Veil of Veronica
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Veronica's Veil is a legendary Christian relic. The faithful believe that Veronica from Jerusalem encountered Jesus along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary. When she paused to wipe the sweat (Latin suda) off his face with her veil, his image was imprinted on the cloth. The event is commemorated by one of the Stations of the Cross. According to legend, Veronica later traveled to Rome to present the cloth to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. It had miraculous properties, being able to quench thirst, restore blindness, and sometimes even raise the dead.
Origin of story
The story of Veronica and her veil does not occur in the Bible, though the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate" mentions a woman called Veronica who was cured by touching the hem of Jesus' cloak. The name "Veronica" is a colloquial portmanteau of the Latin word Vera, meaning truth, and Greek Icon meaning "image"; the Veil of Veronica was therefore largely regarded in medieval times as "the true image", and the truthful representation of Jesus, preceding the Shroud of Turin.The white, diaphanous cloth that was venerated as the Veil of Veronica or Sudarium of Veronica during the middle ages reportedly measured about 6½ inches by 9½ inches and displayed the features of a bearded man with long hair and open eyes.
Provenance
Its provenance prior to the 12th century is uncertain, but from 1297, by order of Pope Boniface VIII, the image was brought to Saint Peter's, and until 1608 it was kept in the Vatican Basilica and is mentioned in Canto XXXI of Dante's "Paradise". On the occasion of the first Jubilee in 1300, the Veil of Veronica was publicly displayed and became one of the "Mirabilia Urbis" ("wonders of the City") for the pilgrims who visited Rome.
Many artists of the time created reproductions of the Veil, but in 1616, Pope Paul V prohibited the manufacture of copies of Veronica's veil unless made by a canon of Saint Peter's Basilica. In 1629, Pope Urban VIII not only prohibited reproductions of Veronica's veil from being made, but also ordered the destruction of all existing copies. His edict declared that anyone who had access to a copy must bring it to the Vatican, under penalty of excommunication.
In 1999, Father Heinnrich Pfeiffer announced at a press conference in Rome that he had found the Veil (called Volto Santo) in a church of the Capuchin monastery, in the small village of Manoppello, Italy, where it had been since 1660. According to village stories, an anonymous pilgrim (perhaps an angel) arrived with the cloth inside of a wrapped package, gave it to a local doctor, and then disappeared, never to be seen again. The cloth is made of a rare fiber called byssus, which is woven from the rock-clinging threads of ocean mussels. According to Paul Badde, the Vatican Correspondent for Die Welt, this is a kind of fabric which is usually only found in the graves of pharoahs. There are many pilgrims who visit the relic, dropping to their knees and then ascending a flight of steps to the relic's crypt, pausing on each step to pray. Some of them report that the face on the cloth seems to change expression, depending on how the light is hitting it.
Representative art
Veronica and the Veil (by Francesco Mochi in 1629-1632) is the theme of one of the four greater-than-life statues at the crossing of St. Peter's Basilica; each statue supposedly representing a relic of veneration intended to be held in a chapel below each pillar.Claude Mellan, the leading French engraver of the 17th century, produced a famous engraving of the Veil of Veronica in 1649; it consists of a single spiralling line, starting at the tip of Jesus's nose.
See also
Further reading
- Janice Bennett, Sacred Blood, Sacred Image: The Sudarium of Oviedo, New Evidence for the Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, ISBN 0970568207
References
- Relics of the Passion, 2005 History Channel documentary
- ["St. Veronica and the Volto Santo"]
- ["Saint Veronica"] - Catholic Encyclopedia
- [The Abruzzi] - Website of Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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