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Saint Veronica
Image: Hans Memling · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Saint Veronica

The woman said to have wiped Jesus' face on the way of the Cross, per tradition

Rank
Saint
Kind
Layperson, Biblical figure
Feast
12 July
Countries
Israel
Israel

Life story

Veronica is not mentioned in the Bible. The Gospels tell of a woman with a haemorrhage of twelve years who touched the fringe of Jesus' cloak and was healed (Luke 8, Mark 5, Matthew 9), but they do not give her a name. They also say nothing about anyone wiping the face of Jesus on the road to Calvary; Luke 23 mentions only the women who mourned him and Simon of Cyrene, who carried the cross.

The name Veronica appears late. In the apocryphal Acts of Pilate, of the fourth or fifth century, the woman with the haemorrhage is called Bernice, and later Latin versions call her Veronica. The fourth-century historian Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 7) also mentions a statue at Caesarea Philippi that local people said was set up by that woman, but he does not call her Veronica. Some scholars think the name may be a play on the Latin vera icon, meaning true image, though this is uncertain.

From the Middle Ages, tradition said that a woman of Jerusalem offered Jesus her cloth to wipe his face as he carried the cross, and that his features were left imprinted on it. A cloth was venerated in Rome as the Veil of Veronica, and the scene later became the sixth Station of the Cross. Other legends say she healed the emperor Tiberius with the cloth or went to live in Gaul. Because there is no reliable early source, the Church has no universal feast for her; 12 July is a traditional date.

Works and witness

  • Not named in Scripture; her story rests on tradition alone
  • The Acts of Pilate names the woman with the haemorrhage Bernice
  • Medieval tradition: wiped the face of Jesus, whose image stayed on the cloth
  • The scene became the sixth Station of the Cross
  • A cloth called the Veil of Veronica was venerated in Rome in the Middle Ages

Saints from the same country

Saint Peter, Saint Andrew the Apostle, Saint James the Greater, Saint John the Apostle

References

  • Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate), apocryphal
  • Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History
  • Gospel according to Luke

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.