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| Exact facial features and markings of both faces from the Shroud of Turin and The St Peters Veronica Veil. |
MIRACLES OF THE HOLY FACE
Public exposition of the three Great Relics is made twelve times each year and on certain noteworthy occasions when deemed advisable. Pope Pius IX ordained that on the first Sunday of Advent, December 3, 1854, the three Great Relics should be exposed for four days for the inspection and veneration of the bishops who came to attend the solemn declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
The Veronica is declared to give visible warning of trials about to befall the Church. For example, during the Republican domination in 1849, on one occasion the canons of St. Peter’s saw the Holy Face turn pale and change color as they gazed at it, a fact frequently attested by Cardinal Barnabo, at that time a member of the Vatican Chapter and an eye-witness of the miracle. This miracle, which was, in the providence of God, to be the occasion leading ultimately to the establishment of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face, can well be described for us in a letter written to a friend by Leon Papin-Dupont of Tours, who gave the devotion to the world:
"In the month of January, 1849, during the exile of Pius IX at Gaeta, public prayers, by order of the Holy Father, were offered in all the churches of Rome to implore the mercy of the Omnipotent on the Pontifical States. On this occasion were exposed in St. Peter’s the wood of the True Cross and the veil of St. Veronica. On the third day of the exposition, the canons appointed to the charge of the precious relics noticed in the Holy Face, the impression of which on the veil is so faint as to be scarcely visible, a remarkable change. Through another veil of silk which covers it and absolutely prevents the features from being distinguished, the divine Face appeared distinctly, as if living, and illumined by a soft light. The features assumed a death-like hue, and the eyes, deep-sunken, wore an expression of great pain.
"The canons immediately notified the clergy of the Basilica. The people were called in; many wept; all were filled with a reverential awe. An apostolic notary was summoned; a certificate was drawn up attesting the fact; and a copy of it was sent to the Holy Father at Gaeta. For many days this prodigy, which lasted three hours, was the sole topic of conversation at Rome. On the evening of the same day, some veils of white silk, on which is represented the Holy Face, were applied to the miraculous veil. These veils have been sent to France.”
