“Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the LORD God, the creator of heaven and earth.” (Judith 13:18)

The miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Shroud of Turin, and “Il Volto Santo,” the veil of Manoppello all have something in common.  They are all Acheiropoieta, a Greek word meaning: “made without hand.”  They are said to have come into existence miraculously, not created by a human painter.

Extensive research that has been done on these three images, and the results are astounding.  Although I have not been to Mexico to view the miraculous tilma of Our Lady, I have seen both the Holy Shroud of Turin and the Veil of Manoppello in person, and have been deeply affected by them both.  Studying them has been my own personal passion over the years.

Being an artist, (and near-sighted) I tend to look at things more closely. I love this photo above sent to me many years ago by the late author Paul Badde–The detail is incredible! Zoom in and you will see each fiber of the Veil of Manoppello; examine closely His eyes, nose, lips, teeth, and hair. One never tires of looking! To paint a human face an artist studies each little detail, shape, line, form, color, and  value, and may spend hundreds of hours studying as they work.  One can’t help but know every little nuance by the time one has finished painting.  Sr. Blandina Paschalis Schloemer, a Trappist nun from Germany, is also an artist, a painter of icons.  Icon painting is very exact when it is done in the traditional manner.  Sr. Schloemer began to notice striking similarities between ancient icons and images of the Face of Christ, and the images on the Shroud of Turin and the Veil of Manoppello.  With the permission of her order the research has become her life’s work as well as part of her vocation.

Sr, Blandina’s research indicates that both images on the Shroud of Turin and the Manoppello Image are of the same man.  I agree with her, wholeheartedly, although it is not at first glance apparent. There are also many similarities between these two images  of Jesus’ Face and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  First, all are on a cloth. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on cactus fiber, which should have disintegrated hundreds of years ago according to scientists. The Shroud of Turin is on linen and the Manoppello Image is on woven sea-silk, called byssus.

Byssus  is more rare and more precious than gold.  Mentioned in the Bible, byssus, has a shimmering, iridescent quality which reflects light. Byssus is extremely delicate, yet strong at the same time. It  resists water, weak acids, bases, ethers or alcohols. It can’t be painted, as it does not retain pigments, it can only be dyed; and then, only purple.  Did I mention that it can last for more than 2000 years?

Another similarity between the Guadalupe image and the Manoppello image is the changeability of the images.  Pilgrims  have related how the image of Our Lady on the tilma appears to change in color, brightness and depth.  Scientists can’t explain how the Guadalupe image appears on the tilma, it is not painted… it is “just there.”  The Shroud of Turin has been described similarly. The veil of Manoppello, or “Il Volto Santo” as it is also known,  is even more incredible, if that can be possible, because in addition to the image being on a veil so sheer that it can be read through; it also changes in detail, color,  and shape.  It even disappears… entirely. It is called a “living image” and so it is.  No two people will see it in the same way.  No single person will see it in the same way twice.

Julian of Norwich, the English mystic of the 14th century,  mentions changeability as a characteristic of the Veil of Veronica in Rome, “the diverse changing of color and countenance, sometime more comfortably life-like, sometime more rueful and death-like.” The Veil of Veronica, it is now believed, was most likely stolen a hundred years later, during the sack of Rome.  But, Julian of Norwichs’ description of the Veil of Veronica certainly fits “Il Volto Santo” of Manoppello.

But, there is more.  There is something about the faces… if you study the faces in particular, especially  the eyes, as one opthamalogist did. On the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe, you will notice that something.  Similar research has been done on the eyes of “Il Volto Santo.”  There are delicate, natural, details in all three images that cannot be accomplished without the aid of paint or brush, on a rough, cactus cloth, or on a linen burial shroud or on gossamer-thin sea-silk.  If you have an opportunity, look closely.  Yes, there is something about the faces, and it is something supernatural.  They are not made by human hands, but by the Hand of God.

“O Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe,

By your presence you made the desert bloom with flowers

may your love transform us into the image of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.”

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Roses in Winter

“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child…” (Rev. 12) 

This story of Your Lady of Guadalupe begins in a very dark place.  It was time of sin, suffering, and death, when the Aztecs sacrificed human beings to an idol that required human blood. In other words, a time not so different from our own, when millions of unborn children are sacrificed on the altar of “choice” to the idol of death. It was in this dark period of history, in the sixteenth century, that the Blessed Virgin Mary intervened for humanity. She was sent by God to defeat the culture of death at that time in Mexico. Like the “Woman” in Revelation, “clothed in the sun, with moon at her feet,” on December 9, 1531, she appeared to a poor man of no importance or influence, one of Mary’s “little ones,” Juan Diego. The beautiful young woman, whose clothing indicated that she was pregnant, called him by name as a mother would, “Juanito” – “little Juan.”   She spoke to Juan:

“I want you to know for certain, my dear son, that I am the perfect and always Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God from Whom all life comes, the Lord of all things, Creator of heaven and earth.”  

The Blessed Mother then requested that Juan Diego go to his bishop and ask that a church be built in her honor, in which she would show —

“…all my love, compassion and protection. I am your Mother full of mercy and love for you and all those who love me, trust in me, and have recourse to me. I will hear their complaints, and I will comfort their affliction, and their sufferings.”   

However, when Juan repeated her words to Bishop Zumarraga, the bishop, fearing an illusion, was skeptical, and sent Juan away. But in his heart Bishop Zumarraga prayed, asking God for a sign of Castillian Roses, which only grew in the bishop’s native country of Spain.

She appeared again to Juan Diego and finally, early in the morning of December 12th, the Blessed Mother asked him to return to the bishop. She instructing him first to go to the top of Tepeyac Hill “and pick the flowers that you find there and bring them to me.” Although, it was too cold and dry for flowers to grow, Juan obediently climbed the hill and discovered beautiful, sweet-smelling roses growing there, which he gathered up into his tilma – a sort of working cloak made of cactus fiber. Our Lady then, with her own hands, carefully arranged the roses in his tilma. She told Juan to give them to the bishop as a sign that he should build the church.

After running all the way to the bishop’s residence, Juan was made to wait for hours by some servants, who, curious about what he held so closely in his tilma, tried to force Juan to show them. Finally, they informed the bishop that Juan was waiting, and Juan rushed to the bishop, who was meeting with other people in the room, and he unfolded his cloak. The roses, still covered with dew, tumbled to the floor, revealing on the tilma the beautiful image of the Blessed Mother.  The bishop and the others fell to their knees.

The Indians, upon seeing the miraculous image, recognized  the rich symbolism  contained within it as coming from heaven. Thus, they converted by the millions, and their religion of human sacrifice was ended.

The tilma miraculously exists to this day, though the cactus fiber should have disintegrated after forty years. In the past century, even when a load of dynamite was exploded just below it the blast severely damaged everything around it, but did not touch the image. There is no paint or pigment on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is an “Acheiropoieta,” a Greek word meaning: “made without human hands.” Like other acheiropoieta, such as the Shroud of Turin, and the Veil of Manoppello,  there is no scientific explanation for the image’s existence, except, that it was made by the hand of God, “the true God, from Whom all life comes, the Lord of all things, Creator of Heaven and earth.”  Images such as these are ongoing miracles – tangible signs of God’s mercy and love. Let us ask Him then, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to redeem this generation, mired in the deep darkness of sin, death, and idolatry, to bring Light and roses of life into the cold darkness — to save the lives of the unborn, and convert souls by turning them, once again, away from idols and back to the Face of her Son and her God; who suffered, died and rose from the dead.

These three miraculous images created by God have something else in common–They draw us by love, and not by fear to God. He condescends towards mankind to draw us to himself, inviting us to look more closely at the pure and lovely face of His own mother, and his own Holy Face; to contemplate his great humility, goodness, mercy and love.

From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus — Love desires to see God:

“When God saw the world falling to ruin because of fear, he immediately acted to call it to himself by his love. He invited it by his grace, preserved it by his love, and embraced it with compassion. When the earth had become hardened in evil, God sent the flood both to punish and to release it. He called Noah to be the father of a new era, urged him with kind words, and showed that he trusted him; he gave him fatherly instruction about the present calamity, and through his grace, consoled him with hope for the future.

But God did not merely issue commands; rather with Noah sharing the work, he filled the art with the future seed of the whole world. The sense of loving fellowship thus engendered removed servile fear, and a mutual love could continue to preserve what shared labor had effected.

God called Abraham out of the heathen world, symbolically lengthened his name, and made him the father of all believers. God walked with him on his journeys, and protected him in foreign lands, enriched him with earthly possessions, and honored him with victories. He made a covenant with him, saved him from harm, accepted his hospitality, and astonished him by giving him the offspring he had despaired of. Favored with so many graces and drawn by such great sweetness of divine love, Abraham was to learn to loved God rather than fear him, and love rather than fear was to inspire his worship.

God comforted Jacob by a dream during his flight, roused him to combat upon his return, and encircled him with a wrestler’s embrace to teach him not to be afraid of the author of the conflict, but to love him. God called Moses as a father would, and with fatherly affection invited him to become the liberator of his people. In all these events we have recalled, the flame of divine love enkindled human hearts and its intoxication overflowed into men’s senses.

Wounded by love, they longed to look upon God with their bodily eyes. Yet how could our narrow human vision apprehend God, whom the whole world cannot contain? But the law of love is not concerned with what will be, what ought to be, what can be. Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation. Love refuses to consoled when its goal proves impossible, despises al hindrances to the attainment of its object.

Love destroys the lover if he cannot obtain what he loves; love follows its own prompting, and does not think of right or wrong. Love inflames desire which impels it toward things that are forbidden. But why continue?

It’s intolerable for love not to see the object of its longing. That is why whatever reward they merited was nothing to the saints if they could not see the Lord. A love that desires to see God may not have reasonableness on its side, but it is the evidence of filial love. It gave Moses the temerity to say: If I have found favor in your eyes, show me your face. It inspired the psalmist to make the same prayer:

Show me your face.

Even the pagans made their images for this purpose: they wanted actually to see what they mistakingly revered.”