The sixth station of the Catholic devotion, "Stations of the Cross," depicts a woman named Veronica meeting Jesus on His way to the cross. Moved with compassion and sorrow, she takes her veil and wipes the blood and sweat from His holy face. Out of gratitude, it is said that Jesus imprints the image of His face on the veil. This veil has been commonly called the Veil of Veronica and it currently resides in the Vatican, exposed rarely to the public.
Before I continue, I must make a distinction, and a warning. The distinction is what the Catholic Church holds as Truth through its guaranteed Tradition (note the capital "T"), as to what the Church holds as devotion (and not absolute) through its traditions (with a small "t"). Since all of the Catholic Church's Tradition is either explicitly or implicitly contained within the Scriptures, we must understand that the devotions of the traditions of Catholics aren't always contained explicitly or implicitly in the Scriptures, and therefore, they might not be based on historical Truth, but can still lead one into meditation on the glory, compassion, mercy, and power of Almighty God. With that said, here is the warning: the following is an attempt to place the tradition of the Veil of Veronica in a historical context, particularly with its relationship to the Shroud of Turin. I do not intend to shake anyone's prayer life or devotional life.
The devotion of the Veil of Veronica first began in the sixth century. It is believed to have been an answer to the origin of the Cloth of Edessa (see the section on this website on the Probable History Before the 1350's). The people couldn't understand why we have a landscape piece of cloth with a face image of Jesus and blood marks. While some theorized that Jesus wiped His face in the Garden of Gethsemane from the hematidrosis (bloody sweat), thus causing a miraculous image, others proposed the idea of a woman named Veronica (from the Latin: Vera + Icon which means true likeness or true image) wiping Jesus' face on His way to the cross. Surprising to many, this story is not in the Scriptures (though it could have certainly been told through Church tradition well before the sixth century).
Artistic rendition of the Cloth of Edessa in a frame/cover.
Furthermore, during the 2001 Dallas International Conference of the Shroud of Turin, scholar Michael Hesemann spoke of the Veil of Veronica in Rome and through his study, claimed that it was a painting clearly noticeable from observation even before his intense study. In addition to the Veil of Veronica in Rome, there are four other churches that claim to possess the actual Veil of Veronica.
Regardless whether or not the story of Veronica is historically true or not, it still remains a beautiful story of how God can work through our compassion and our work.
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