Where is Veronica’s real Veil?

This July 12th we celebrate Saint Veronica, who helped and accompanied Christ while he went to Calvary.

His figure, preserved over time through Christian tradition, is related to one of the most important relics of Christianity.

At the sixth station of the Via Crucis we remember how, on the road to Calvary, a woman pushed her way through the soldiers escorting Jesus and wiped away the sweat and blood from the Lord’s face with a veil.

On that veil, known worldwide as “Holy Face” or “Veronica’s Veil”, the Holy Face of Christ was miraculously imprinted.

“True icon”

Veronica’s own name, according to some scholars, seems to refer to this veil, since it would mean “true image”, the result of the combination of the Latin adjective “true” and the Greek noun “icon” or “image.”

This relic is surrounded by numerous unknowns and mysteries that for years have been the subject of study and research by various experts.

When the new St. Peter’s Basilica was being built, the mantle of Veronica was transferred by Pope Urban VIII (1590) to one of the four chapels on the pillars that support the dome.

The cloth was later stolen and sold illegally. There are those who maintain that this theft took place in the 15th century during the demolition of the medieval basilica, although other experts defend that the theft took place during the sacking of Rome in 1527.

It is worth mentioning that for years the Vatican made copies of Veronica’s Veil, which were sent to churches and Catholic princes.

After its theft, many speculations and legends arose around the relic, causing numerous churches in different places and countries to claim, to this day, to house the true Face of Christ.

Among these places are the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Jaén (Spain), the Monastery of the Holy Face of Alicante (Spain) and the Sanctuary of the Volto Santo of Manoppello, in Italy.

Which is the real one?

Journalist Paul Badde, EWTN’s Rome correspondent, studied the so-called “Manopello secret”, subsequently publishing the book titled The other Shroud.

The journalist explained to ACI Prensa that the other Holy Faces of Jaén and Alicante actually correspond to “a painting on the first and a cloth with the blood of the Lord on the other, kept on the occasion of his deposition from the Cross.”

Therefore, many experts point to the Holy Face of Manopello as the true Veil of Veronica. This relic has been subjected to demanding and diverse studies, including digital scanner examinations, confirming that there are no traces of color or pigments on the fabric.

At present, it has not yet been possible to scientifically explain the appearance of the face in the fine fabric. Furthermore, the face coincides with that of another shroud, the Shroud, and if the veil is held up to the light, it passes directly through the fabric.

Light passes through the tissue. Credit: Paul Badde

The visit of Benedict XVI

The Sanctuary of the Holy Face or Volto Santo, located 200 kilometers from Rome and guarded since 1638 by Capuchin religious, is visited by around a million pilgrims each year. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI visited it in 2006.

Paul Badde explains that the relic is “a veil made of extremely fine linen, made with byssus (a natural fiber obtained from the filaments that certain mollusks secrete to adhere to rocks), in which the face of Christ appears.”

“However, it is technically impossible to paint this type of fabric, made from filaments of A noble fin. No paint pigment is found in the veil. “The appearance of the face in the veil remains a mystery that highlights the inexplicable.”

“The veil represents the same face of the Holy Shroud, that of Jesus of Nazareth. But the Shroud represents him dead, while the veil represents him alive, with the same wounds on his face!”, Badde emphasizes.

Image “acheropita“(not made by the hand of man)

In his book, the journalist explains that “it is a small veil, very fine and transparent, delicate like a spider web, with the Face of Christ.”

In the year 704, the almost intangible fabric was transported from Constantinople by unknown hands and secured in Rome. And there, in St. Peter’s Basilica, this treasure remained for no less than 820 years.

Furthermore, he claims that it was not until 2004 that it was discovered that the fabric is sea silk, an ancient precious fabric that cannot be painted. And as with the Shroud, many attempts have been made to expose it as fake, but they have always failed.

“Both cloths – the Shroud of Turin and the Shroud of Manoppello – thus show us Jesus of Nazareth as in a celestial diptych, once dead, seriously wounded and beaten, the other healed and alive. Both without color, unpainted , without a first coat of primer and created not by human hands”.