St. Paul Cruise 3 Manoppello and Facecloth of Christ

Not such an early start this morning and we packed up to leave the Michelangelo and drive east across Italy to Manoppella and then spend the night at Lanciano. Lunch in Manoppello at L’Angolino.

Manoppella is the city up in the mountains that houses the great treasure which Padre Pio said is one of the great treasures of our time. Pope Benedict XVI visited this small church many times himself. Ignatius Press published a book by journalist Paul body entitled “The Face of God” which is an excellent story and reads like a detective novel.

Inside is the Volto Santo — or the Holy Face — which is an image of Christ on a miraculous image of Christ on a silken cloth. The cloth is made of mussel fibers, and the image is not painted or inked, and like the Shroud of Turin is non-reproducible and unexplainable. It shows the face of Jesus Christ at the moment of his resurrection. This was the face cloth that was folded up in the tomb when John and Peter first went in (John 20:6-7).

We celebrated Mass in front of the Holy Face. From there the short distance to Lanciano, where we stayed at the Hotel Villa Medici. Tomorrow we have Mass in front of the oldest and the grandest of the Eucharistic miracles in Lanciano.