| Miraculous Images This category covers a number of quite different images, which are believed not to have been made by human hands, but are of supernatural, divine origin. Icons, divine portraits, and other images believed to have been supernaturally produced, periodically occur through history. The Shroud of Turin, thought to bear a miraculous imprint of Christ's crucified body, is by far the most famous. An image of the Virgin Mary on a poor Indians cloak in Guadalupe, Mexico in 1531 and the so-called “Veil of Veronica" are other examples of renowned miraculous images. The Shroud of Turin Acheiropoietoi The word “acheiropoietoi" is Greek and means “not made by human hands”. Icons, which are an integral part of the religious life of Eastern Christians, are not seen as mere decorations, but rather as "windows to heaven.” The icons are generally believed not to have been painted by human hands but revealed by the Holy Spirit to the artist. Most icons are therefore signed on the back, “painted by the Holy Spirit through the hand of…” followed by the name of the artist.
Christ Acheiropoietos In the sixth century a number of images of Jesus that were reputed not to have been made by human hands appeared. There were different versions of these and as many legends to explain their allegedly miraculous origin. Veronica's Veil Tradition has it that while Jesus was carrying his cross along the way to Golgotha, a pious woman, "Veronica," moved to compassion, forced her way through the mobs that surrounded him and on her knees offered Jesus her veil to wipe the sweat and blood from his bruised face. When Jesus returned the cloth to her, it bore the impression of his sacred countenance in the vivid colors of his blood. The legend continues claiming that Veronica later traveled to Rome to present her “Holy Image” to the Roman Emperor Tiberius, healing him from a severe illness.
The veneration of a “Veronice” can be dated back to the pontificate of John VII (705-707). In 1011, Pope Sergius IV consecrated a special altar for the veneration of this “sudarium” (veil, sweat cloth). A regular veneration was established in the 12th century, adding to the relics status and popularity, which grew considerably. Half a century later, Dante wrote about it in his “Divine Comedy”: “Like one that comes, perhaps from Croatia, to see our Veronica And whose old hunger is never satisfied But who says within himself, as long as it is shown. My Lord Jesus Christ, very God, Was this then your true semblance?” Two centuries later, in 1580, the French essayist Michel de Montaigne confirmed its still incredible popularity: “No relic has such veneration paid to it. The people throw themselves on their faces on the ground, most of them with tears in their eyes and with lamentations and cries of compassion.” Woodcuts of the 16th century show the canons of St. Peter during a traditional “Veronica" blessing”. The traditional Veronica-Blessing in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, March 17, 2002. Today, Veronicas Veil is almost forgotten. The original image is still preserved in a special chapel within St. Peter's Cathedral and the traditional Veronica Blessing still takes place once a year - on the 5th Sunday of the Lent, Passion Sunday, at 5 p.m. The blessing takes place after the traditional Vesper, a short procession within the Cathedral and the Roman litany. A bell rings, and three canons carry the heavy silver frame out on the balcony of one of the four main pillars of St. Peter's, the one above the statue of St. Veronica holding the veil, a masterpiece of Francesco Mochi (17th Cent.).
This painting, the story goes on, was later brought by her to Rome. In the Latin Pilate Prosa, written ca. 1050, we find, for the very first time, the well-known story of Veronica meeting Jesus on His way to Golgotha. Many critics have even questioned the name "Veronica," which seems to be a lexical deformation of the Greek and Latin words "vera icona" ("real icon" or "authentic image"), used in the Middle Ages about miraculous images of Christ. The Mandylion of Edessa In the eastern Churches, a similar miraculous image of Christ, known as ”the Mandylion of Edessa”, is venerated. According to legend, King Abgar of Edessa was sick and sent a letter to Jesus asking him to come to his city (modern-day Sanli Urfa in South Turkey) to help him. Jesus replied that he had a mission to fulfill, but when the king's messenger arrived, Abgar was miraculously healed. Therefore he sent his messenger a second time to Jesus, this time to paint him.
Obviously there seems to be a connection between the story of the sweat cloth of Veronica healing the Emperor Tiberius and the handkerchief of Abgar’s messenger after the King's miraculous healing. Indeed, the Mandylion and the Veronica look so similar that it takes an art historian to define the difference between both in Church murals. The alleged “original Mandylion”, a painted icon, dated by art historians to be of the 3rd Century AD and of Syrian origin, is today preserved in the Vatican, in the private chapel of Pope John Paul II.
Interestingly, Edessa, its place of origin, is, according to nearly all Sindonologists (Turin Shroud researchers) the place where the Shroud was hidden before 944, when it (or “The Mandylion”) was brought to Constantinople. Byzantean reports mention “one original and two copies” and indicate that the real Mandylion, when taken out of its reliquary frame, turned out to be a folded whole-body-image with marks of the crucifixion - just like the Turin Shroud! Therefore, the Roman “Mandylion” must be one of the two copies. (Another, identical copy is today in Genoa.) Only the image on the Turin Shroud is however truly “not made by human hands”, since it is not caused by paint, but by a yellowing of the flax through an unknown process. It is therefore possible that the Shroud inspired the tradition of the “Veronicas” and other “True Images”. Holy Mandylion. 17th c. Monastery of Dionysiou, Aghion Oros - Athos, Greece. A recent discovery In 1999, a German Professor of Christian Art History at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, announced he had located the real "Veronica's Veil" at a small Capuchin friary, the Sanctuary of the Sacred Face, in Manoppello, a small town in the Abruzzo region about 150 miles from Rome in Italy's Apennine mountains. Other scholars, however, have reacted with skepticism, arguing that the whole story is nothing but a legend. Manoppello is an ancient town, its origins dating to the period before Christ. The first Christian community was formed by the Benedictines in the early Middle Ages. The face is that of a young man who has suffered. The marks of blows that have struck him are clear: bruises and other scars on the forehead, clotted blood on his nose, one pupil slightly dilated. Pfeiffer argues Veronica's Veil was stolen from the Vatican in the years following the Holy Year of 1600, when St. Peter's Church was in the chaotic phase of being rebuilt, and he notes that the veil appeared in Manoppello at that time. Recent historical research shows that, in 1608, the Chapel in Rome where veil was kept was demolished. In 1618, Vatican archivist Giacomo Grimaldi made a precise list of the objects held in the old St. Peter's. On his list: the reliquary containing Veronica's veil. But, he writes, the reliquary's crystal glass was "broken." (Pfeiffer notes that the veil in Manoppello has, on its bottom edge, a small piece of glass.)
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MIRACULOUS ROSE PEDALS Rose pedals with imprints of religious motifs regularly appear around the world. The images are not printed on the pedals, but seemingly imbedded in the organic structure of the leaf and it can only be seen clearly when the pedals are lit through. In some cases the miraculous rose pedals are believed to have fallen from the sky. Other pedals are said to have received their supernatural imprints by the intersection of visionaries or at renowned places of pilgrimage.
OUR LADY OF THE ROCK Since 1989, the Virgin Mary has allegedly appeared in the Mojave Desert, California to a woman called Maria Paula Acuna. Maria Paula is the mother of six children, one of which had become ill with leukemia. The child, who was in critical condition, one day had a vision of a beautiful lady who asked her to tell her mother, to visit the mountain at Lopez Canyon in the Mojave desert. After visiting the place several times, on July 24, 1989 at 5:00 in the morning, Maria Paula was suddenly covered by a white fog. In the middle of this white curtain a lady in white clothing, standing on a cloud, with a great rosary in her hands appeared. She said: "I am the Lady of the Rock, Queen of Peace of Southern California. I come to bring you the peace and love that is so needed." Since then Maria Paula has received a new message from the Virgin Mary on the 13 of every month. The location, which soon became a well-known place of pilgrimage, is visited by thousands on the 13 of every month. It is believed that the Virgin Mary then appears in the sky and can be captured on film. People therefore bring their cameras, especially Polaroid- and video cameras are popular as the result can then be seen and shown to others immediately after taking the picture.
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