Painting in Sacred Blood (Veronica's Veil Re-discovered)

Catholic Exchange ^ | June 9, 2006 | Michael S. Rose

[NYer]

Almost four centuries after its mysterious disappearance, Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer reported that he has rediscovered one of Christendom's most intriguing relics: the Veil of Veronica, the cloth with which Jesus wiped His face on the road to Calvary.

Fr. Pfeiffer, a professor of Christian Art History in Rome, found the relic in the Abbey of Manoppello, Italy. The German Jesuit invested 13 years of searching through archives to prove that this is the same cloth that disappeared from the Vatican in 1608.

Manoppello is a small, ancient town in the Abruzzo region of Italy, about 150 miles from Rome in the Apennine Mountains. The Capuchin friary there is appropriately named the Sanctuary of the Holy Face. A piece of stained, pale cloth kept in this tiny village has long been regarded by the Capuchin monks as a sacred icon with wondrous properties.

The story of St. Veronica and her veil appears in various early Christian writings. Most notably, the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate" from the sixth century, identifies Veronica with the hemorrhaging woman who was cured by touching the hem of Jesus' cloak. Veronica is described as a pious matron from Jerusalem, and numbered among the holy women who accompanied our Lord to Calvary.

During the Passion, she is said to have wiped sweat from His brow. Jesus rewarded Veronica for her charity by leaving her an imprint of His face on the "veil." She later traveled to Rome, bringing with her this image of Christ, which was long exposed to public veneration.

The almost transparent white veil measures about 6-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches and bears dark red features of a serene bearded man with long hair and open eyes, patiently enduring suffering. Bruises and other scars are apparent on his forehead. Clotted blood is on his nose, and one pupil is slightly dilated.

The sacred veil is so thin one can easily see through it. In fact, the image becomes invisible depending on the angle from which the cloth is viewed, something that was considered a miracle in itself in medieval times.

Stolen, Sold and Donated

Documented history of the mysterious relic dates back to at least the fourth century. On the occasion of the first known Jubilee year, 1300, we know that the veil was kept in the Vatican Basilica as a popular goal of pilgrims, as it is mentioned in Canto XXXI of Dante's Paradiso. Fr. Pfeiffer believes the sacred relic was stolen during the restoration of the Basilica in the year 1608., when the chapel housing the veil was demolished. Shortly thereafter, the veil appeared in Manoppello.

Ten years later, in 1618, Vatican archivist Giacomo Grimaldi drew up a list of the sacred objects held in the old St. Peter's Basilica. The reliquary containing the Veil of Veronica was on that list, but Grimaldi indicated that the reliquary's crystal glass was broken.

According to records at the monastery written in 1646, the wife of a soldier sold the veil to a nobleman of Manoppello in 1608 in order to ransom her husband from prison. Thirty years later, the nobleman donated the relic to the Capuchins. In 1638, it was placed in a walnut frame adorned in silver and gold between two sheets of glass. It remained in the monastery ever since.

The Same Face as the Shroud

"There are few such objects in history," Fr. Pfeiffer explained to Rome's Zenit News Agency a few years ago. "This is not a painting. We don't know what the material is that shapes the image, but it is the color of blood."

Ultraviolet examinations of the cloth confirm that the image is not paint, and the fibers of the veil do not have any type of color. Thus, it was not woven with dyed fibers. Particularly noteworthy are several small flecks of reddish brown — presumably drops of blood from the wounds caused by the Crown of Thorns.

Enlarged digital photographs of the veil reveal that the image is identical on both sides of the cloth — a feat impossible to achieve by ancient techniques, and extremely difficult to achieve even today. These photographs have also been used to compare the veil with the face on the Shroud of Turin. Striking similarities are apparent: the faces are the same shape and size, both have shoulder-length hair with a tuft on the forehead, the noses are the same length, and the beards match. The only difference is that on the veil the mouth and eyes are open. Those who carried out the tests concluded that the two relics bear the image of the same face, "photographed" at two different times.

For those interested, the Veil of Veronica remains on display at the Capuchin Abbey of Manoppello.

[dangus]

Wow... I'm not sure if what I'm looking at is the image; it's not what I expected it to look like at all; for instance, the veil hardly covers all of it... and, of course, it looks nothing at all like that sily, cartoonish image that's already been posted. But it DOES look a LOT like the shroud, including the moustachio (aw, hack, I'll spell it mustache and you'll all know what I mean.)

But my eyes are very good at seeing images in chaos; I also see a dove (OK, actually, it looks more like an eagle) rising above his brow which I'm sure someone would've mentionned if it were objectively present.

[dangus]

Nevermind... I just saw monkapotamous' comparison... it's there all right... and Wow, it looks exactly the same!

[dangus]

OK, now do that with the REAL veil!

[GregoTX]

Sorry about posting the wrong picture. I wast aware that there was two veils called Veronica's Veil.

[Iscool]

Which one of you guys ended up with the piece of toast with the image on it??? Or was that a grilled cheese sandwich???

[Swordmaker]

If you collected all the splinters of the True Cross you'd have enough to build the SuperDome.

This canard of skepticism has been now shot down by good scholarship.

"In 1870, Rohault de Fleury in his "Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion" (Paris, 1870) made a study of the relics in reference to the criticisms of Calvin and Erasmus. He drew up a catalogue of all known relics of the True Cross showing that, in spite of what various authors have claimed, the fragments of the Cross brought together again would not reach one-third that of a cross which has been supposed to have been three or four meters in height, with transverse branch of two meters wide, proportions not at all abnormal. He calculated: supposing the Cross to have been of pine-wood (based on his microscopic analysis of the fragments) and giving it a weight of about seventy-five kilograms, we find the original volume of the cross to be .178 cubic meters. The total known volume of known relics of the True Cross, according to his catalogue, amounts to approximately .004 cubic meters, leaving a volume of .174 cubic meters lost, destroyed, or otherwise unaccounted for. Other scientific study of the extant relics has been conducted which confirms that they are from a single species of tree. Four cross particles from European churches, i.e. S.Croce in Rome, Notre Dame, the cathedral of Pisa and the cathedral to Florenz, were microscopically examined. "The pieces came all together from olive."
(William Ziehr, Das Kreuz, Stuttgart 1997, p. 63)

A repeat of Rohualt's 1870 survey of the "inventory" of "True Cross" pieces held by the Catholic Church and private collectors was done in the late 1990s using more accurate modern measuring techniques and perhaps more strict criteria as to what was a "true" piece (For example, pieces that were of wood that was obviously not of the same species as the vast majority of pieces was excluded). It was discovered that there are are enough pieces and splinters to approximate the volume of two-thirds of the patibulum (the cross piece) of the cross.

[Swordmaker]

OK, now do that with the REAL veil!

I didn't do it. The overlay picture is linked from the official site of the Sanctuary of the Sacred Face in Manoppello, Italy.

[Swordmaker]

Sorry about posting the wrong picture. I wast aware that there was two veils called Veronica's Veil.

Not your fault... pictures of the Manoppello "Veronica's Veil" are extremely hard to find... and are not too well labeled when you do find them. Even the Catholic Exchange that published the article published a picture of the wrong "veil" reliquary.

The Official "Veronica's Veil", kept in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

The Manoppello "Veronica's Veil", kept in the Sanctuary of the Holy Face, Manoppello, Italy.

There is a distinct difference. The Manoppello Veil is either the extremely rare Byssus cloth that was generally reserved for royalty 2000 years ago, or Cambric, a 16th Century French cotton that bears a very close resemblance to Byssus, but still a very costly cloth that would likely be used by a wealthy medieval woman to coyly "veil", but not hide, her face, neither of which is likely to be encountered on the Via De la Rosa. On the other hand, The Vatican's Veil appears to be (from those who have observed it closely) plain linen, something you would expect an average woman out shopping to wear to cover her head in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Which is more likely to be the "true" Veronica's Veil?

My considered opinion is that:

• Contrary to Pfieffer's theory, which is based purely on coincidence of dates and a 10 year later report of a broken reliquary glass, NOTHING was stolen from the Vatican during the reconstruction of Veronica's Chapel in 1608.

• In the previous century, someone, probably unaware of the provenance of the object, came into possession of the 100 year old, "miraculous," self-portrait of Raphael painted on either Cambric or Byssus, either of which were often used to make very fancy veils.

• That person saw this "miraculous" portrait and jumped to the conclusion that it was the "True" Veronica's Veil. It became their most valued possession.

• The owners of the "veil" used it to "ransom" a soldier from a nobleman of Manoppello. He obviously thought it extremely valuable. Perhaps the soldier was imprisoned because he bragged of his family's possession in the hearing of the "nobleman".

• The nobleman kept the "Veil" for 30 years, and in 1638, donated it to the local church, perhaps in anticipation of his own death.

• The church elders were, of course, delighted to acquire such an important relic to attract pilgrims and donations to their parish.

Thus was born the second Veronica's Veil. The original, and probably true "Veronica's Veil" never left the Vatican and is the relic that is venerated there today.

Monkapotamus' side-by-side comparison is good... I just wish we had a better view of the cloth inside the glass.

[Suzy Quzy]

Very good deduction!! I concur.

[Conservative til I die]

LOL!!! So true.

[Conservative til I die]

If you collected all the splinters of the True Cross you'd have enough to build the SuperDome.

Now I don't have the exact quote, but from a book I read on relics, even if you put together all the pieces of the Cross that are alleged to be real, you'd still only have enough for something like a portion of a moderately sized crucifix, give or take, but definitely nothing along the lines of the Superdome.

[Conservative til I die]

Lose the tiresome snake handling thing. How many do you think there actually are?

You guys agree to stop trotting out your Catholic "boogeymen" first and then we can talk.

But it is insulting, isn't it? Funny how it works when the shoe gets put on the other foot.

[Bainbridge]

I do not know what you think is insulting.
There are a few people who believe in snake handling. They are not Baptists.The ignorance of associating these people with the vast majority of Evangelical Christians is not offensive, just stupid.

[Conservative til I die]

I do not know what you think is insulting. There are a few people who believe in snake handling. They are not Baptists.The ignorance of associating these people with the vast majority of Evangelical Christians is not offensive, just stupid.

And this is just so with Catholics who worship (read: not venerate) statues or treat rosaries and medals like magic voodoo talismans.

I agree, painting with a broad brush is stupid. I wish more Evangelicals would agree with your position.

[PandaRosaMishima]

I was being facetious about the splinters of the TC, how there seemed to be a piece in every other church in Europe. How do people know which ones are genuine, or at least believable?
Mark Twain himself mused over the Crown of Thorns, that it looked whole in one church, and yet pieces of it existed in other churchs, and how he'd seen enough of the TC's Nails to fill a whole keg. The Veronica's Veil confusion is proof that it's not always easy to get it straight.
Actually, if the Vatican really does have some of the True Cross, is it on display? Be worth seeing.

[Grn_Lantern]

Actually, Luther never had too much trouble with images as long as they weren't worshiped. Look at Lutheran churches with statues, glass and the like. Calvinists were the whitewashed walls crowd.

Luther was also very permissive about things that weren't mentioned in the Bible, since certainly it couldn't cover everything. It was the Puritans who took the "everything is prohibited unless specifically allowed" stance.

So only some of the "sola sciptura" crowd think you're idolaters. :)

[droichead]

I appreciate this discussion very much. I hope that people will keep an open mind about this until there is much more available about this image in the English language.
In addition to the official site of the Capuchins in Manoppello, please see www.alleanzacattolica.org/languages/english/cristianita_barbesinof311.htm for an english language translation of an Italian review of Fr. Pfeiffer's essential book, Il Volto Santo di Manoppello.
The only other source available in English is the translation of the German journalist Paul Wedde of Die Welt's article in the October 2004 edition of the magazine Inside the Vatican. This has some excellent photographs taken by Wedde which I think would cause some of the postings on this forum to be rethought. Wedde also has a book on the Holy Face of Manoppello published in German earlier this year which contains these photographs and more. I hope that it can be translated into English soon.
As a side note I don't think Manoppello should be translated Haystack, rather it is more commonly translated "full hand" from the Latin root words Manus and Plenus. However the symbol for Manoppello is a large bound gathering of sheaves of grain.

[NYer]

Welcome to Free Republic!

The only other source available in English is the translation of the German journalist Paul Wedde of Die Welt's article in the October 2004 edition of the magazine Inside the Vatican. This has some excellent photographs taken by Wedde which I think would cause some of the postings on this forum to be rethought.

Thank you for the input into Veronica's Veil and additional source material.

Some of the posters to this forum do not ascribe to the catholic interest in sacramentals. It should be noted, however, that members "shroudie" and "swordmaker" are authorities on the Shroud of Turin, hence the excellent commentaries.

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