SW News: Like in many Catholic sanctuaries, the famous shrine of the Holy Face in Spain’s Alicante is witnessing a pre-pandemic level flow of pilgrims. With the pilgrimage beginning on Thursday, April 20, between 330,000 and 350,000 believers visited the Co-Cathedral of San Nicolas to venerate what is believed to be the veil of Veronica on which Christ imprinted the image of His face.

Bearing canes, pilgrims descended upon the sanctuary on Thursday morning and the Dean said the introductory prayers after which the first mayor of Alicante declared the pilgrimage to be open. Addressing the pilgrims, Bishop José Ignacio Munilla said, “This sanctuary of the Holy Face is the home of all of us who come as pilgrims of mercy.” He also sought peace, rain and a positive birth rate for the country from the Holy Face of Jesus.

The bishop exhorted everyone to be agents of peace and also seek the gift of water as the nation is experiencing an unusual dry spell. He also encouraged all families to open up to life. He also appealed to society to adopt working models wherein the family and openness to life are taken seriously. He bemoaned the dipping birth rate which he said was the most serious thing as it implies a lack of hope.

As it is the election year, there were a host of politicians from both the Left and Right parts of the political spectrum at the shrine. Mayor Luis Barcala, President of the Alicante Provincial Council Carlos Mazon, Ministers of Finance and Universities Arcadi Espana and Josefina Bueno were present during the start of the pilgrimage.

When the bishop went to the chapel of the adjoining monastery to fetch the relic, he was accompanied by Vice Mayor Mari Carmen Sanchez and the Mayor of Employment and Development Lidia Lopez.

The origins of the cloth belonging to Veronica are still unclear. It is believed that this relic might have come all the way from Jerusalem through Cyprus, Constantinople and Rome. It is said that Fr Pedro de Mena brought this relic to Alicante from Rome in the sixteenth century. Some Church historians say that when the Christian community suffered persecution in Jerusalem, the cloth was transferred to Cyprus from where it went to the Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople in AD 640 where it remained until 1453 when the city was overrun by Muslim Turks. The sons of Emperor Constantine XI gifted to Pope Nicholas V several relics, including the veil of Veronica.

The pilgrimage to venerate the Holy Face began as a token of gratitude for the miracle which occurred on March 17, 1489, when there was a procession with the relic seeking rain. On that occasion, pilgrims noticed the image shedding tears. Thus began the pilgrimage.