Holy Face of Jesus - The Images

The Images

The Holy Face image used today as a Devotion to Christ is based on the Shroud of Turin which the faithful assume to be the burial cloth of Jesus. It is different from the likeness of Jesus on the Veil of Veronica, although the veil image had earlier been used in devotions. Since the Holy Face image is said to have been obtained from the burial cloth of Jesus, it is assumed to be a post-crucifixion image. However, the likeness on the Veil of Veronica is by definition pre-crucifixion, for it is assumed to have been imprinted when Saint Veronica encountered Jesus in Jerusalem along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary.

Although the Shroud of Turin has been publicly displayed by Roman Catholics at least since the 16th century (and perhaps before) the faint image of the Holy Face on it can not be clearly seen with the naked eye and was only observed with the advent of photography. In 1898, amateur Italian photographer Secondo Pia was startled by the negative of the image in his darkroom as he was developing the first photograph of the shroud. The happenstance by which Secondo Pia received the King’s approval to attempt the first photograph of the Shroud for an exhibition was unusual in its own right. And Pia later said that on the evening of May 28, 1898 he almost dropped and broke the photographic plate in the darkroom from the shock of seeing the image of a face on the Shroud (for the first time ever) that could not have been clearly observed with the naked eye.

Hence devotions to the Holy Face prior to that year relied on earlier images, based on paintings of the Veil of Veronica.