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“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Since early Christian times there have been oral and written reports of a cloth bearing the image of Christ’s countenance passed down over the centuries. The veil of Kamulia, Mandylion, Acheiropoíetos, Veronica or Holy Face – a multitude of arcane designations, accompanied the “sudarium” (Latin for “sweat cloth”) on its long journey from Jerusalem via Edessa, Constantinople and Rome to Manoppello, a remote village in the Italian region of Abruzzo.
The sudarium of Oviedo, the holy coif of Cahors, the shroud of Turin, the napkins of Kornelimuenster – a noteworthy number of textile relics are connected with the burial of Jesus, as John mentioned several cloths in his Easter gospel.
The Trappist nun Blandina Paschalis Schlömer used a superimposition technique to show that the images on the veil of Veronica of Manopello and the shroud of Turin were of the same person. Later she applied this technique to the sudarium of Oviedo with the same result.
The veil of Veronica in Manoppello is made of byssus – also known as sea silk – which appears to change with the lighting.
Relics such as the shroud of Turin and the veil of Veronica of Manoppello, as well as the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe or the miraculous image of Absam are designated as “acheiropoíetos” (“not made by human hands”).
