SAINT VERONICA

(Redirected from St. Veronica)


According to the ''Acta Sanctorum'' published by the Bollandists (under February 4), 'Saint Veronica' or 'Berenice',^[1] was a pious woman of Jerusalem who, moved with pity as Jesus carried his cross to Golgotha, gave him her handkerchief that he might wipe his forehead. Jesus accepted the offering and after using it handed it back to her, the image of His face miraculously impressed upon it. The name "Veronica" itself is a latinisation of Berenice, a Macedonian name, meaning "bearer of victory" (corresponding to Greek ''
★ phere-nikē''). Folk etymology has attributed its origin to the words 'vera' (Latin = true) and 'icon' (Greek = image).
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says this about the legend:

Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica (vii 18)tells how at Caesarea Philippi lived the woman whom Christ healed of an issue of blood (Matt ix 20). Legend was not long in providing the woman of the Gospel with a name. In the West she was identified with Martha of Bethany; in the East she was called Berenike, or Beronike, the name appearing in as early a work as the Acta Pilati, the most ancient form of which goes back to the fourth century. It is interesting to note that the fanciful derivation of the name Veronica from the words Vera Icon (eikon) "true image" dates back to the "Otia Imperialia" (iii 25) of Gervase of Tilbury (fl 1211), who says: "Est ergo Veronica pictura Domini vera".

The ''Catholic Encyclopaedia'' of 1908 had this to say about the growth of the legend (''translations in italics added''):

The belief in the existence of authentic images of Christ is connected with the old legend of Abgar of Edessa and the apocryphal writing known as the ''Mors Pilati'' (''Death of Pilate''). To distinguish at Rome the oldest and best known of these images it was called ''vera icon'' (true image), which ordinary language soon made ''veronica''.
It is thus designated in several medieval texts mentioned by the Bollandists (e.g. an old Missal of Augsburg has a Mass ''De S. Veronica seu Vultus Domini'') (''of the holy Veronica/Saint Veronica, or the Face of the Lord''), and Matthew of Westminster speaks of the imprint of the image of the Savior which is called Veronica: ''Effigies Domenici vultus quae Veronica nuncupatur'' (''effigy of the face of the Lord which is called a Veronica''). By degrees, popular imagination mistook this word for the name of a person and attached thereto several legends which vary according to the country.

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Veronica legends

References

See also

External links

Veronica legends

There is no reference to the story of Veronica and her veil in the canonical Gospels. The closest is the miracle of the a woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment (Luke (8:43-48); her name is later identified as Veronica by the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate". The story was later elaborated in the 11h century by adding that that Christ gave her a portrait of himself on a cloth, with which she later cured Tiberius. The linking of this with the bearing of the cross in the Passion, and the miraculous appearance of the image only occurs around 1380, in the internationally popular book, Meditations on the life of Christ^[2] . The story of Veronica is celebrated in the 6th Station of the Cross.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, 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.^[3]

St. Veronica is commemorated on Shrove Tuesday. Mel Gibson's film ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004) included an episode of Veronica wiping Jesus' face, although she is not referred to by name in the film (she's credited in the film as Seraphia). Anne Catherine Emmerich, one of the inspirational sources to the cited movie, depicts a long and touching description of St. Veronica episode.
In Anne Rice's novel, Memnoch the Devil, Veronica is also featured in the novel, wiping the face of Jesus.

References

1. Veronica .
2. Ian Wilson, Holy Faces, Secret Places, page 175.
3. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15362a.htm

See also

★ Veronica's Veil

★ Relics attributed to Jesus

★ Matthew 9

★ Mark 5

External links

★ ''Catholic Encyclopedia'': Veronica

★ ''Catholic Online'': St. Veronica