Starting from Manoppello, home of the Shrine of the Holy Face, a large group of
religious pilgrims and volunteers accompanied by the choir of the local church, will set out on Saturday January 16, 2016 on a pilgrimage to Rome, in the year of the Extraordinary Jubilee. These pilgrims will be retracing a path following the ancient procession of the Veronica which was instituted by Pope Innocent III in 1208, carrying in procession a copy of the Holy Face which many scholars identify with the Veronica (vera icona "true icon").
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| View from entrance of Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia showing St. Peter's Basilica in the distance (Photo by Antonio Bini) |
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| Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia (Photo by Antonio Bini) |
Beginning at the end of the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square at 4pm the pilgrims will move towards the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia. At 6:30pm Holy Mass will be celebrated there by Archbishop Georg Gänswein.
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| Image of Holy Face to be carried in Procession from St. Peter's Square to Church of Santo Spirito (Photo by Paul Badde) |
The image, enclosed in the reliquary which from 1902 to 1956 was used to hold the Holy Face in Manoppello, will remain in the Santo Spirito church also on Sunday January 17th.
The idea for the pilgrimage came about during the National Conference of the Rectors of Italian Shrines which took place in Rome from November 22 to 27, 2015 and which had as its theme "Jubilee of a history: a welcome, nearby, prophetic memory”
In fact it was the grandeur of history which was the basis for the plans to organize the pilgrimage, discussed by Msgr. Josef Bart, rector of the Shrine of the Santo Spirito in Sassia, and Fr. Carmine Cucinelli, Rector of the Shrine the Holy Face of Manoppello, in the presence of the author Paul Badde.
thanks to Antonio Bini for providing this news and to Paul Badde and Antonio Bini for providing the photos
