Die textilen Byssus-Reliquien des christlichen Abendlandes aufbewahrt in den Kirchen zu Köln, Aachen, Cornelimünster, Mainz und Prag, Aachen 1895;
A rare luxury cloth with a beautiful golden sheen, known as sea silk, was made from the long silky filaments or byssus produced by Pinna nobilis, a large Mediterranean seashell.
It is famous for having a church which contains an image on a thin byssus veil, a sudarium, known as the Holy Face of Manoppello and which has been reputed to be identical to the Veil of Veronica.
The cloth has been claimed to be made of a rare fiber called byssus, which is a natural fiber coming from a bivalve mollusc Pinna nobilis, woven into sea silk, and used by ancient people mainly around the Mediterranean coasts .