“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Since early Christian times, oral and written traditions have reported on a cloth bearing the face of Jesus Christ. Veil of Kamulia, Mandylion, Acheiropoietos, Veronica or Volto Santo – a multitude of mysterious-sounding names accompanied the Sudarium on its long journey from Jerusalem via Edessa, Constantinople and Rome to Manoppello, a remote place in the Italian Abruzzo region.
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 was able to prove, through superimposition techniques, that the images on the Sudarium of Manoppello and the Shroud of Turin depict the same person. Later, she applied this technique to the Shroud 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”).