Saint Veronica, also known as ''Berenike'', was a widow from

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

who lived in the 1st century AD, according to extra-biblical Christian traditions.

Apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

texts relate how Veronica was moved with sympathy seeing Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary and gave him her veil so that he could wipe his forehead. Jesus accepted the offer, and when he returned the veil the image of his face was miraculously captured on it. The resulting relic became known as the

Veil of Veronica The Veil of Veronica, or (Latin for sweat-cloth), also known as the Vernicle, the Veronica and the Holy Face, is a Christian relic consisting of a piece of cloth said to bear an image of the Holy Face of Jesus produced by other than human mea ...

. The story of Veronica is celebrated in the sixth Station of the Cross in

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, Catholic, and Western Orthodox churches. A celebrated saint in many pious Christian countries, the 17th-century ''

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, organised by the saints' feast days. The project was conceived and ...

'' published by the Bollandists listed her feast under July 12, but the German

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

scholar Joseph Braun cited her commemoration in ''Festi Marianni'' on January 13.

Background

There is no reference to the story of Veronica and her veil in the

canonical gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

. The closest is the miracle of the unnamed woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’s garment. The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus gives her name as Berenikē or Beronike (). The name Veronica is a Latinisation of this ancient Macedonian name. The story was later elaborated in the 11th century by adding that Christ gave her a portrait of himself on a cloth, with which she later cured the Emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

. The linking of this with the bearing of the cross in the Passion occurs only around 1380 in the internationally popular book '' Meditations on the Life of Christ''.

At some point a relic became associated with the story. Pedro Tafur, a Spanish knight visiting Rome in 1436, describes the following in the Church of St. Peter in his 1454 travel account: However, he does not say specifically that he witnessed for himself this exhibition of the relic. Some academic sources suggest a different origin for the legend of St. Veronica: that the cloth bearing an image of Jesus's face was known in Latin as the ''vera icon'' ("true image"), and that this name for the relic was misinterpreted as the name of a saint. The ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' of 1913 writes: The reference to Abgar is related to a similar legend in the

Eastern Church Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe a ...

, the Image of Edessa or Mandylion. The ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' says this about the legend: Saint Veronica

Veronica was mentioned in the reported visions of Jesus by Marie of St Peter, a Carmelite nun who lived in

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, France, and started the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. In 1844, Sister Marie reported that in a vision, she saw Veronica wiping away the spit and mud from the face of Jesus with her veil on the way to Calvary. She said that sacrilegious and blasphemous acts today are adding to the spit and mud that Veronica wiped away that day. According to Marie of St Peter, in her visions, Jesus told her that he desired devotion to His Holy Face in reparation for

sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

and

blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ Reparation is a Christian Christian theology, theological concept closely connected with those of Atonement in Christianity, atonement and Satisfaction theory of atonement, satisfaction. In ascetical theology, reparation is the making of amends f ...

are thus compared to Veronica wiping the face of Jesus. The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus was eventually approved by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

in 1885. Veronica is commemorated on 12 July.

Official patronage

Saint Veronica is the patron of the French mulquiniers whose representations they celebrated semi-annually (

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

and

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

) as in many pious Christian countries. She is also the patron saint of photographers, and laundry workers.

Gallery

File:Mattia Preti - Santa Veronica con il velo.jpg, ''Saint Veronica with the Veil'',

Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Ca ...

File:La Verónica (Strozzi).jpg, ''Saint Veronica'' by

Bernardo Strozzi Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644), was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included History painting, history, Allegory, allegorica ...

File:Cristo con la Cruz a cuestas, encuentra a la Verónica (Museo del Prado).jpg, ''Christ with the Cross on his back, encountering Veronica'', Antonio Arias Fernández File:La Verónica, Ángel María Cortellini Hernández.jpg, ''Saint Veronica'' by Ángel María Cortellini Hernández File:La Verónica mostrando la Santa Faz a la Virgen y San Juan (Museo del Prado).jpg, ''Veronica showing the Holy Face to the Virgin and Saint John'', 1864, by Juan Antonio Vera Calvo File:Giovanni Cariani - Road to Calvary with Veronica's Veil - WGA04215.jpg, ''Road to Calvary with Veronica's Veil'', Giovanni Cariani File:Saint Veronica by Rupert Bunny (c, 1902).jpg, ''Saint Veronica'', 1902 by Rupert Bunny File:Kemptener Kreuzigung.jpg, ''Kempten Crucifixion'', 1475 by unknown artist File:Gaspar de Crayer (1582-1669) Veronica en de kruisdraging van Christus - Sint-Janskerk (Mechelen) 13-09-2018.jpg, ''Veronica and the Carrying of Christ'', Gaspar de Crayer

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veronica 1st-century births 1st-century Christian female saints 1st-century deaths Saints from the Holy Land Stations of the Cross Veil of Veronica

Background

Official patronage

Gallery

See also

References

External links