuseppe Giannelli who gave an interesting description of the copies of the cloth of the Shroud which were done in centuries past, underscoring in particular the cloth on display in the exhibit which comes from a local church. Today on that cloth there can not be seen any trace of an image,

but only the writing which declares the authenticity of the copy. Father Carmine Cucinelli, rector of the Shrine of Manoppello thanked the Diocese and the Comune of Modena, and in particular the Assessor for Culture Moreno Bruni in attendance in the Auditorium, for the attention given to the Holy Face, which was evident by the invitation to the conference and the opportunity to display illustrative material in the exhibit held in the Oratory of Saint Joseph, next to the Museum of the Cathedral. Father Carmine underscored how the Faces of Christ which are under discussion are very different from one another, that of Lucca (from left to right) Maria Pia Bertolucci, Umberto Palagi, Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, Ofm, Cap., Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, SJ, Giuseppe Giannelli, Antonio Bini

73

is a Crucifix, while that of Manoppello is composed of an image impressed on a very fine cloth, which presents unique characteristics. My talk followed in which I described the most important stages which have marked in recent years the extraordinary diffusion of the relic in Italy and throughout the world. As I spoke just before Prof. Heinrich Pfeiffer, pioneer in the studies of the Holy Face of Manoppello, I had to point to the solitude which characterized the first phase of his research, with his hypothesis which initially found skepticism and even aversion on the part of theologians, historians and church authorities. An attitude which at first took me by surprise due to its negativity but regarding which I later came to understand their motivation. Father Pfeiffer, professor of history of Christian Art at the Gregorian University of Rome and recognized by the international community as a scientific authority in that field, asserted that the Veil of Manoppello should be seen as identical with the Veronica (vera-ikon) the most important relic of Christianity and fundamental reference – until the 1500’s – for so many artists who throughout history had drawn and interpreted the Face of Christ. In 2005 the journalist and author Paul Badde described in his book meeting the German scholar and the moment when there began in him an

74

increasing interest regarding the history of the Holy Face of Manoppello: “The professor told me that there actually was an image that was even more important than the Shroud. Only a crazy person would hold something like that, and that was how Father Pfeiffer was described to me”. Badde, author of books on the Face of Manoppello which today are published in German, Polish, French, Dutch, Italian and English, has the distinction of breaking through a kind of wall of silence coming from the attitude of avoiding the topic, or even hostility, assumed without even having seen the relic or having made the slightest effort to check the research which had been done. An attitude which at times has unjustly involved even the Capuchins of the Abruzzi shrine themselves. Last year Saverio Gaeta in the preface to his book, “The Engima of the Face of the Jesus, the Adventures of the Secret Shroud” (Rizzoli, 2010) reflected on this particular situation: “it seemed a challenge of David against the Goliath of the army of the Shroud’s scholars who couldn’t bother themselves with the veil of Manoppello because it would disturb their seemingly already well-established acquisition of the burial cloths of Jesus”. Gaeta correctly writes in the past tense “It seemed”. In fact in recent years the framework for scholars and researchers unexpectedly has expanded and what

Father Pfeiffer in past years was saying constitutes the basis for what a segment of these scholars are finally examining without prejudices to delve more deeply into research on the Holy Face. The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Manoppello on Sept. 1, 2006, the immediate elevation of the Shrine to the status of a Basilica and the prayer which the Pope himself desired to compose to recognize the first anniversary of his visit, represent the latest confirmations of the validity of Fr. Pfeiffer’s courageous hypothesis, now supported by other scholars, who are widening the field of their research also into that of the natural sciences. This historic visit of the Pope was opposed up to the last moment for the implicit reaction that it would cause, beginning with its indirect support for the thesis that the Veronica is no longer kept at St. Peter’s, a circumstance which has never been admitted by the Vatican. I explained how in my opinion it was only with the Grand Jubilee of the year 2000 and the beginning of the third millennium –which put an end to the silence regarding the Holy Face of Manoppello – that the Capuchins themselves were able to overcome the fears with which they for centuries had preserved with devotion and care the relic. This was also in regards to the observance of the decrees of Urban VIII, of which there was still mention in 1966,

on the occasion of the book published by Padre Antonio da Serramonacesca, then provincial of the Capuchins. The conference, moderated by Anna Maria Bertolucci, concluded with the talk by Father Pfeiffer, who presented, with a critical eye, some attitudes held by a part of Church, who show themselves to have little faith and a limited attention to the artistic and cultural patrimony of the Christian history. He emphasized that relics come before works of art. Then he came to the Holy Face of Lucca. Although in general in the middle ages relics were the model for works of art, the relation between the luccan crucifix and the style of Antelami must be seen in the exact opposite way. Antelami imitated the style of his master Nicodemus, in as much as Nicodeumus is thought to have been the sculptor of the Holy Face. ccording to Pfeiffer the crucifix, which according to tradition came from Beirut, “is the only Syrian sculpture come down to us, and can be traced back to the date of the sixth century after Christ. My suspicion is that the legend of the artist Nicodemus was invented to save it from destruction by the muslim or byzantine iconclasts”. In any case, the mantle of hair with the curls in the middle has its parallel in the two medallions of the cross of Justin II from the year 574 AD which are in the Treasury of St. Peter’s at the Vatican. Father

75

Pfeiffer has cited this in his own study which he wrote together with Werner Bulst, Das Turiner Grabtuch und das Christusbild Il Das echte Christusbild, published in Germany in 1991. These medallions derive from the two relic images, the Mandylion (now known as the Shroud of Turin) and the image of Camulia (now known as the Holy Face of Manoppello). The long face with the long beard divided in two points and the eyes of the crucifix derived from the Mandylion. They are an interpretive reading of the marks visible on the Shroud and “readable” by the human eye from a distance at least of 1.50 meters as a majestic human face. The twist of hair on the forehead reveals that their model is that of the Holy Face of Manoppello. Both models were visible and able to be studied together only until the second half of the sixth century, one prior to its transfer from Constantinople to the small town of Camulia or Camuliana in Cappadocia, and the other until 544 at Edessa, about 80 kilometers distant from the forementioned place in Cappadocia. The art historian’s hypothesis, which backdates the crucifix of Lucca to the sixth century, raised particular interest among the knowledgeable and attentive public who were present. The conference concluded with the opening of the exhibit in the nearby former Oratory of San Giuseppe, in

76

which are displayed large panels which illustrate the history and the features of the Holy Face of Manoppello, along with a huge photograph of the image in plexiglass, visible from both sides. A structure was made for this exhibit – designed by Sr. Blandina Paschalis Schlomer - with movable images of the Shroud and the Holy Face - imprinted on glass panes, which permit the visitor to be able to personally experience the superimposition of the two faces. Also part of the exhibit are some tokens coming from burial chambers between Lucca and Valdera, including ancient medallions found during the excavations.

Cathedral of Lucca

Nihil Obstat for the Cause of Beatification of Padre Domenico da Cese - Apostle of the Holy Face The decision of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Cause of the Saints to grant the Nihil Obstat for the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Padre Domenico da Cese, O.F.M., Cap. (1905-1978) the Apostle of the Holy Face of Manoppello. Padre Domenico resided at the Shrine in Manoppello from 1965 to 1978. He promoted the Holy Face in every way possible and lived an exemplary life as a religious. Here is a copy of the Nihil Obstat from the Congregation addressed to the Archbishop of ChietiVasto Bruno Forte. The faithful devoted to Padre Domenico who have witnessed extraordinary events that would be useful

to the process of beatification are asked to send the pertinent information to the Santuario del Volto Santo 65024 Manoppello – Italy

ex-voto

77

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina and Padre Domenico of the Holy Face. The Parallel Lives of Padre Pio and Padre Domenico of the Holy Face The life of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, marked by so many extraordinary episodes, attracted masses of devotees, from Italy and abroad, to the shrine of the Capuchins of San Giovanni Rotondo. I had the privilege of being baptized by him on January 6, 1952. Padre Pio -- it’s hard for me to call him anything else even though he has been declared a saint-also married my parents 28 October 1950, at 5 am as documents show, to avoid the crowds of pilgrims who from the Pur Spezial early hours of the day were waiting to meet him or even just to see him. Only after the death of my parents did I gradually discover the value of that gift which I had kept hidden until a few years ago maybe even from myself. In those days my father did not own a car but had hired one to reach San

78

Giovanni Rotondo from Abruzzo. There was no autostrada yet and the journey required quite a few hours due to the poor condition of the roads. But such difficulties were nothing compa I remember the strong charisma of Padre Pio, the presence of so many pilgrims waiting for hours for him to appear from one of the two lateral openings at the altar of the old church which was connected to the convent -- and then the lines at his confessional. Even n.4&2005 children remained rapt and silent, almost afraid of his presence. The last time I saw him, a few months before his death, he followed the Mass from above the new church and was visibly suffering. So many were there sharing in the concern for his health. Yet only six years earlier he had been

the subject of persecutory measures restricting his priestly action, which were the result of doubts, suspicions and rumors that discredited his work. As time went on, I was able to become aware of what had happened, especially due to the reappearance of eye witness testimony, such as that of the then provincial minister Padre Amedeo from San Giovanni Rotondo, dear friend of my father, who was also caught up in the Vatican decisions, which led to his removal from office and to his exile to Campobasso, outside the territorial region. In a letter of his from March 1961 one can grasp the profound bitterness from the lies and slanders he suffered which the press reported in news stories as if they were true. These are painful facts that still today ought to make us reflect on how religious communities can also become places where human weaknesses are certainly not foreign, breeding negativity such as envy, slander, greed and dishonesty,

even at the expense of brethren who, without bombast, have dedicated their lives to others and are examples of sacrifice and selflessness. Only the direct intervention of Pope John Paul II would unblock, years later, the process for the beatification of Padre Pio. This process had virtually stood still due to these old persecutions, despite the veneration of the crowds, the documented miracles and the increasingly popular cult dedicated to the Capuchin stigmatist. Some years later, I “rediscovered” Padre Pio while coming to learn more about the Holy Face. When in December 1998, as manager of a communication project for the Jubilee of 2000, I was called to attend a conference on this singular image of Christ, I did not yet know much about it because, even though having heard about it, I did not think it particularly interesting in as much as publications and guides, when they referred to it at all, classified it as if it were a normal painting.

79

On this occasion I listened with interest to the report of Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, professor of Christian art at the Gregorian University in Rome, who after years of study outlined his hypothesis regarding the veil, which he considered the true face of Christ, the Veronica (vera icon). A few days later I returned to the Shrine of Manoppello to gather what had been written on the Holy Face, wanting to study in depth the history of the veil. The then Father Guardian, Padre Germano, told me I could take all of the duplicate copies of the magazines and publications from the archives. Among the documentation which I had excluded was testimony on the life of a member of the Capuchin monastery – Padre Domenico da Cese – who had died on September 17, 1978 as a result of a traffic accident in Turin, where he had gone to visit the Shroud. Nevertheless I found this testimony among the papers at hand when I returned home. I got to know the close spiritual relationship between Padre Pio and Padre Domenico. They had met in 1940, in San Giovanni Rotondo, when the Capuchin from Abruzzo was on leave from his duties as military chaplain in Albania during the Second World War. From that time on, the life of Fr. Domenico became in fact parallel to that of Padre Pio, even in the stigmata. Padre Domenico, born March 27,

80

1905 at Cese, near to Avezzano, had a childhood marked by singular events, such as his prediction of the earthquake that devastated Abruzzo January 13, 1915, with thirty thousand dead. He himself had been saved by a man whose face he recognized many years later in Manoppello. It was the Holy Face. But other testimony emerged regarding the case of the bilocation of Padre Pio before the relic of Manoppello, September 22, 1968, at the dawn of the last day of his earthly life. It would have been the same Padre Domenico, having opened early in the morning the doors of the church to meet the famous Capuchin in prayer in the choir behind the altar, whose suffering was addressed to Jesus “I’m coming to the end. Pray for me. See you in heaven.” It was the same Padre Domenico who related how years prior while telling Padre Pio of his encounter with the Holy Face the saint of Pietrelcina had observed: “It’s the greatest miracle that we have.” The testimonies and rumors regarding the episode were confirmed to me with ease and simplicity by Brother Vincenzo D’Elpidio, for years his devoted friend, still sought by many people connected to Padre Domenico, many of whom have testified- through a recent book - their memories and the experiences of faith, which give rise to stories of ordinary and extraordinary humanity,

an expression not only of the widespread rural culture of Italy from the nineteenfifties to the nineteen-seventies, but also of the world of business and professionals and of many religious men and women as well, all united by the search for encouragement and hope that the Capuchin with the powerful physical appearance and bushy white beard was able to provide. There were so many people who turned to him, including those sent by Padre Pio himself, also “to save them the trip to San Giovanni Rotondo.” Another Capuchin, Padre Guglielmo Alimonti, a disciple of Padre Pio and known for founding more than 400 Padre Pio prayer groups, writes Padre Domenico was “a worthy son of St. Francis and a holy priest,” declaring that he intended to abstain from testifying of “the charismatic signs, which were under the eyes of all and yet caused him suffering and humiliation.” Also in the testimony of another Capuchin, Padre Leone Campana, one speaks of a friar gossiped about by some of the Capuchins, even though he was widely regarded as an exemplary religious, if not also a saint. Padre Domenico experienced sufferings and humiliations as did Padre Pio, even if they did not reach the levels of persecution by the Holy Office and did not rouse the attention of the media. Also in the case of Padre Dominic,

suspicions were aroused among some envious brothers due to the constant influx of pilgrims directed solely to the patient Capuchin, who heard confessions tirelessly from morning to night, who comforted and strengthened in the faith so many people in need of a word of encouragement and hope, who received and wrote every day dozens of letters to those who sought his help. He presented their request for prayer to the prodigious Holy Face. And there are many to tell of his fervor to convey the uniqueness of that image. For many he was simply “Padre Domenico of the Holy Face.” The published collection of testimony begins with the prayer for the beatification of Padre Domenico Cese written by the bishop of Sora, Luca Brandolini who with deep devotion writes “the humble Capuchin who had the privilege of sharing visibly the passion of Jesus and the gift of being able to read the depths of souls to alleviate their pain and reconcile them with God.” The prayer is dated February 18, 2006. In August 2012, the name of Fr. Domenico was listed among the “venerable and / or ‘servants of God’” in the book “Sulle Orme dei santi: Santorale cappuccino” (In the footsteps of the saints: the Capuchin list of saints), published in San Giovanni Rotondo,

81

with a foreword by the Minister General OFM Cap. Mauro Johri. But this is only a bitter error, as the process for beatification is not active yet, despite the relevant documentation gathered about the extraordinary life of this humble Capuchin lover of the Holy Face. Padre Domenico was a simple friar not a scholar. In a book by Enrico Sammarco, entitled “Ricordando il Volto Santo” (Remembering the Holy Face), ed. Porziuncula, Assisi, 1972, the author describes the Capuchin’s homily highlighting the emphasis with which he would recall “over and over again the listeners’ attention to the Holy Face.” In a later passage Sammarco then speaks of the debate which had begun regarding the Holy Face stating that the arguments of Padre Domenico were based on “only pious speculation,” while the author’s rationalist approach “took its cues from historical realities.”

Sammarco, having overcome the initial uncertainties, confesses to having been conquered by the Holy Face, which he called a “living miracle”. His essay is also interesting because for the first time there is revealed a field of conflict and controversy on the part of sindonologists - Sammarco was among the first of these to know and study the Holy Face – in relation to the relic of Manoppello. These positions, which with the wider diffusion of knowledge of the Holy Face would become increasingly difficult, were evidently known to Padre Domenico, who wanted to go to Turin for the scheduled exposition of the Shroud from August 27 to October 8, 1978. And it was precisely in Turin that Padre Domenico met his death on September 17 as a result of a traffic accident, which according to the testimony of a Roman priest, Don Aldo Bollini, he had predicted, down to the date. In this context the statement given by Mr. Francesco Chionni of Rieti, who had driven the Capuchin in his own automobile to Turin, gives us much food for thought. Chionni, now deceased, was there to assist

Padre Domenico captured on film at the funeral procession for Padre Pio while still remaining at Manoppello

82

Padre Domenico in his last hours of life. He wrote that the friar, lying sick on his hospital bed, forgave and comforted the young man who had struck him with his car and offered “this sacrifice for the Shroud of Turin”. It is suprising how he thought to be responsible for this extreme act of love in return for that kind of exclusion which even then was being perpetrated by the vast array of sindonologists against the Holy Face of which he was the humble and tenacious defender in the small sanctuary at the foot of Maiella, at that time almost unknown. In the light of what has happened in the extraordinary diffusion of knowledge of the Holy Face in the last 10-15 years, and after the pilgrimage to Manoppello made by Benedict XVI that sacrifice should make us think even today of those who, unfortunately also among religious men and women, take positions that sometimes go beyond simple criticism of those who believe and study the Holy Face (and therefore of the Holy Face itself), an extraordinary

phenomenon just as is the Shroud, representing together different aspects of a single reality. In June 2011, the magazine Il Volto Santo di Manoppello describes in an article of mine the meeting in Manoppello attended by about two hundred devotees of Padre Domenico to start the investigation for the diocesan process for the beatification of the Capuchin, inviting all those who could not be present at the meeting to send their testimonies, letters and documents. Among the people who responded to the invitation, Mr. Francesco Bernardino Farchioni, resident in Rieti, related on August 29, 2011 an unusual episode which occurred during the funeral of Padre Pio. Mr. Farchioni on the day of the funeral had come with his friend Francesco Chionni to Manoppello and the two of them were about to leave for S. Giovanni Rotondo together with Padre Domenico, who did not accept their invitation. At that point Farchioni and his friend Francesco Chionni gave up the idea of continuing their journey, staying in Manoppello.

– Ruvo di Puglia – Fr. Domenico da Cese with Sister Amalia Di Rella

83

A few weeks later the two friends returned to visit Padre Domenico. During their stay, several busloads of pilgrims arrived. Some women came to Padre Domenico, who was chatting with the two young men from Rieti in front of the sanctuary, to ask him why he had not responded to their greeting when he attended the funeral of Padre Pio. Padre Domenico said at that time he had to excuse himself to hear some confessions and bless the groups of pilgrims and to the young men he said he would have to leave for the usual rituals, confessions and blessing of the pilgrims. Upon his return, Mr. Farchioni asked, “Padre Domenico, but the day of the funeral we were here. Now you have to explain this to me. “The Capuchin was silent. Upon further insistence, Padre Domenico replied evasively, “Francesco, you want to know so very many things.” Farchioni refrained from trying to get to the bottom of the question, also at the suggestion of his friend Chionni who, ten years after that, accompanied Padre Domenico on the tragic pilgrimage to the Shroud of Turin. This testimony could certainly be classified among the many unusual episodes that are ascribed to the life of Padre Domenico. Then in the past few weeks I heard rumors on the fact that Padre Domenico would have been seen and recognized in a recent documentary

84

film on the life of Padre Pio. Thanks to Padre Domenico’s niece Caterina and her husband I managed to obtain excerpts of a video. But the quality was very poor and I did not have certain elements regarding the television network, the title of the same, the director, etc. After much research, I managed to learn that this is a documentary film by Nicola Vicenti “Padre Pio: La Storia di un santo” (The Story of a saint), which aired on June 11, 2010 on the television network RAI 3. The documentary is the result of an extraordinary work of research and gathering of documentary materials, photographic and videographic, coming from various archives and collections. The viewing of the individual sequences of images allows one to confirm the presence of the Capuchin in the funeral procession, as it moves slowly from the Sanctuary to the town center, between two rows of huge crowds, with over one hundred thousand people coming from all over Italy and also abroad to San Giovanni Rotondo. A few still shots of film taken by the Luce Institute are sufficient to capture the Capuchin, who follows the procession with great attention, almost surrounded by the Carabinieri, while in a later sequence, you can see the same friar just as he is leaving the procession of the Capuchins. I had already taken the testimony of the

Capuchin’s niece, Caterina Petracca, who had a constant interest in her uncle, who confirmed that it was Padre Domenico, “who should not have been found at San Giovanni Rotondo.” But I felt it necessary to have other confirmation from other people who knew Padre Domenico very well. Especially significant in my opinion is the testimony of the photographer Gianni Cati, who was associated for a long time with the Sanctuary and with Padre Domenico for years, and who started in 1965 to document the Holy Face, even in an exhibition held in Pescara in September 1977 on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress, which was attended by Pope Paul VI. Without stating the reason for the request, I met the former photographer on February 1, 2013. At the appearance of the images of the funeral procession of Padre Pio he immediately and without hesitation said that it was Padre Domenico. Yet the Capuchin had not moved from Manoppello, while living deeply the painful end of the human story of the beloved Padre Pio, with whom he had lived in communion his priestly life. After further research I was able to ascertain that the only surviving member of the community of Capuchins who was in Manoppello in September 1968, Padre Enrico Carusi, is now part of the friary of Our Lady of the Seven

Sorrows of Pescara. The day of January 13, 2013 I was finally able to meet Padre Enrico. Despite his advanced age and health problems, the Capuchin remembers the time he was guardian of the community, denying that Father Dominic had traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo to attend the funeral of Padre Pio. He stated, however, that the funeral was attended by another Capuchin belonging to the fraternity of Manoppello, Padre Constantino Puglielli, who as pastor of the parish of San Callisto in the nearby village of Ripa Corbaria organized the pilgrimage of a group of parishioners.

85

The magazine of Il Volto Santo(no. 2/1968), released in December, reported an article on the death of Padre Pio without any reference to the participation of the sanctuary, or simply to Padre Domenico at the funeral of the saint of Pietrelcina. My thoughts turn finally to September a decade later, at the funeral of Padre

Domenico, which took place in his sanctuary and was celebrated by the Bishop of Chieti together with sixty priests, in the presence of so many devotees and spiritual children. On that occasion the then Superior of the Sanctuary, Padre Luciano Antonelli, expressing “dismay, anguish and bewilderment”, for the sudden loss pointed to “those secret reflections of the signs of providence, which we are not always willing to recognize and understand,” alluding to dimensions of human life and of faith which are not always explained by the usual parameters that are used to measure our everyday life. By means of testimonies, confirmations and documents I have limited myself to investigate and reconstruct the phenomena of bilocation of Padre Pio before the Holy Face at the end of his earthly life as well as that of his brother Padre Domenico da Cese in San Giovanni Rotondo which I have described leaving the interpretation of these episodes to the sensibilities of the individual readers. Paul Macleod, The Voice of Padre Pio vol. XII n.6 November /December 2011

86

The Procession of May and the Popular Devotion. The Pilgrim Companies For a number of years every day of the year pilgrims and visitors from around the world arrive at the sanctuary,while the solemn celebrations of the third Sunday in May remain still largely anchored to the Abruzzo devotion, in the wake of a centuries-old tradition of worship and veneration of the Holy Face. A phenomenon of faith - common to many ancient Italian shrines - is still represented by companies of pilgrims, in the past much more widespread, which has survived to the present time, although adapting to the conveniences of modern society. I note with pleasure how May 15 last, after a 25 year interruption of the pilgrimage on foot, a group of young people from Santa Giusta da Lanciano has taken up once again the ancient tradition of participating in the procession of the Holy Face on the third Sunday in May, led by the banner of the Holy Face carried with enthusiasm by Filippo Valentini who was keen to show me how on the reverse of the iconographic representation of the relic was indicated the year 1934. Among the group were many young

couples with their children who gathered on the steps of the Basilica at the end of the Mass, joyfully preparing themselves for the procession. As usual, in fact, companies of pilgrims coming from the surrounding areas are placed at the head of the procession. Padre Filippo da Tussio in his “Historical memories of the Holy Face” (1875) vividly describes the celebration of May “to which many people participated not only from the neighboring countryside, but also from distant places,”stressing that Manoppello welcomed “The very many pilgrim society from distant areas, from Friday evening to Sunday morning. It is a continuous arrival of pilgrims which comes along with manoppellesi to pay their tribute to the Holy Face”. The testimony of Padre Philip describes for us a large and supportive extended community, able to join with faith in their common devotion to the Holy Face. Until the sixties, many pilgrims found hospitality in homes and stables of the country, while others preferred to lie on the bare floor of the sanctuary, as in other sanctuaries, practicing the ancient

87

rite of “incubation” (incubatio), to man the search for a job took him like which the people’s devotion attributed so many others to migrate away, then the effects of penance (cf. V. Cianfarani, return to the country, with the desire Ancient cultures of Abruzzo and the to return to the ancient paths of faith of Adriatic Molise, 1978 109), their communities which had imparted But back to the companies present for newer values acquired over time. Today the procession of the May 15, 2011. the company arrived by the Manoppello The company Vacri, in the province of bus, but along the way to the shrine they Chieti - that includes people of all ages still sang the songs and recited prayers - has always been present in the rites of that marked the long pilgrimage on foot. May, seamless in time. The community These songs were recently collected in is preceded by three girls with the white a booklet produced by the “Vol-Vacri dress of their First Communion. One in Company of the Holy Face” which the center operates in the the Parish of San Biagio bears the insignia of the company. Vacri. A publication really appreciable as Until the sixties, an expression of the community piety and distant r e a c h e d in time, which Manoppello on has become an foot from Sablone integral part says Raffaele (78 of culture for years) - following the vacrese a route that community. In the included the past, the company ancient passage remained in through several Manoppello on villages including Monday too - like pilgrim company of Vacri Semivicoli, other companies Fara Filiorum Petri Roccamontepiano - participating in the procession that and Serramonacesca, often cutting brought the Holy Face to the Sanctuary. through hilly paths, on which converged From the book are some of the songs in other companies also aimed at dialect verses of the song of the pilgrims Manoppello. “O Blessed Holy Face” for the time at the Raffaele had attended as a boy each beginning of the procession exiting the year the pilgrimage. Then as a young Shrine

88

the traditional pilgrimage from their community, but all agree that these forms of worship passed down from generation to generation, from a distant past and which are in continuity until today.

Another company - represented almost exclusively by women - comes from Carpineto della Nora, in the province of Pescara, led by the banner which during the year is kept in the parish church. Even the older members have not been able to tell in what year, or period began

The Bulletin aims to underline the significant human and spiritual value of these communities on their centuries old pilgrimages to the Shrine of the Holy Face, urging those who possess documentary and photographic evidence to report them to the shrine, including by e-mail address to [email protected].

pilgrim company of Carpineto della Nora

89

Holy Face of Manoppello, World War II and Liberation Stories of war amidst memory and devotion to the Holy Face, seventy years after Liberation. A great mobilization anticipated the Liberation, an authentic explosion of masses of people and communities in

to the Shrine, from all over, beginning in the early days of April 1945, well before April 25, the date that marks the end of the German occupation in Italy, the fascist regime and thus the conclusion of World War II. An information sheet sent

Company of pilgrims from San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore in procession in front of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello at the end of the 1940’s.

movement on foot who felt the need to offer their gratitude to the Holy Face with processions and pious pilgrimages

90

to emigrants in January 1947 by “The Organizing Committee for the Solemn Celebrations in Honor of the Holy Face

of Jesus” recalled the “indescribable gifts south, from the Canadian newspaper of gratitude to the Holy Face ... even from “The Gazette” January 19, 1944 showing the most distant areas of Abruzzo in 1945 the Gustav Line. and 1946” that justified the collection The leaflet recalls how the Germans of funds for a new monstrance in gold requisitioned lodgings and food, driving and silver, a kind of collective votive out families from their homes, assaulting offering, a spontaneous sign of gratitude farmhouses and looting cattle, at times and constant devotion to the sacred veil while Allied bombers cut across the sky. and at the same time of the resumption In this context, the Shrine remained “the of the life of the community engaged in only dispenser of comfort and courage.” the problematic work of reconstruction In the “Handbook for the Faithful of and the difficult the Holy Face relaunching of the of Our Lord economy. Jesus Christ in From the appeal Manoppello”, itself, which published at does not contain the time of the expressions of c e l e b r at i o n s resentment, there in 1956, the emerges the Capuchins picture of death, described destruction and in the brief suffering endured introduction by the people of devoted to Manoppello from historical October 1943 notes how the to June 1944, as new reliquary did many other surmounted localities which from the Canadian newspaper “The Gazette” January 19, 1944 showing by a golden the Gustav Line became refuge and crown was hostage for German troops concentrated offered by the people to the Holy Face on the Gustav Line, the front that split of Manoppello “in thanks for divine lengthwise Abruzzo and thus Italy, from assistance experienced on many Ortona to Cassino, with German troops occasions during the long months of to the north and the Allied forces to the the war.” But it had been the Capuchins

91

themselves who were in danger as the Handbook makes a passing mention to “difficulties of every kind” suffered by the religious in that period. From the documents examined, it shows that for at least seven months a part of the monastery, probably the one where the seraphic college had formerly been located, was continuously occupied by forces of the Wehrmacht. Evidently it was the location of the Sanctuary, situated on a hill, then almost c o mp l e t e l y isolated and with very few rural homes n e a r by, overlooking the village and the surrounding area to justify the choice, which was certainly not held back by the sacredness of place. From other documentation, ascribable to Padre Fedele da Vasto who became superior of the Shrine in the immediate post-war period, it can be seen how the German occupiers destroyed the compass (the wooden structure at the front doors of the church which serves to separate the interior of the church from the outside), the twenty pews of the Church, as well as the four

92

confessionals and other furnishings. The church, which was greatly expanded only in the nineteen sixties, was then about 15 meters shorter than it is currently and the number of pews suggests that they were distributed in two rows of ten. Mr. Silvio Menichilli, witness of those dramatic days, remembers that this was a hard winter with frequent snowfalls. “There was more than a meter of snow,” he says, considering it possible that the furnishings were used for heating. An action e a s i l y avoidable considering t h e proximity of rich woodlands. “ T h e Banality of Evil” comes to mind, recalling the title of the famous essay by Hanna Arendt on the Eichmann trial. Mr. Antonio Napoleone also has not forgotten that time. He has always lived about a kilometer away from the Shrine in the direction of the mountain. In later years he was the watchman of the powder magazine at the nearby asphalt mine of Foce Valle Romana which had been closed during the war. In the winter of 1944 he was almost 18 years

old and recalls, among other things, that he had seen military vehicles inside the church, practically reduced to a garage once freed of the front door and furniture. (It should be noted that up to the mid-sixties, the church was located at street level). The Shrine thus became a military target and as such was exposed to Allied bombing. In Manoppello the story is told of an American pilot who returned in the nineteen sixties still interested in knowing exactly what was the target that he could not hit due to the presence of a cloud “stopped” as if embracing the Shrine. Despite everything, the religious activity, though made very difficult and greatly compromised, was never interrupted altogether. Mrs Gina, wife of Antonio Napoleone and very devoted to the Holy Face, was a girl at the time and lived almost opposite the church. Forced to leave her home, “displaced” nearby with her family, she remembers how for months it was impossible to go to pray at the shrine, in which the friars nevertheless continued to celebrate Mass, perhaps also without the presence of the faithful. Unlike other similar cases the friars were not removed, remaining essentially prisoners in their own monastery. This circumstance suggests a work of resistance from the religious community

eager to safeguard the Holy Face. The superior then was Padre Salvatore da Musellaro, appointed to guide the Shrine in November 1941. At that time the Holy Face was still kept in the chapel on the right side of the church, although it is possible that the sacred image was placed in safety elsewhere, though still in the territory of the monastery. One can not help but remember how also in the same period the Shroud of Turin was hidden in the shrine of Montevergine, in Irpinia, to remove it from the danger of theft or destruction. Compared to the looting and bleak devastation of the sacred site, the inspection of the files in the archives of the monastery restores a small glimmer of humanity and faith when paging through the monastery’s register which records income I note on the date of April 30, 1944 the entry of a gift of 100 lire, with the notation “from a German for a blessing”. It was from a soldier who was one of the occupiers, tearing himself away from the ideological madness of the Nazi regime, especially concerned about the fate of the war and for his own future. At the time of liberation the church and the monastery exhibited damage also to the walls. The Capuchins engaged immediately in certain urgent jobs and the replacement of windows, to recover the essential functions of the church and

93

the monastery and to begin again to welcome the many faithful who finally could again arrive at the Shrine. Mr. Menichilli still keeps alive the memory of Padre Fedele da Vasto, who after the war was actively engaged in restoring functionality and decoration of the church and the monastery. He recalls how Padre Fedele would go on foot from Manoppello to Pescara or Chieti to ask for aid. At the end of the article below we report the dates for companies of pilgrims in procession to the Holy Face. It can be seen that some communities repeated the pilgrimage several times. The list does not include companies not registered in as much as they did not make a monetary donation. Also not included are groups, entire families and the many individuals who came to the Shrine, all with their own stories. A portion of their testimony is found in the many votive offerings related to World War II present in the “treasure room”. Thus there deserves to be remembered the story of a woman from Abbateggio, Chiara Di Pierdomenico, linked to the return of her son, a prisoner of the concentration camp of Dachau. The son himself, Ermando Parete, born in 1922, recalls with emotion how, after the liberation of the camp which took place April 29, 1945, after having barely

94

escaped execution, he decided with a few other surviving prisoners to walk back to Italy since there were no other alternatives. With an extraordinary willpower, while the other comrades decided little by little to stop due to exhaustion, Ermando went on through hardships such as destroyed bridges and feeding himself however he could, finally reaching his village which welcomed him with the sound of bells as at festival time. It was the middle of June 1945. After a few days, just enough time to recover, his mother asked him to accompany her to Manoppello, to fulfill the vow she had made, walking barefoot along paths and fields, crossing the river Lavino to reach the Shrine of the Holy Face. Heedless the son’s plea that his mother should put on shoes or cover her head with a scarf. The day was warm and sunny her son still remembers. Nothing to do: the vow -- if the son were returned alive from the concentration camp-had been made in those terms by the mother and she was happy to be able to fulfill it. They were the same paths that Ermando had traveled as a child along with the community procession from Abbateggio, with the pastor and the banner at the head. Parete (prisoner no. 142192) has always kept alive the memories of those dramatic days. His eyes seem to look far away. After so many years he still can not

forget and give a plausible explanation of so much gratuitous violence against persons who could not even stand up. “They had lost their minds, they had lost their minds,” he continues to repeat to himself even before he says it to me as I listen carefully, thanking him for his intense witness. It was still then that Abruzzo which was described by Silone as “shaped by Christianity.” The writer claimed that the region, “one of Mr. Ermando Parete the most religious of Italy”, was, through the ages, mainly a creation of Saints and workers -- “after having understood the mountains which are its body, to understand the whole moral structure of Abruzzo one must therefore know its saints and its

poor “(1948). Not surprisingly, even extraordinary events regarding the presence of the Holy Face in Manoppello, occurring in not very distant times, have remained shrouded in silence, unknown even before being forgotten. However, the same events of World War II in Abruzzo, until now considered marginal, only in recent years have been the subject of studies and historical analysis which allow us to assert their relevance in the context of Italian history. At a distance of seventy years this brief reconstruction of those dramatic days seems a necessary contribution of knowledge and reflection. We like to think that, in addition to the American pilot, the German soldier blessed by the Capuchins also returned one day as a pilgrim to the Shrine.

Company of pilgrims from San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore

95

“Wher’is Manoppello” Manoppello is just a few hours by autostrada from Rome, on the way to San Giovanni Rotondo where St. Padre Pio labored and where his mortal remains are now on solemn display. Pilgrimages to San Giovanni Rotondo could easily make a stop at Manoppello. Manoppello is about 30 minut es from the Italian Adriatic coastal city of Pescara. There are inexpensive daily flights from London’s Stansted Airport to Pescara Airport. Trains from Rome arrive in Manoppello Scalo which is around 5 miles below Manoppello Storico (historic Manoppello) where the Shrine of the Holy Face sits about a kilometer away. During the day there are public buses between Pescara and Manoppello which pass through Manoppello Scalo.

96

And stop at the Shrine of the Holy Face.