Holy Face of Manoppello

The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI – The Holy Face

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Basilica Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

Below is a translation (from German and Italian) of a remembrance of Pope Benedict XVI, written by his friend, Paul Badde, which was read on the recent occasion of the Solemn celebration of “Omnis Terra,” January 15, 2023, at the Basilica Sanctuary Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppelo, Italy:

Benedict’s Legacy

by Paul Badde

On December 31st, an honorary German citizen of Manoppello died with these Italian words on his lips, “Signore ti Amo” (“Lord, I love you”): Pope Benedict XVI

Video of Pope Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage to the Sanctuary Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy, September 1, 2006.

His visit by helicopter [to Manoppello] will be here forever remembered. Countless cameras captured how he [Benedict] could not tear himself away from the sight of the Holy Face, in which the half-blind seer had just discovered “the Face of God,” and which he never tired of praising during his pontificate. Since then, he no longer waited for the end after his death, but for “an encounter;” a term which became, more or less, the center of his theology.

Pope Benedict XVI with Paul Badde on the occasion of the Pope’s pilgrimage to see The Holy Veil in 2006.

Benedict was the first pope after more than four hundred years to bend the knee before this “true image” [“Veronica”] of Christ. And even more, by his visit, Pope Benedict catapulted the Holy Image, out its hiddenness in the silence of its isolation of Abruzzo, and into the consciousness of the whole earth (“Omnis Terra”). But into a [technologically] changed world where new possibilities of digital comparisons [of images of the Holy Face] could, as never before, be identified in a definitive and concise way as the “Crown Relic of the Resurrection.” This return of the Holy Face to Christianity will forever be the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI.

He [Benedict] immediately told Archbishop Bruno Forte, in German, that he was “begeistert” (enthusiastic). However, after this encounter with the Creator, the Pope requested that the pilot fly him, not by the shortest route back to Castel Gandolfo, but to make a detour over the Gran Sasso glaciers, to encounter the beauty of creation above the highest peak of the Apennines for a small echo of his happiness in Manoppello.

Fresco of ciborium, built by Pope John VII, that existed in 708 containing sudarium of the “Veronic” True Icon.

Since that day, the name of Benedict XVI has been forever associated with the “Most Holy Sudarium” of which the eyewitness John first reported in his Gospel. In this respect, Benedict’s memory is like that of Pope John VII, who in 705, when he arrived in Rome from Constantinople, during the period of Iconoclasm in the East, built the first ciborium for this Holy Sudarium [Relic of the burial cloth of the Face of Christ] in the ancient St. Peter’s Basilica, or like that of Pope Innocent III who made public, in the Latin Church, the same sacred veil [of the Holy Face] for the first time on January 16, 1208, when personally and barefoot, he carried the Holy Face in procession to Rome, from St. Peter’s to the sick of Holy Spirit Hospital in Sassia. It was the first celebration of “Omnis Terra.”

Omnis Terra Procession of Pope Innocent III in 1208 carrying “the Veronica” Face of Christ (from “Liber Regulae Sancti Spiritus in Saxia” manuscript 1350)

Seven years ago, on January 16, 2016, Padre Carmine Cucinelli [then the Rector of the Shrine] brought this festive event to our memory, and to the tradition of Manoppello, repeating the theme of procession, with the citizens of Manoppello along the same route in which we [the faithful celebrating “Omnis Terra] meet today. But this time — also for the first time — in grateful memory of Pope Benedict XVI, the “little prince” of the Catholic Church of our time.

Young Joseph Ratzinger

The last photo that exists of him shows him on December 10, 2022 with my friend, Michael Hesemann in his [Pope Benedict’s] study. [One can see] in the monastery “Mater Ecclesiae,” richly decorated with paintings, Benedict’s telephone table: To the right of an icon of St. Benedict of Nursia, he [Pope Benedict XVI] could gaze, until his last breath, at a transparent copy of the “true image” of the Holy Face — that he alone brought back to the world.

December 10, 2022, Last photo of Pope Benedict XVI, in his study with Michael Hessemann — note the telephone table to the right, with the transparent copy of the Holy Face of Manoppello. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
On the left: Pope Benedict’s transparent image of the Holy Face of Manoppello. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
“Signore ti Amo” – Pope Benedict XVI contemplates the Veil of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Photo:Paul Badde/EWTN

My heartfelt thanks to Paul Badde for so generously sharing his photos and remembrance of Pope Benedict XVI!

Transparent Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
A Miracle of Light: The Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
Archbishop Bruno Forte carries the precious relic of the Holy Face of Manoppello. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

 The Holy Face, Light that Illuminates the World

Homily at the Mass at the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello

Sunday, January 15, 2023

of

+ Bruno Forte

Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto

 It was Pope Innocent III in the year 1208 who desired that the veil of the Holy Face should be carried in procession from St. Peter’s Basilica to the nearby church of Santo Spirito in Sassia. It was the second Sunday after Epiphany, called Omnis Terra Sunday from the words of the Entrance Psalm Omnis terra adoret te, Deus, et psallat tibi! – Let the whole earth adore You, O God, and sing You hymns (Ps 65:4). At the end of that procession the Bishop of Rome wished to bless with the precious relic the sick of the Pilgrims’ Hospital, which he himself had rebuilt and upgraded. With that gesture the Pope intended to highlight the healing grace flowing from the Face of the Savior contemplated with faith and the fruitfulness of the prayer of adoration and intercession before that Face, which we contemplate in the veil of byssus venerated here in Manoppello.

Another Pope, Benedict XVI, who went to meet the Lord last December 31, wished to visit this place on September 1,  2006 to venerate the Holy Face, receiving such a profound impression that he wrote the beautiful prayer we know and also wanted permanently beside him the copy of that beloved Face. Reliable sources assure us that it is to that image that the dying Pope directed His last gaze, pronouncing the words, the true synthesis of His entire life given to Christ, to the Church and to the world: “Lord, I love you!”. The word of God proclaimed this Sunday helps us to understand Pope Benedict’s love for the Holy Face and the reasons that make the pilgrimage to this place a particular source of grace and peace: here from the Face of the risen Jesus marked by pain, but serene and radiant, the light of the Redeemer of man shines for us; Here everyone can welcome that light into his heart for his own life; from here we start with the intense desire to witness to everyone the light of that Face, to lead many to the encounter with the Savior, who profoundly changes our lives and makes us pilgrims in love towards the heavenly homeland, where the Holy Father Benedict has now entered and intercedes for us.

The text taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah (49,3,5-6) reports the promise made by the Lord to manifest His glory on His servant, Israel, whom He chose and shaped from his mother’s womb to restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the survivors of Israel and whom he made “light to the nations” to bring salvation from on high to the ends of the earth. In a homily given on September 24, 2011, to young people,  gathered for a prayer vigil in the Fairgrounds at Freiburg im Breisgau, Pope Benedict affirmed: “Christ, who says of himself: ‘I am the light of the world’ (Jn 8:12), makes our lives shine, so that what is said in his Gospel may be true: ‘You are the light of the world’ (Mt 5:14). It is not our human efforts or the technical progress of our time that bring light to this world. The suffering of the innocent and, finally, the death of every man constitute an impenetrable darkness that can be illuminated for a moment by new experiences, as by lightning in the night. In the end, however, a distressing darkness remains… However, we see a light: a small, tiny flame that is stronger than darkness, seemingly so powerful and unbeatable. Christ, who rose from the dead, shines in this world, and he does so most clearly precisely where according to human judgment everything seems gloomy and hopeless. He has conquered death – He lives – and faith in Him penetrates like a small light all that is dark and threatening. Those who believe in Jesus certainly do not always see only the sun in life…, but there is always a bright light that shows them a way, the way that leads to life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The eyes of those who believe in Christ see even in the darkest night a light and already see the glow of a new day”. Yes: we believed in the light, which is the Risen Lord, and this light gives meaning to our life and to history and fills the restless hearts of us pilgrims to the heavenly city with peace and hope.

It is not we, therefore, who give ourselves light: it is Christ who gives us the light, he who – as the Apostle Paul affirms in today’s second reading, taken from  the First Letter to the Corinthians (1:1-3) – has sanctified us in himself, making us saints by vocation together with all those who everywhere call on his name. The light that liberates and saves is grace, a free and undeserved gift, offered to us  in abundance by the One who died and rose for us. Pope Benedict also recalls this in the homily cited:  “If we believe that he is the Son of God who healed the sick and raised the dead, indeed, that he himself rose from the tomb and truly lives, then we understand that he is the light, the source of all the lights of this world. We experience again and again the failure of our efforts and personal error despite our good intentions. There are still wars, terror, hunger and disease, extreme poverty and merciless repression. And even those who in history have considered themselves “bearers of light”, without however having been enlightened by Christ, the only true light, have not created any earthly paradise, but have established dictatorships and totalitarian systems, in which even the smallest spark of humanism has been stifled. Only Christ can say “I am the light of the world”… Only by starting from Him can we become an ever new light.  Of course, instead of putting a light on the lampstand, you can cover it with a bushel. Let us ask ourselves then: how often do we cover God’s light with our inertia, with our obstinacy, so that it cannot shine, through us, in the world?”  May the Lord who looks at us from the Face contemplated in this place flood us more and more with His light, freeing us from evil, making us  radiant with His light with His grace, for the salvation of every creature.

            Finally, in the passage from the Gospel according to John (1:29-34), we are entrusted with the task of bringing to the world the light that  has reached us in Jesus. John the Baptist bears witness to this, saying: “Behold the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world!” He then traces for all of us a task, the same one that He fulfilled with His whole life: “I have beheld the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and remaining upon him. I did not know him, but the very one who sent me to baptize in water said to me: “He upon whom you will see the Spirit descend and remain, it is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit”. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” This is our mission: to bear witness to Christ, Lord and Savior. It is once again Pope Benedict who reminds us of this on the occasion cited: “Christ is not so much interested in how many times in life we falter and fall, but in how many times we, with his help, get up again. He does not demand extraordinary actions but wants his light to shine in you. He does not call us because we are good and perfect, but because He is good and wants to make us His friends. Yes, we are the light of the world because Jesus is our light. We are Christians not because we accomplish extraordinary things, but because He, Christ, is our life. We are holy, if we allow His grace to work in us.” 

Let us ask, then, the Lord, who looks at us from His Holy Face, to fill us with His light and to be witnesses to His light  in every situation of our lives, for the benefit of every creature He will give us to meet. We do so with words taken from  the beautiful prayer that Pope Benedict sent us a year after his visit here in Manoppello: “O Lord Jesus, like the first apostles, … We too, your disciples of this difficult time,  want to follow you and be your friends, attracted by the radiance of your desired and hidden face. Show us, we beg you, your ever new face, a mysterious mirror of God’s infinite mercy. Let us contemplate him in the eyes of our mind and heart: the face of the Son, the radiance of the Father’s glory and the imprint of his substance (Cf. Heb 1:3), the human face of God who entered history to reveal the horizons of eternity. light that illuminates the darkness of doubt and sadness, life that has defeated forever the power of evil and death…  Make us pilgrims of God in this world, thirsting for the infinite and ready for the meeting of the last day… Mary, Mother of the Holy Face, help us to have “clean hands and a pure heart”, hands enlightened by the truth of love and hearts enraptured by divine beauty, so that, transformed by the encounter with Christ, we may give ourselves to the poor and suffering, in whose faces shines the mysterious presence of your Son Jesus, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen!”

Thank you to Raymond Frost for the clear translation of Archbishop Bruno Forte’s Homily!

A War Broke Out in Heaven – Angels and Demons

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 “Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. Although the dragon and his angels fought back, they were overpowered and lost their place in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world, was driven out; he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him” (Rev. 12)

“Who is like God!” St. Michael, sculpture by Cody Swanson, Old St. Patrick’s New Orleans (photo: Patricia Enk)

The center of this battle raging between Angels and demons — heaven and earth — is the Incarnate Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who is rejected, reviled and persecuted. The devil wants to obliterate the Face of God, not only in churches that have vandalized and desecrated, but in the souls of human beings. The battle lines have been drawn between the culture of life and the culture of death. The devil’s particular object of hatred is the woman and the unborn. Some can no longer recognize that a child in the womb is a human being. Many persons reject their God-given identity as male and female. Racial hatred is causing deeper and deeper division, and human trafficking increases as humanity is blinded to the Face of God in their neighbor made in His image and likeness.  

The Archangels present for our adoration — the Holy Face of Jesus!
Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
“When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to a male child.” (Rev. 12:13)

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, the reign of our God and the authority of his Anointed One. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who night and day accused then before our God. They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. So rejoice, you heavens, and you the dwell therein! But woe to you, earth and sea, for the devil has come down upon you! His fury knows no limits, for he knows his time is short” (Rev 12). This battle has been fought since the beginning of Creation; between Christ’s Angels and the fallen angels or demons, with humanity at the center of the struggle. St. Michael and the Holy Angels have been given the authority from God by the power of His Holy Name to protect and defend God’s people against both human and diabolical enemies.

Angels offer to St. Francis, the Holy Face of Jesus, for his contemplation. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

 Devotion to the Face of Jesus is meant to repair mankind’s broken relationship with God, manifested in the world by the evil of blasphemy, sacrilege, and indifference.  This work of reparation honoring His Holy Face and His Name–which is the concrete sign of God’s existence and our relationship with Him–has been given the protection and help of the Holy Angels.  Sr. Marie St. Pierre was a French Discalced Carmelite nun to whom Our Lord gave revelations of the devotion to His Holy Face.  She wrote on November 18, 1843:

Angels carry the “Veronica Veil” – The sculpture is from the Veronica Pillar in the Vatican. Photo:Paul Badde/EWTN

“One day during prayer, our Lord warned me in advance about the fury of Satan against the holy devotion, but He also consoled me, saying: ‘I give you My Name to be your light in the darkness and your strength in battle. Satan will do all in his power to crush this Work at its roots. But I assure you that the Holy Name of God will triumph, and it will be the Holy Angels who will gain the victory in the conflict.” 

The victory will be won with devotion to the Holy Face

Prayer to Our Lady of the Angels, who in her humility, crushed the head of Satan:

Sublime Queen of Heaven, exalted Lady of the Angels, you have the power and commission given by God to crush the head of Satan. Therefore, we humbly beseech you to send to our aid your heavenly legions, so that, under your command and by your power, they may pursue the hellish spirits, fight them everywhere, ward off their impudent attacks, and fling them back into the abyss. Who is like God? You holy angels and archangels, defend and protect us. Good, kind mother, you remain always our love and our hope! Mother of God, send us the holy angels to defend us and keep the evil one far from us.  Amen.

Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN. Novena for the Feast of St. Michael, Manoppello, Italy
On the right, Icon of St. Michael, written by Sr. Blandina Schlomer, in the Sanctuary Basilica of the Holy Face during the novena to St. Michael. The Church is dedicated to St. Michael. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

The Heavens Proclaim His Glory

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The Heavens proclaim the glory of God over the Abruzzo mountains as the sun shines through the clouds — while the faithful celebrate the Tri-duum, three days of Eucharistic Adoration, for the Feast of the Transfiguration in Manoppello, Italy, at the Basilica Shrine of the Holy Face. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

“Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. There, before their eyes, he was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Then the disciples saw Moses and Elijah appear, and they were talking to Jesus.”

— Matthew 17:2

The faith of Peter, James, and John was confirmed by the sight of the wonderful vision of God’s glory shining from the Face of Jesus on Mount Tabor foreshadowing the kingdom of Heaven. So too, Our Lord continues to bless and strengthen in faith those who turn to gaze at the Face of Christ in celebration of the Transfiguration. Many faithful from around the world are drawn by God on this day to the Basilica Shrine of the Holy Face, “Il Volto Santo,” in Manoppello Italy. The holy, miraculous veil transforms from a sheer, white bysuss veil to a visible image of the Face of Jesus — a sign of the deep mystery of God’s desire for us to be transformed into the likeness of His Son, to rise with Him, and to share in His glory.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

— 2 Corinthians 3:18

Many thanks to Paul Badde who has graciously shared the following photos which so wonderfully capture the visual changes which occur on the Veil according to light and the position of the viewer.

Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
“Il Volto Santo” (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
Celebration of the Tri-duum for the Feast of the Transfiguration in Manoppello, Italy (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.

Matthew 17: 4-8
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him… they saw no one else but Jesus alone.” Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
Looking through the sheer veil to give a benediction with the relic. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

Benediction (Video: Paul Badde/EWTN)
One last view from the Feast of the Transfiguration of the transparent Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello within the frame in front of the Padre’s face. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

The Facebook page for Servant of God Padre Domenico Da Cese, (the former Rector of the the Shrine of the Holy Face), has more photos and a vey good video as well: https://www.facebook.com/groups/385084449964535/posts/541660330973612/?_rdr

Let Your Face Shine Upon Us, O Lord!

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UPDATE: Thanks to his unfailing devotion to the Holy Face, the intrepid (and no doubt exhausted) Paul Badde has captured more outstanding photos from the celebrations commemorating the historic arrival of the miraculous Holy Face Veil in Manoppello, Italy. Paul noted that the Sanctuary Basilica of the Holy Face was as packed with devotees as it had been before the arrival of the Corona viruses. Although Paul was disappointed at what he called “a meager harvest” of photos, due to his camera not being in automatic mode, I think you will agree that his photos below have beautifully captured this Holy event, and precious gift from God — the “Il Volto Santo!” May God reward him for his dedication and please keep Paul Badde in your prayers!

Procession through the streets of Manoppello with the Holy Veil. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
The Rector of the Basilica, Capuchin Fr. Antonio Gentili, contemplates the Holy Face on the sheer veil. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
“Il Volto Santo” – The Holy Face. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
All creation bows before His Holy Face! The Solemn Mass was concelebrated by Fr. Mateo Sero, Capuchin Provincial, Fr. Antonio Gentili, Rector of the Basilica, and Fr. Girolomo, pastor of the Church of San Nicola do Bari… and bowing reverently before the altar “Kameles.” Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
All God’s creatures give Him Praise!
Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
Rose petals tossed before His Holy Face as the procession passes. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
Procession with the “Il Volto Santo” Photo: Paul Badde
Fix your eyes on Him, who is always gazing at you! Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
Video of the Solemn Exposition of the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy, May 14, 2022, recorded by Ramona Robben

Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN of the Basilica Shrine of Il Volto Santo, Monoppello, Italy
Let Your Face Shine Upon Us, O Lord!
Beautiful phenomena appearing in the sky above the Sanctuary Basilica during the Benediction ceremony with the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

The Holy Face of Jesus is honored by a May Feast celebrating the mysterious arrival of the “Veronica” to Manoppello in the early 1500’s. The Capuchin Friars minor have guarded the precious “Veronica” relic veil of the Face of Jesus since 1638, when “a devout and well-respected man” named Don Antonio Fabritiis donated the holy veil bearing the Face of Christ to the Capuchin monastery in the small, isolated mountain village of Manoppello. A document entitled Relazione Historica re-telling the local legend of the Veil was written by Capuchin Donato da Bomba and notarized in 1646 and then, certified by sixteen local witnesses. The story told of the arrival of the Veil in Manoppello, “in around 1506,”(the date was vague) in the hands of a mysterious stranger who was thought to have been a holy angel, who later, suddenly disappeared.  (Aside from the “angel,” the main characters in the story have been historically verified.)The recorded story told was this: “There lived in Manoppello the very famous Giacomo Antonio Leonelli, doctor in medicine…one day when he was out in the public square just outside of the door of the Mother church of the town of Manoppello, St. Nicholas Bari, in honest conversation with other peers, and while they were speaking a pilgrim arrived unknown by anyone, with a very venerable religious appearance, who having greeted this beautiful circle of citizens, he said, with many terms of manners, and of humility to Dr. Giacomo Antonio Leonelli that he had to speak with him about a secret thing which would be very pleasing, useful and profitable for him.  And thus, taking him aside just inside the doorway of the church of St. Nicholas Bari, gave him a parcel, and without unfolding it told him that he ought to hold this devotion very dear, because God would do him many favors, so that in things both temporal and spiritual he would always prosper.”  So the doctor took the parcel and turning towards the holy water fount carefully opened it, and “seeing the Most Sacred Face of Our Lord Christ…he burst into most tender tears…and thanking God for such a gift…turned to the unknown pilgrim to thank him…but he did not see him anymore.”  When the good doctor, “shaken” and “filled with wonder,” went outside to his friends and asked where the man went, his friends replied that they never saw him exit the church. They searched high and low but never found the mysterious pilgrim, “hence all judged that the man in the form of a pilgrim to be a heavenly Angel, or else a Saint from Paradise.” 

— Relazione Historica
Transparent Holy Face Veil Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

The Holy Veil remained the property of the Leonelli family for nearly a century, until a family member in need of money sold the Veil to Don Antonio Fabritiis, who in turn gave it to the Capuchins in 1638.  The Holy Veil, called the “Il Volto Santo,” was kept in a dimly lit side chapel until the church was renovated in 1960, when it was decided that the Veil should be moved to a more prominent place behind the altar of the church of St. Michael, the Shrine of “Il Volto Santo,” which was elevated to the status of a Sanctuary Basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI, a pilgrim to the Holy Face of Manoppello in 2006, Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

To Whom Are You Speaking?

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Vocal prayer… must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don’t call prayer — however much the lips may move.

St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila was well aware of our human frailty. She experienced it herself in many years of empty prayer before her conversion experience which was before an image of the suffering Face of Jesus.

c. 1510, Dirk Bouts, Carmel of Toledo. It is believed that this is the image of Christ that St. Teresa was praying before when her dramatic conversion occurred.

We are not angels. We cannot see the Face of God in this life, so we need help to remember to whom we are speaking when we pray. St. Teresa wrote, “When we pray we must be careful never to set aside the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ.” Therefore, following her example, it is good to have an image of the Face of Christ before us when we pray as she did, to see with our eyes what Jesus suffered for our sake.

Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent leader as is Jesus Christ can endure all things. Christ helps us and strengthens us and never fails; he is a true friend. And I see clearly that God desires that if we are going to please him and receive his great favors this must come about through the most sacred humanity of Christ, in whom he takes his delight.

The Majesty! How victorious! How joyful! Indeed, like one coming forth from a battle where He has gained a great kingdom! And all of that, plus Himself, He desires for you. Well, is it such a big thing that from time to time you turn your eyes to look upon one who gives you so much?

~ St. Teresa of Avila, feast day October 15th
St. Teresa of Jesus icon written by Patricia Enk

This is also a reminder of why images of the Face of Jesus are so precious, and to be treated with so much reverence and love. In particular, the image “not made by human hands” — the Holy Face of Manoppello — is a great gift from God to all of humanity, so we may fix our eyes upon Him and be filled with His blessings.

Padre Carmine Cucinelli gives a blessing with the Holy Face of Manoppello Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN).

In the photo above, hiding behind the Holy Face Veil, is a priest who has been the custodian of the Face of Christ for sixteen years, the rector of the Shrine, Padre Carmine Cucinelli. It is no little thing to be its custodian, like St. Joseph, as portrayed holding the relic of the Face of Jesus in the beautiful icon at the foot of the altar. The icon, a parting gift to Padre Cucinelli, was written by Sr. Blandina Schloemer, whose life’s work and devotion has been the Holy Face. Padre Cucinelli will be taking up a new post at the Capuchin Monastery of Giulianova — on the road which leads to the Holy House of Loreto, north of Manoppello, along the Adriatic. The Capuchins there take care of a sanctuary, where the Madonna dello Splendore appeared over 450 years ago. May God bless and reward him for his kindness to the pilgrims, who travelled to see the Holy Veil of Manoppello, and for making the “Il Volto Santo” known and loved throughout the world.

Custiodian of the Holy Face – Rector of the Basilica Sanctuary of the Holy Face of Manopello – Padre Carmine Cucinelli (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
“Il Volto Santo” Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

Apostle of the Holy Face of Manoppello

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“This face is that of Jesus, and it is a great miracle, always love him.”

–Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese

Venerable Padre Domenico da Cese 1915-1978
Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese 1915-1978

The annual celebration of the life of the Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese will be held at the Basilica Shrine of “Il Volto Santo” on September 20th, in  Manoppello, Italy.

(Details of the celebration may be found on Holy Face of Manopello blogspot.) 

The byssus Veil of Manoppello, which is thought to be one of the burial cloths of Jesus, photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

He was born on March 27, 1905, and was baptized Emidio Petracca, named for St. Emidio (c.279-309 AD), the saint who is invoked for protection in earthquakes. As a nine year old boy in 1915, young Emidio predicted the devastating Avenzzano earthquake in Italy. A 6.7 earthquake hit that region the next morning, killing more than 30,000 people, including two of his sisters and burying him and his father in the rubble of their church.  A man he didn’t know pulled him from the rubble to safety, whose face he later recognized on his first visit as a friar to the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello. When Padre Domenico knelt before the “Il Volto Santo” or Face of Jesus, the miraculous veil, he exclaimed, “This is the man who saved me from the rubble!”

A short time after Padre Domenico arrived in Manoppello the people were saying, “We have received a Saint!” 

St. Pio called the Holy Face Veil of Manoppello “The greatest relic of the Church.”

Like his friend and fellow Capuchin, St. Padre Pio, the humble Padre Domenico was also a mystic and stigmatist who had extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit; such as the gift of “reading souls” and bi-location. Penitents who traveled from Manoppello to go to confession with Padre Pio were admonished by him for traveling such a distance when they already had a holy priest in Manoppello.  He told them, ” Why did you come all the way here, so far? You’ve got a priest there, my spiritual son, he’s like me!” St. Padre Pio’s last documented case of bi-location, just before he died, was before the relic of the Holy Face of Jesus at the shrine of “Il Volto Santo” in Manoppello, where Padre Domenico was the rector.  Padre Pio had told his fellow Capuchins that the Holy Face of Manoppello was the greatest relic of the Church.

In September of 1968, as Padre Pio lay dying in San Giovanni Rotundo (which is about 200 km south of Manoppello in Italy), his friend Padre Domenico da Cese had just unlocked the doors of the shrine of the Holy Face one morning, and was astounded to find Padre Pio in prayer, in the choir behind the altar before the sacred image of the Face of Jesus.  St. Padre Pio spoke then to Padre Domenico saying, “I do not trust myself any more.  I am coming to an end.  Pray for me.  Good-bye until we meet in Paradise.”  Twenty-four hours later St. Padre Pio died in his cell in San Giovanni on September 23, 1968.  Testimony was later given by witnesses that Padre Domenico da Cese was seen at Padre Pio’s funeral (another case of bi-location). A film was even taken (here) which shows Padre Domenico walking slowly in Padre Pio’s funeral procession, even though Padre Domenico had never left the shrine in Manoppello.

The Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello
Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

Padre Domenico shared with everyone his ardent love and devotion for the Holy Face of Manoppello, also known as “Il Volto Santo” — a miraculous veil which transmits supernatural beauty, and at the same time indescribable suffering. It is the Face of Mercy, Love and Peace. He would tell pilgrims, “This face is that of Jesus, and it is a great miracle, always love him.” Padre Domenico had done much research on the sheer byssus veil, the image of which is not made with any paint or pigment, and compared the iridescent quality of the colors to the wings of butterflies which also reflect iridescent color naturally.  He also made studies of the Face on the Shroud of Turin, and its similarities to the Holy Face of Manoppello.  He believed with all his heart that it was the face of the same man, and he was convinced that, like the Shroud of Turin, the Veil of Manoppello was one of the many burial cloths in Jesus’s tomb–the holy sudarium which covered the Face of Jesus in death–and also miraculously bears witness to His Resurrection.

On September 13 of 1978 while visiting Turin to venerate the Holy Face on the Shroud during a rare exposition, Padre Domenico, who was a giant of a man, was hit by the smallest car, a Fiat, as he was stepping out into a street. After suffering for several days in a hospital, and forgiving the man who had hit him, he died on September 17th, offering his life for the Holy Face on the Veil–the Face of the man who saved him as a child.

The penetrating and gentle gaze of the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

The Holy Face of Manoppello- photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

 

Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese, Pray for us!
Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese…
Pray for us!

Prayer for the intercession of Servant of God Padre Domenico da Cese

Oh God, you gave Padre Domenico the capacity of recognizing in the poor and the suffering the very Holy Face of your beloved Son, whose devotion he promoted with such zeal, through his intercession obtain for me the humility of heart, and simplicity of the little ones to whom you have revealed the secrets of the Kingdom, and in my hour of trial give me the strength to overcome the seductions of evil in order to put Satan to flight, and to merit, at the end of my earthly pilgrimage, to be able to contemplate the Holy Face of Jesus in the glory of paradise.
Though unworthy as I am of your Divine favors, I ask that you might grant, through the intercession of your faithful servant Padre Domenico, the grace I humbly ask of you…   
 Amen. 

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To learn more about his incredible life and passionate love for the Holy Face you can watch this wonderful video of his life: The Long Road Fr. Domenico, from Cese to Turin (click here)

Sr. Petra-Maria Steiner has also written his biography, now in English,  Servant of God, Padre Domenico Da Cese, O.F.M. Capuchin, An Illustrated Biography   

Click here for the Padre Domenico da Cese FaceBook page 

Prayer to the Holy Face for the liberation from the coronavirus

Lord Jesus, Savior of the world, hope that will never disappoint us, have mercy on us and deliver us from all evil! Please overcome the scourge of this virus which is spreading, heal the sick, preserve the healthy, support those who work for the health of all. Show us your face of mercy and save us in your great love. We ask you through the intercession of Mary, Your Mother and ours, who faithfully accompanies us. You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
+ Bruno Forte
Archbishop of Chieti – Vasto (Italy)

Annual Tradition Altered for Celebration of May Feast in Manoppello

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Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, photo: Patricia Enk

 

Basilica of Il Volto Santo in Manoppello, Italy Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

This year the annual May feast of the Holy Face, commemorating the arrival of the Holy Veil in Manoppello, will alter the traditional  procession due to precautions taken for the virus.

Translated from an Italian news article by Walter Teti

The procession which traditionally took place in two phases between the first Sunday of May and the following Monday, will coincide this year with the reopening of the churches and celebrations, set by the Government in Italy for Monday. Until last year, the celebrations included two days: on Sunday the monstrance of the sacred icon was brought in procession from the Sanctuary Basilica of the Holy Face to the parish church of San Nicola in the historic center of Manoppello where it would remain all night. The following day, always in procession, the relic was brought back to the church of the Holy Face.

On this occasion, however, a limited number of people may participate in religious services, with limited access to the Church, while the ban on processions remains. The mayor Giorgio De Luca and the parish priest of the Basilica of the Holy Face, Father Carmine Cucinelli, are organizing to adapt the rite to health and prevention standards, trying to keep the tradition.

The program, however, provides that the “Holy Face on Monday morning at 9:00”, explains the public relations officer Antonio Bini, “is brought by the rector Father Carmine, together with other confreres, on board an uncovered car, driven by a local young man who offered his availability to the church of San Nicola, tracing the tradition that says that the veil would have been delivered to Dr. Leonelli in the 16th century by by an anonymous pilgrim. The celebration of Mass will follow at 10 am presided over by the archbishop of the diocese Chieti-Vasto, Archbishop Bruno Forte.

Rose petals tossed before the Holy Face of Manoppello. photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

A very limited number of 68 devotees can access the church. The function can be followed through the piped music. At the end of the Mass, the Holy Face will be brought back to the Basilica through Corso Santarelli…the citizens will participate in the passage of the Holy Face …with the display of drapes and embroidered blankets on the balconies, from which rose petals are thrown…there will be only the usual blessing in all directions.

“They are saddened by the conditions to be observed for the celebration of the party,” explained the mayor, “but both for the extremely urgent situation and for the protection of public health, I urge citizens to avoid any form of assembly and to respect the provisions that will be indicated, ” for which the police will operate, with the collaboration of the volunteers of the Civil Protection.

For Father Carmine it is already a gift that “the rite of the feast can be maintained, in full compliance with the rules for containing the spread of the virus. “I thank the Archbishop for his presence, which once again demonstrates closeness to the Holy Face. He also assured that the celebration of the Mass could be followed, by those who wish, from Italy and from abroad; through the live streaming broadcast on the official Facebook page of the Basilica del Volto Santo. It is to be hoped that the feast of the transfiguration de Gesu, which falls annually on August 6 may be carried out with the return to normal.”

UPDATE:  Homily of Archbishop Bruno Forte – Translation by Raymond Frost

May 18, 2020

Eucharistic celebration in the Parish Church of Manoppello Before the Holy Face

Archbishop Bruno Forte’s homily

Today’s Eucharistic celebration is an act of praise to God for the gift of the precious sudarium of the crucified Lord, preserved in the Basilica of the Holy Face, present among us today on the occasion of the annual feast of the third Sunday of May, which commemorates the arrival of the relic in Manoppello. This thanksgiving, moreover, takes place on the centenary of the birth of Karol Wojtyla, St. John Paul II, who on this date in 1920 came into the world in Wadowice, Poland. The mystery proclaimed by the Word of God from the liturgy of Easter time is thus united to the double mystery we are celebrating, the luminous one linked to the Face of the Savior and the one depicted by the figure of this great Saint, who was a loving witness to the Redeemer, springing from a union with Him that I would not hesitate to define as mystical, whose depths I could perceive throughout the entire week that I spent with him, when I had the grace to preach the spiritual exercises for him in 2004, which he intensely and faithfully followed, and which were also the last of His earthly life.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles (16:11-15) demonstrates the exquisite attention that the Apostle Paul pays to human relations: in addition to his efforts to visit the communities he founded to see the brethren in person, the consideration he shows towards women, to whom he turns with great freedom to announce to them the good news, is striking,  not hesitating to accept the invitation of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, a believer in God, to go as a guest in her household. We could say that Paul’s attention to faces is revealed here,  that is, to people in their unique and concrete stories: if we were to ask ourselves from whom a fervent Hebrew such as Saul had learned to pay so much attention to faces, especially to female ones, traditionally neglected by the rather masculine culture of his time, we could only answer that he had learned it from his mystical contemplation of the One he had met on the way to Damascus and who, speaking to him one on one, had said to him: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). The vision became in the heart of the fervent persecutor a precise question: “Who are you, O Lord?”, to which he received the revealing answer: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” (v. 5). The role of the Face of Jesus, expressed in appearance and in voice, is decisive for the vocation of the one who will become the great Apostle of the peoples, as Ananias will confirm to him, “the Lord sent me to you, that Jesus who appeared to you on the way you were traveling” (v. 17): from our personal encounter with  the  Face of  Christ, our lives are transformed, even transfigured, to become with the grace from on high lives of apostles, stories of humility, charity and holiness in the service of the Gospel.From the encounter with the Face of the Lord comes conversion and mission.

The text taken from the Gospel according to John (15:26-16:4), then, makes us understand who makes possible this meeting so personal and transformative with Christ, leaping over the chasm of the centuries that separate us from the days of His flesh: it is the Spirit, the Paraclete that Jesus sends from the Father, the Spirit of truth that testifies to Him and makes it possible for us to bear witness, if we abide with Himand remainunited to Him. Once again, the Face of the Savior reaches us with absolute concreteness in the strength of His Spirit, and looking at us and calling us makes us able to love as He asks and to become witnesses of this love at the cost of one’s life, as so often the persecutions of Christians have shown in the history of humanity. Not only, therefore, does the Face of the Beloved send forth the disciple, but it is also the source of the strength that reaches out to him and that makes possible the otherwise impossible ability to bear witness, completely and without fear, to Him who is risen, The Face that sends us forth by His voice is the same Face that looks at us, accompanies us, supports us and awaits us in the infinite beauty of the final encounter in beauty and joy, which will never know sunset.  From theHolyFace ofJesus, contemplated and loved, comes the strength of our missionary passion and fidelity stronger than any trial..

The Face of Jesus was also for St. John Paul II the source of his vocation and mission and the strength to bring these to completion in the absolute fidelity of his whole life: in the two long dialogues that I had with him during the exercises of 2004, the Pope recounted to me – among many other beautiful things  –  a phrase, which in my opinion shows in a tangible way the mystical union that He lived with Christ. Speaking of the challenges faced in serving the Church and bringing to the world the good news of salvation that does not disappoint, John Paul II paused for a moment, and then added with a particularly expressive face, as if marked by memories, these words: “The Pope must suffer”. He emphasized that “must” with a particular intensity, which instinctively reminded me of Jesus’ phrase addressed to the disciples of Emmaus: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t Christ have to undergo this suffering in order to enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:25-26). It is the law of love, the need to pay with one’s life the price of the gift of self for the sake of others, summed up, for example, in the words of Paul and Barnabas, reported by the Acts of the Apostles: “After preaching the gospel in that city and making a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and urging them to remain steadfast in the faith because, they said, it is necessary to go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:21-22) As with the Apostle, so for St. John Paul II, the strength to endure so many trials can only come from the Lord Jesus, from His Face radiating light, love, and courage: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

It is also the holy Pope himself who reveals to us this mystical secret of his life: he does so,  certainly,with the discretionand modesty of those who speak of the unspeakable, but also with the conviction of those who have had a true and profound experience of loving and dialoguing knowledge and contemplation of the Face of the Lord. In a prayer recited during his pastoral visit to the Archdiocese of Lucca (September 23-24, 1989), a city where a wooden crucifix revered as the Holy Face (Volto Santo) of Christ is preserved, St. John Paul II pronounced words which reveal profound depths of faith and mystical union, and which we can address with humility and love to the Holy Face imprinted on the sudarium, venerated in this place:  “Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, image of the glory of the Father, Holy Face who looks at us and scrutinizes us, merciful and meek, to call us to conversion and invite us to the fullness of love, we adore you and we thank you. In your luminous Face, we learn how we are loved and how we are to love; where freedom and reconciliation are found; how to become builders of the peace that radiates from you and leads to you. In your glorified Face we learn to overcome all forms of selfishness, to hope against all hope, to choose the works of life against the actions of death. Give us the grace to place you at the center of our lives; to remain faithful, amidst the perils and changes of the world, to our Christian vocation; to announce to the peoples the power of the Cross and the Word that saves; to be alert and hard working, attentive to the least of the brethren; to grasp the signs of true liberation, which has begun and will be fulfilled in you. Lord, grant your Church to stand, like the Virgin Mother, at your glorious Cross and at the crosses of all men to bring consolation, hope, and comfort to them. MaytheSpirit you have given us bring to maturity your work of salvation, so that all creatures, freed from the constraints of death, may contemplate in the glory of the Father your Holy Face, which luminously shines for ever and ever. Amen.

“The Rediscovered  Face of Jesus” — A beautiful Italian documentary on the history of the Holy Face Veil of Manoppello.

 

Click here for Video in Polish, English, Spanish and German

Website for the Basilica Shrine of Il Volto Santo click (here)

For religious articles from Il Volto Santo Shrine click (here)

In Jesus Christ, God Has Revealed His Name and His Face

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The Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello, photo by Paul Badde/EWTN

“To know Christ better, contemplate His Holy Face.” ~Pope Francis 01/19/20

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EWTN News Nightly segment Manoppello begins at 20:37.

Blessing with Holy Face by Cardinal Kurt Koch assisted by Fr. Paolo Palombarini – Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

IN JESUS CHRIST, GOD HAS REVEALED HIS NAME AND HIS FACE

The Homily of Kurt Cardinal Koch for Omnis Terra 

(Translation by Raymond Frost)

A person with a name and a face

If you want to know a person and especially his mystery, it is advisable to know his name. Already a proverb suggests it: “Nomen est omen”. And it makes us realize that names play an important role in the lives of us humans. Even before a person is born, parents think about the name they want to give the newborn and the life prospects associated with it. The name received accompanies the person throughout his life. The person is called by his name, can be identified by his name and must sign with his name. Above all, the name allows the person to be called. When we call a person by his or her name, we are bound in a personal relationship with him or with her whom we name. The great meaning that the name holds in the life of an individual shows that the name expresses the essence of a person.

Of course, with the name alone we can not yet fully know the mystery of a person. The name alone remains somewhat abstract, suspended in the air, if it cannot be associated with a precise face. “Nomen est omen”: this saying begins to speak only when you meet the face that bears the name. Everyone has an unmistakable face that expresses his originality in the best sense of the word. As an individual can be called by his name, so he can be seen with his face and can establish a very personal relationship with another individual who shows him his face, so that a real “face-to-face” communication arises.

The transparent veil on which, by a “miracle of light” the Face of Christ is visible. Hand of Cardinal Koch Photo: Paul Badde

Name and face make an individual a concrete person. The name is a word of relationship and highlights the fact that a person, based on his name, can be called and can turn towards other people. Thanks to his face, he can be watched by others and can look at others and, therefore, convey to them the image already suggested by the language. It is no coincidence that the Hebrew word for face, “panim”, has been translated as “prosopon” in Greek and “persona” in Latin. A person, in fact, is characterized as having a name and a face.

If we take these bonds into account and if we also consider that the recognition of the mystery of the human being as person was possible, in history, thanks to the Christian effort to understand God as Trinity, then we will also approach the most intimate mystery of the Christian faith: the novelty of Christian revelation does not consist in a new religious idea or a new ethical decision, but in a person. No one is a person more than God himself, and we human beings become more and more persons as we deepen our personal relationship with him and believe in the person in whom God has made himself recognized definitively, revealing to us his name and showing us his face, that is, to say, his Son. Jesus Christ has made the name of God accessible, and He is himself the face of God who turns toward us.

Jesus Christ as name and face of God

“Father, I have manifested your name to the men you have given me from the world” (Jn 17: 6a). With this confession in his priestly prayer, Jesus points to the fulcrum of his divine mission in our world. He naturally assumes that God, whom he calls Father and with whom he finds himself face to face, also has a name. That God has a name is the most obvious fact in the biblical image of God. The name of God is certainly an expression of the recognition of God’s nature, but, first of all, it makes it possible to call God in His essence.Just as we humans are called by our name, so too can we believers invoke the name of God.

According to Scripture, it is not we humans who give a name to God, thus forcing him to be called. Rather, God can only be called because he lets himself be called; and his name is known to us humans only because God himself has made it known to us. The personal relationship between us and God, made possible by his name, is therefore established not by us humans, but only by God. The name of God is the expression of the fundamental biblical fact that God gives himself a name and reveals himself, just as Jesus sums up his mission in the revelation of the name of God that he makes to us humans. Elsewhere, Jesus formulates his main concern and goal in life with the prayer addressed to the Father: “Father, glorify your name” (Jn 12: 28). Jesus identifies himself as the new Moses, the one who fulfills the mission of the first Moses, namely the proclamation of God’s name “Yahweh”, in an even deeper way.

Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, Italy (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

As God revealed his name to us in his Son Jesus Christ, so he has also revealed to us that he has a face, showing it to us in the Son, in accordance with what Jesus Christ himself testifies: “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father” (Jn 14, 9). With this confession, Jesus responds to the insistent request of the Apostle Philip to show him and his companions, the other apostles, the Father. Philip expresses humanity’s original desire to see the face of God and to meet him face to face. This request already passes through the Old Testament as a common thread, as eloquently testified to in the prayer of a persecuted man, in Psalm 17: “But as for me I shall behold your face in righteousness, upon awakening I shall be satisfied with beholding your form” (Psalm 17:15). Psalm 24 recalls that the search for the face of God embraces all life: “Here is the generation that seeks him, that seeks your face, God of Jacob” (Psalm 24:6).

The original desire of men, which was expressed with particular incisiveness in the Old Testament, found fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the authentic witness to the fact that God, for the Christian faith, is not a distant God and is not even a simple philosophical hypothesis about the origin of the cosmos, but is a God who has shown us his true face, who has thus given us his final word , and that, with his full and unsurpassed word of love, has addressed us, as St. John of the Cross summed up in a meaningful way referring to the fulcrum of the Christian faith: “Because in giving us, as he gave us, his Son, who is his own Word and has no other,  he told us everything and at once in this one Word, and he has nothing more to say.” In fact, there is nothing more to say, because God, in Jesus Christ, has approached us men as much as possible, revealing his name to us and showing us his true face.

Lifelong search for a face “full of blood and wounds”

The Sacrificial Lamb, Josefa de Ayala

In the light of the extreme seriousness of God’s revelation in His Son, the further question presented to us is: how exactly does the face of God look? John the Baptist provides us with the crucial answer in today’s gospel. Seeing Jesus come towards him, he says: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away sin from the world” (Jn 1:19). God, in Jesus Christ, has the face of a lamb. This face of God must make us reflect; it invites us to dwell before him.

The first time we hear it, this message may seem harmless and even a little romantic. But it assumes all its importance if we reflect on the fact that Christ has the face of a lamb and not of a lion or a wolf. But as such people expected it then, and we humans still hope today that God will use the power of a lion to undo the world and its structures and to create a new one. But Christ doesn’t have the face of a lion. Rather, it is the kings of our world who have repeatedly portrayed themselves with this image to celebrate their power in a demonstrative way. Christ does not even have the face of a wolf, an image used by ancient Rome to present itself as a redeemer thanks to its power that dictated regulatory norms. John the Baptist shows us that redemption comes not from large and powerful animals, but from the fact that Christ came to us as a lamb, in the strength of his wide-open love.

This is the deepest reason why the cross is also part of the mystery of Jesus Christ, and why, in the world, the face of Christ is always presented as a “head full of blood and wounds”. Being lamb and cross are in fact inseparably linked. Christ is the good shepherd of his people and the full realization of that figure of the servant to whom the prophet Isaiah refers, precisely because he has become lamb and has sided with the tortured lambs, to share their suffering and to save them. Jesus redeemed us by offering his life out of love. The deepest focus of Jesus’ mission is in fact love; therefore, his mission can only be accomplished on the cross, as the evangelist John testifies: “God has indeed loved the world so much that he has given his only begotten Son, so that anyone who believes in him will not be not lost, but will have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

Holy Face of Manoppello
photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

When here, in the shrine of Manoppello, we gaze upon and worship the “Holy Face”, we meet the face of a defenceless lamb and at the same time the face full of blood and wounds, because we meet the face of God’s boundless love. We are invited to venerate this image and to seek the face of God, as Pope Benedict XVI recommended during his personal pilgrimage to Manoppello: “to seek the face of Jesus must be the yearning of all of us Christians; in fact, we are ‘the generation’ who in this time seek his face, the face of the ‘God of Jacob’. Pope Benedict XVI spoke these words, referring to Psalm 105 which says: “Seek the Lord and his power, always seek his face” (Psalm 105:4).[3]

With the word “always” we are invited to ensure that our lives as Christians are focused on the desire to seek the face of the Lord in the depths of our existence at all times, and on the certainty that this desire will not come to nothing, because faith sends us the beautiful message that God has a wonderful name and a loving face. If we seek and worship his face, then our whole life will be under God’s blessing, which consists in the promise of his face: ” the Lord bless and protect you. the Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face to you and give you peace” (Num 6:24-26). This splendor of God’s face is the blessing we need and ask for in the celebration of the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the Lord looks at us with his face of boundless love and gives himself to us as bread of life, which is spiritual nourishment on the way to eternity, in which we will praise and adore the face of God, for ever.

The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.

A Short interview with Cardinal Koch:- “The most beautiful message we have in the Gospel.”

Holy Face of Manoppello, Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

First reading:         Is 49: 3. 5-6

Second reading: 1 Cor 1: 1-3

Gospel:     Jn 1:29-34

[1]Homily for the Eucharistic celebration in the Shrine of the “Holy Face” of Manoppello, January 19, 2020.

[2]St. John of the Cross, Mount Carmel, II, 22, 3.

[3]Benedict XVI, Speaking during the pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, the September 1 2006.

Give Testimony to the World

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Baptism of Christ, Pietro Perugino

“Now I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God.” (JN 1:34)

Christmas has passed, festivities done, the tree taken down and decorations put away. Ho hum. Back to everyday life?  After having seen the face of the Christ Child, would the Shepherds and Magi have returned to their homes and gone about as usual? No. Seeking the Face of Jesus would have transformed their lives. To “seek the Face of God” in this life would mean seeking His Face through prayer, by reading the Scriptures, seeking Him in our neighbor, and in His Eucharistic Presence. It should transform our lives, moving our hearts to testify, and bear witness to the all the earth that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Second Sunday after Epiphany is also known as “Omnis Terra” Sunday, meaning “All the Earth.” From the words of Psalm 65, “Omnis terra adore te, Deus, et psallat tipi.”

“All the earth adore you; they sing of you, sing of your name!”

Omnis Terra Procession of Pope Innocent II in 1208 carrying “the Veronica” Face of Christ (from “Liber Regulae Sancti Spiritus in Saxia” manuscript 1350)

 The “Omnis Terra” (All the Earth) procession in honor of the Holy Face  had its beginning in 1208 when Pope Innocent III processed with the Veil of the Holy Face which was known as the crown treasure of the popes. Pope Innocent III made the procession walking barefoot, from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to Spirito Santo church and hospital, giving alms to the poor and the sick along the way.

Archbishop Ganswain holding the replica of the Holy Veil of Manoppello at Spirito Santo in Rome for the Year of Mercy.

The beautiful tradition was renewed in Rome for the Year of Mercy to honor Jesus Christ who is the “Face of Mercy” by a procession on “Omnis Terra.” A replica was carried of the “Vera Icon” known as the “true image” of the Face of Christ. The original image remained at the Basilica Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy,  at that time. The Holy Face of Manoppello is believed to be the cloth which covered the Face of Christ at his burial, and left a miraculous image at the Resurrection.

“Blessed the people who know you, Lord, who walk in the radiance of your Face.”

(Psalm 89:16)

 

This Veil of the Face of Christ is the same relic visited by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006   when he made a pilgrimage to the the Veil of the Holy Face shortly after being made pope in 2005. He said at that time:

Pope Benedict XVI gazes at the Veil of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Photo:Paul Badde/EWTN

“As the Psalms say, we are all ‘seeking the Face of the Lord’. And this is also the meaning of my visit. Let us seek together to know the Face of the Lord ever better, and in the Face of the Lord let us find this impetus of love and peace which also reveals to us the path of our life.“ (Link)

 

 

 

Kurt Cardinal Koch contemplates the Holy Veil of Manoppello. The Veil is sheer and delicate, yet the Face is visible. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

The celebration of Omnis Terra has been continued by a feast and procession each year at the Basilica Sanctuary of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy.  This year’s main celebrant for the “Omnis Terra” Solemn Mass at the Sanctuary Basilica of the Holy Face will be Kurt Cardinal Koch of Switzerland. He has been a cardinal since November 2010 and President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity since 1 July 2010. He was the bishop of Basel from 1996 until 2010.

On January 19, 2020, after a pontifical ceremony, the cardinal will bless the entire earth (urbi et orbi) with the holy relic of the Face of Jesus while giving the Aaronic blessing:

“May the Lord bless and keep you; may He make His Face shine upon you and be merciful to you; may He turn His Countenance toward you and give you His Peace!”  (Num. 6:22-27)

Kurt Cardinal Koch blesses the world with the Holy Face of Manoppello on Omnis Terra. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

detail of Face of Jesus on the Holy Veil from the precious manuscript “Liber Regulae Sancti Spiritus in Saxia”

More details on the Omnis Terra event may be found in this article by Antonio Bini on the Holy Face of Manoppello Blogspot.

Let all the earth worship and praise You, O God; may it sing in praise of Your Name, O Most High. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth; sing a psalm in honor of His Name, praise Him with magnificence!  

–Omnis Terra Introit

Holy Veil of Manoppello, photo: Patricia Enk

 

 

 

Apostle of the Holy Face

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Venerable Padre Domenico da Cese 1915-1978
Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese 1915-1978

September 17th marks the anniversary of the death of the Holy Capuchin priest of Manoppello–the Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese.

“Il Volto Santo” The Holy Face of Manoppello. (Photo by Paul Badde/EWTN)

As a nine year old boy in 1915, Padre Domenico predicted the devastating Avenzzano earthquake in Italy. A 6.7 earthquake hit that region the next morning, killing more than 30,000 people, including two of his sisters and burying him and his father in the rubble of their church.  A man he didn’t know pulled him from the rubble to safety, whose face he later recognized on his first visit as a friar to the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello. When Padre Domenico knelt before the “Il Volto Santo” or Face of Jesus, the miraculous veil, he exclaimed, “This is the man who saved me from the rubble!”

A short time after Padre Domenico arrived in Manoppello the people were saying, “We have received a Saint!” 

In her book, Servant of God, Padre Domenico Da Cese, O.F.M. Capuchin, An Illustrated Biography  Petra-Maria Steiner relates an example of Padre Domenico’s extraordinary gifts in the testimony of Giuseppe Orlando, whose fiancee, Anna Maria introduced him to the Padre. After spending nearly an hour in conversation, Padre Domenico suggested that Giuseppe have a mass said for his grandmother, Maria Grazia. “Giuseppe was astonished, ‘But who is she? I don’t have any grandmother by that name.’ Padre Domenico told him not to ask questions but to just say a mass for her.” So, Giuseppe had arranged for a mass for “Maria Grazia.”  Still bothered and wanting to get to the bottom of the truth, he went home and researched, and to his surprise he discovered that his father’s mother, who died when his father was only five years old, was named Maria Grazia. His father had been so young when she died that he had forgotten her name.

Padre Pio called the Holy Veil of Manoppello the “greatest relic of the Church” photo: Patricia Enk

Like his friend and fellow Capuchin, St. Padre Pio, the humble Padre Domenico was also a mystic and stigmatist who had extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit; such as the gift of “reading souls” and bi-location. Penitents who traveled from Manoppello to go to confession with Padre Pio were admonished by him for traveling such a distance when they already had a holy priest in Manoppello.  He told them, ” Why did you come all the way here, so far? You’ve got a priest there, my spiritual son, he’s like me!” St. Padre Pio’s last documented case of bi-location, just before he died, was before the relic of the Holy Face of Jesus at the shrine of “Il Volto Santo” in Manoppello, where Padre Domenico was the rector.  Padre Pio had told his fellow Capuchins that the Holy Face of Manoppello was the greatest relic of the Church.

In September of 1968, as Padre Pio lay dying in San Giovanni Rotundo (which is about 200 km south of Manoppello in Italy), his friend Padre Domenico da Cese had just unlocked the doors of the shrine of the Holy Face one morning, and was astounded to find Padre Pio in prayer, in the choir behind the altar before the sacred image of the Face of Jesus.  St. Padre Pio spoke then to Padre Domenico saying, “I do not trust myself any more.  I am coming to an end.  Pray for me.  Good-bye until we meet in Paradise.”  Twenty-four hours later St. Padre Pio died in his cell in San Giovanni on September 23, 1968.  Testimony was later given by witnesses that Padre Domenico da Cese was seen at Padre Pio’s funeral (another case of bi-location). A film was even taken (here) which shows Padre Domenico walking slowly in Padre Pio’s funeral procession, even though Padre Domenico had never left the shrine in Manoppello.

St. Padre Pio

Image of Manoppello
Photo by Paul Badde/EWTN

The Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello
Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

Padre Domenico shared with everyone his ardent love and devotion for the Holy Face of Manoppello, also known as “Il Volto Santo” — a miraculous veil which transmits supernatural beauty, and at the same time indescribable suffering. It is the Face of Mercy, Love and Peace. He would tell pilgrims, “This face is that of Jesus, and it is a great miracle, always love him.” Padre Domenico had done much research on the sheer byssus veil, the image of which is not made with any paint or pigment, and compared the iridescent quality of the colors to the wings of butterflies which also reflect iridescent color naturally.  He also made studies of the Face on the Shroud of Turin, and its similarities to the Holy Face of Manoppello.  He believed with all his heart that it was the face of the same man, and he was convinced that, like the Shroud of Turin, the Veil of Manoppello was one of the many burial cloths in Jesus’s tomb–the holy sudarium which covered the Face of Jesus in death–and also miraculously bears witness to His Resurrection.

On September 13 of 1978 while visiting Turin to venerate the Holy Face on the Shroud during a rare exposition, Padre Domenico, who was a giant of a man, was hit by the smallest car, a Fiat, as he was stepping out into a street. After suffering for several days in a hospital, and forgiving the man who had hit him, he died on September 17th, offering his life for the Holy Face on the Veil–the Face of the man who saved him as a child.

The penetrating and gentle gaze of the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

The Holy Face of Manoppello- photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

 

Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese, Pray for us!
Servant of God, Padre Domenico da Cese…
Pray for us!

Prayer for the intercession of Servant of God Padre Domenico da Cese

Oh God, you gave Padre Domenico the capacity of recognizing in the poor and the suffering the very Holy Face of your beloved Son, whose devotion he promoted with such zeal, through his intercession obtain for me the humility of heart, and simplicity of the little ones to whom you have revealed the secrets of the Kingdom, and in my hour of trial give me the strength to overcome the seductions of evil in order to put Satan to flight, and to merit, at the end of my earthly pilgrimage, to be able to contemplate the Holy Face of Jesus in the glory of paradise.
Though unworthy as I am of your Divine favors, I ask that you might grant, through the intercession of your faithful servant Padre Domenico, the grace I humbly ask of you…   
 Amen. 

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To learn more about his incredible life and passionate love for the Holy Face you can watch this wonderful video of his life: The Long Road Fr. Domenico, from Cese to Turin (click here)

Sr. Petra-Maria Steiner has also written his biography, now in English,  Servant of God, Padre Domenico Da Cese, O.F.M. Capuchin, An Illustrated Biography   

Click here for Padre Domenico da Cese FaceBook page 

Video on the Holy Face of Manoppello by Sr. Pertra-Maria Steiner explaining the wondrous properties of this mysterious veil: