The Chronovisor: Vatican's Time Machine That Allegedly Captured Christ's Crucifixion

Left; The Crucifixion by André d'Ypres / Dreux Budé Master (before 1440), Getty Centre. Right; Alleged image of Christ from the chronovisor.

January

/ 2026

Getting your audio player ready...

Within the fortified walls of Vatican City, beneath centuries of accumulated secrets and sacred relics, lies perhaps one of the most extraordinary claims of the modern era: a device capable of peering through the veils of time itself. The chronovisor, allegedly invented in the 1950s by a Benedictine monk named Father Pellegrino Ernetti, promised to revolutionize humanity's understanding of history by capturing three-dimensional holograms of past events. Among its most controversial achievements was reportedly witnessing and recording the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a claim that sent shockwaves through both scientific and religious communities when it emerged in 1972.

Father Ernetti (1925-1994) was no ordinary clergyman. A distinguished musicologist who held the chair of Prepoliphony at the prestigious Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, he possessed credentials that lent considerable weight to his extraordinary assertions. His academic background included not only musical scholarship but also advanced degrees in quantum and subatomic physics, making him uniquely positioned to bridge the seemingly incompatible realms of faith and science. When journalist Vincenzo Maddaloni interviewed Ernetti for the Italian periodical La Domenica del Corriere on May 2, 1972, the monk revealed not only the existence of his remarkable device but also a photograph purportedly showing the anguished face of the dying Christ on the cross. The revelation sparked immediate fascination and skepticism in equal measure, launching one of the most enduring and debated mysteries of the twentieth century.

Father Pellegrino Ernetti. (Public Domain)

The Scientific Dream Team Behind the Chronovisor

According to Ernetti's carefully detailed account, the chronovisor was not the work of a single individual but rather the collaborative effort of twelve distinguished scientists working in absolute secrecy. The alleged team included some of the most brilliant minds of the mid-twentieth century, among them Enrico Fermi, the Italian Nobel Prize-winning physicist who created the first nuclear reactor and revolutionized our understanding of atomic energy, and Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist whose groundbreaking innovations propelled humanity to the moon and transformed space exploration. This stellar roster of collaborators suggested that if the project existed, it represented serious scientific inquiry rather than mere fantasy or religious mysticism.

The ambitious work reportedly began in 1952 at the experimental physics laboratory of the Catholic University of Milan, where Father Ernetti collaborated closely with Father Agostino Gemelli and a select group of other researchers sworn to secrecy. The theoretical foundation of the device rested on a fascinating and surprisingly plausible principle of physics: that sound and visual waves, once emitted into the universe, are never truly destroyed but merely transformed into other forms of energy. According to this theory, these waves remain eternal and omnipresent, dispersed throughout space like cosmic fingerprints of past events, waiting to be detected and reconstructed. If one could develop technology sophisticated enough to capture and reconstruct these disintegrated waves, one could theoretically witness any moment in history, from the construction of the ancient pyramids to Caesar's assassination in the Roman Senate.

The chronovisor itself consisted of a complex array of specialized antennas designed to tune into specific historical frequencies, operating on principles similar to how astronomers calculate light years to observe stars that have long since burned out. The intricate system allegedly operated through electronic oscillography, analyzing sound waves with unprecedented precision and converting them back into their original forms. Light could be transformed into sound and vice versa, creating a comprehensive reconstruction of past events with both audio and visual components. Most remarkably and controversially, Ernetti claimed the device could even capture thoughts themselves, since thought represents an emission of energy detectable by sufficiently sensitive instruments. Every human being leaves behind a unique double trail - both sound and visual - as distinctive as fingerprints. The implications were staggering and deeply troubling: no secret could remain hidden, no historical event could stay obscure, and privacy as humanity understood it would cease to exist entirely.

Ancient Chronicles of Time Displacement

The concept of transcending temporal boundaries is not new to human civilization. Ancient chronicles contain numerous accounts of individuals who apparently broke through the barriers of time, though their methods remained mysterious and unexplained. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded the perplexing tale of Aristea of Proconneso, who allegedly died in a shop in his hometown only to be seen alive and well elsewhere the very same day. When his distraught relatives went to the shop to recover his body for proper burial, they found absolutely nothing - no corpse, no evidence of death. Six years later, Aristea inexplicably reappeared in the same city, composed an epic poem detailing his supposed travels among the mythical Hyperboreans, and then vanished again without explanation. Most remarkably, a staggering 240 years after his apparent death, he materialized in the distant city of Metaponto, instructing its astonished inhabitants to build an elaborate altar to the god Apollo with a commemorative statue bearing his name.

Ancient bust depicting Herodotus, who chronicled mysterious time displacement stories. (Metropolitan Museum of Art/Public Domain)

Such accounts raise tantalizing questions that a functioning chronovisor could potentially answer definitively: Did Aristea truly exist in the sixth century BC, or was he merely legendary? Was he really Homer's teacher, as some classical scholars speculated? Could he genuinely time travel through unknown means, or did he possess the supernatural gift of ubiquity? Was he perhaps a shaman capable of harnessing mysterious powers beyond ordinary human comprehension? A working time machine could illuminate countless historical mysteries that have puzzled scholars for millennia. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus documented equally perplexing phenomena in his Jewish War, describing war chariots and armies appearing in the sky over Jerusalem, visible to multiple witnesses. At Pentecost, priests heard disembodied voices declaring "We are leaving this place." A chronovisor could verify or debunk such accounts, finally separating fact from legend.

The Controversial Photograph and Growing Skepticism

The photograph published prominently in 1972, allegedly showing Christ's tortured face during the crucifixion, became the focal point of intense controversy and investigation. The grainy black-and-white image depicted a bearded man in apparent distress, his face turned upward with an expression of suffering. Almost immediately, skeptics emerged. An anonymous individual claimed the image was fraudulent, asserting it actually depicted a wooden crucifix housed in the Sanctuary of Merciful Love of Collevalenza in Todi, Italy - a devotional work created by Spanish artist Lorenzo Coullaut Valera following detailed instructions from Mother Speranza, a Spanish mystic known for her visions. This damaging revelation cast serious doubt on Ernetti's entire narrative and sparked fierce debate about the chronovisor's authenticity.

The photograph Pellegrino Ernetti claimed to be of Jesus Christ

The photograph Pellegrino Ernetti claimed to be of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion produced by the chronovisor. (Public Domain)

Sergio Conti, a respected scholar of parapsychology writing in the Italian periodical Il Giornale dei Misteri, proposed an intriguing alternative explanation that attempted to preserve Ernetti's integrity while accounting for the discrepancy. Rather than photographing actual past events, perhaps the device somehow captured unconscious mental vibrations - deeply buried visual memories stored in Father Ernetti's subconscious mind. If Ernetti had previously encountered the Collevalenza crucifix and consciously forgotten about it, his subconscious mind might have projected this stored image through the apparatus. While acknowledging this hypothesis had a distinct science fiction quality, Conti maintained that Father Ernetti's fundamental good faith and sincerity could not be questioned.

Father François Brune, Ernetti's longtime friend and staunch defender who chronicled the chronovisor story comprehensively in his 2002 book Le nouveau mystère du Vatican, rejected the parapsychological explanation entirely. According to Father Brune, Conti's theory failed to account for movement - people surrounding Christ on the cross were seen moving naturally. It couldn't explain other historical scenes Ernetti claimed to have witnessed, including recorded speeches by Mussolini and Napoleon. When Brune directly confronted his friend about the photograph's suspicious resemblance to the Collevalenza crucifix, Ernetti admitted the published image was indeed of that sculpture rather than chronovisor output. He explained he had met Mother Speranza, who directed the crucifix's creation based on her mystical visions of Christ's actual appearance. Yet he offered no satisfactory explanation for allowing the fraudulent photograph's publication or failing to immediately correct the misrepresentation.

Father François Brune (2007) (Padawane/ CC BY-SA 2.5)

Vatican Silence and Mysterious Confessions

The most compelling and mysterious aspect of the entire chronovisor affair may be the enforced silence that descended after the initial revelations. According to Father Brune's detailed account, Ernetti confided privately that his Vatican superiors had expressly forbidden him from making any further public statements about the device or its capabilities. When questioned why he couldn't provide clarification to journalists and skeptics who challenged his claims, Ernetti responded cryptically that he was "not free to speak," that he had "already spoken too much," and that higher authorities had prevented him from giving new explanations, responding to accusations, reaffirming the machine's reality, or discussing results achieved. The Catholic Church hierarchy, recognizing the potentially catastrophic implications of such technology, allegedly ordered the chronovisor completely dismantled and its components concealed in secure Vatican repositories.

In March 2000, when Peter Krassa published Father Ernetti's Chronovisor: The Creation and Disappearance of the World's First Time Machine, new complications emerged that deepened the mystery. An anonymous Italian man claiming to be Ernetti's "spiritual son" sent a confessional letter alleging Ernetti had fabricated key claims, including the ancient Roman play translation and Christ's image. Father Brune immediately denounced this confession as fraudulent, noting the mysterious correspondent had never contacted him during thirty years of friendship with Ernetti. Yet Ernetti had once broken his silence, sending a letter to colleague Don Luigi Borello stating that everything about the device and Christ's Passion was "the sacred truth." He never publicly recanted before his death in 1994. In a 2002 interview, Father Brune remained convinced of his friend's fundamental honesty, describing him as an extraordinary priest and exceptional scientist uniquely qualified for such ambitious research.

Historical Jesus and Profound Implications

The chronovisor controversy joins significantly with longstanding scholarly debates about the historical Jesus. Historical criticism has struggled for centuries to prove Christ's existence through non-Christian documentation. Flavius Josephus provided crucial testimony in Jewish Antiquities, describing Jesus as performing extraordinary works and appearing to disciples after crucifixion. In 1971, Professor Shlomo Pinès discovered an Arabic version considered free of later Christian interpolations, substantially confirming Josephus's account while noting disciples reported resurrection. If the chronovisor truly existed and recorded Christ's life comprehensively, what controversial details might it have captured? Could it have documented aspects contradicting established Church doctrine? The device could theoretically verify or refute fundamental claims of all religions, potentially destroying billions of believers' faith or vindicating long-dismissed beliefs. No wonder both religious and secular authorities might wish such dangerous technology permanently concealed…

Legacy of an Enduring Mystery

The chronovisor story ultimately raises more profound questions than it definitively answers. Was Father Ernetti a brilliant scientist ruthlessly silenced by fearful ecclesiastical authorities, or an elaborate storyteller perpetrating an intricate hoax for unknown motivations? The complete lack of physical evidence, combined with the admitted photograph fraud and enforced silence, makes belief in the machine highly dubious. No scientific papers describing construction details ever surfaced. No collaborators came forward after Ernetti's death to verify claims. According to Father Brune, the chronovisor remains hidden deep within Vatican repositories. Whether locked in ecclesiastical vaults, destroyed to prevent misuse, or existing only in imagination, Father Ernetti's chronovisor continues fascinating those who wonder: what would humanity discover if we could truly see through time itself? The tale reminds us that boundaries between science and faith, between possible and impossible, remain more permeable and mysterious than we might imagine.

Top image: The Crucifixion by André d'Ypres / Dreux Budé Master (before 1440), Getty Centre. Right; Alleged image of Christ from the chronovisor. Source: Public Domain/ Public Domain

By Gary Manners